regulation in diode

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
The first answer is that rectifiers are not regulators. Rectifiers make no attempt to regulate voltage.

The second answer is that a full wave rectifier will require half the capacitance to reduce voltage sag between power pulses, compared to a half wave rectifier.
 

Adjuster

Joined Dec 26, 2010
2,148
The word "regulation" in this context refers to the variation of output voltage with load current. This term is also applied to transformers. http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_2/chpt_9/6.html

Typically for a given value of reservoir capacitance full-wave rectifiers give better regulation than half-wave, because the ripple sag time is approximately halved.

A bridge (Graetz) rectifier however has two diodes in the path instead of one for the half-wave type, so the rectifier drop can be larger, although this is somewhat offset by the fact that only half the mean current passes through any one diode.
 
Top