Working of Half Wave Rectifier-
- A high AC voltage is applied to the primary side of the step-down transformer. The obtained secondary low voltage is applied to the diode.
- The diode is forward biased during the positive half cycle of the AC voltage and reverse biased during the negative half cycle.
- The final output voltage waveform is as shown in the figure below:
For better understanding, let us simplify the half-wave circuit by replacing the secondary transformer coils with a voltage source as shown below:
For the positive half cycle of the AC source voltage, the circuit effectively becomes as shown below in the diagram:
When the diode is forward biased, it acts as a closed switch. But, during the negative half cycle of the AC source voltage, the equivalent circuit becomes as shown in the figure below
When a diode is reverse biased, it acts as an open switch. Since no current can flow to the load, the output voltage is equal to zero.