Analysis of Controlled Single-phase Full-Wave Rectifier with RL Load

Abstract

Diodes are popularly used in rectifiers, which convert an ac signal into a unidirectional signal. They produce a fixed output voltage only. However, controlled switches such as thyristors are used to vary the output voltage of a converter by adjusting the delay or firing angle α of the thyristors. Phase-controlled converters are simple, efficient and less expensive. There are both single-phase and three-phase converters depending on the input supply. We also have half-wave and full-wave converters. The half-wave converter has only one polarity of output voltage and current, while for the full converter, the polarity of the output voltage can be either positive or negative. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the operation of the Single-phase full-wave rectifier. Load current for the controlled full-wave rectifier with R-L load can be either discontinuous or continuous. The paper shows how the rectifier transits from discontinuous current operation to continuous current operation.