i'm sure many people here are pretty familiar with the traditional balanced "ring", like so:

i'm curious about what would happen if a diode bridge were substituted. has anyone experimented with this?

 

At first glance, this is just two ways to draw the same thing, but a power rectifier bridge will have problems with high frequencies.

 

I don't see that they are any different other than the way you have positioned the diodes.

The top two diodes in the top image are connected exactly the same as the two right diodes in the bottom image. Likewise for the other two. Just a question of topography, not connectivity.

 

At first glance, this is just two ways to draw the same thing, but a power rectifier bridge will have problems with high frequencies.

I agree they are the same. The bottom one is not a power rectifier bridge - it is a ring. A rectifier bridge has one node with two cathodes and one node with two anodes. In the image above, all nodes have one anode and one cathode.

 

The bottom one is not a power rectifier bridge - it is a ring.

I was so hyper-focused on following the individual diodes that I didn't see the big picture.

 

Other than the four diodes being individually packaged or packaged in a group if their working specs are the same does it matter?

 

i'm curious about what would happen if a diode bridge were substituted. has anyone experimented with this?

It will not work. In a diode ring, no two cathodes or anodes are connected. In a bridge there is one common anode connection and one common cathode connection. Signal flow through the two devices is significantly different.

ak

 

yes, the two configurations at the top are both "diode ring"..

i'm curious how the signal flow would work in a "diode bridge" situation.

 

yes, the two configurations at the top are both "diode ring"..

i'm curious how the signal flow would work in a "diode bridge" situation.

It won't work. There is no way for the signal to make a round trip. A diode bride is one-way.