ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how AC is converted to DC, the quality of direct current as obtained from a rectifier, the ripple, and how one can reduce ripples. It explores the significance of filtering in rectified electricity, and shows how one can add filters to a rectified waveform and what a half-wave rectifier and a full-wave rectifier are. The chapter details bridge rectifier, a diode rectifier for single-phase AC and three-phase AC, and a power supply with filtered and regulated output. It presents various types of filters and also explores the use of low pass filters, band pass filters, high pass filters, and band reject filters. The most common filter is one or more capacitors connected across the positive and negative poles of the DC voltage, that is, in parallel with the load. Half-wave rectifiers are used only in applications for which a crude DC voltage is acceptable, like battery charging.
