CHAPTER 3

220v AC TO 5v & 12v DC RECTIFIER

3.a Design and Development

It is a simple variable dc power supply which gives 0 to 12 dc volts as an output. Here we use a
simple full wave rectifier along with a voltage regulator which gives a constant output and its output
can be increased by using a pair of voltage divider resistor in which one resistance is variable to get
variable output.

3.b BLOCK DIAGRAM

3.c CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

3.d List of component & its working principle

These are components that are required for our project
Step down transformer (220/12 v)
Diode 1N2007 (4)
C1 100F (1)
IC 7805 Voltage regulator
LED (5v)
Breadboard
Soldering iron and soldering wire

3.D.A

Transformer

The transformer is a device, or a machine, that transfers electrical energy from one electrical Circuit
to another electrical circuit through the medium of magnetic field and without a Change in the
frequency. The electric circuit which receives energy from the supply mains is called primary winding
and the other circuit which delivers electric energy to the load is called the secondary winding.
Actually, the transformer is an electromagnetic energy conversion device. The energy received by the
primary is first converted to magnetic energy and it is then reconverted to useful electrical energy in
the other circuits (secondary winding circuit, third winding circuit etc.). Thus primary and secondary
windings of a transformer are not connected electrically, but are coupled magnetically. This coupling
magnetic field allows the transfer of energy in either direction, from high voltage to low voltage
circuits or from low voltage to high voltage circuits. If the transfer of energy occurs at the same
voltage, the purpose of the transformer is merely to isolate the two electric circuits and this use is
very rare in power applications. If the secondary winding has more turns than the primary winding,
then the secondary voltage is higher than the primary winding and the transformer is called a step
up transformer. In case the secondary winding has less turns than the primary winding, then the
secondary voltage is lower than the primary voltage and the transformer is called a step down
transformer. A step up transformer can be used as a step down transformer, in which the
secondary of step up transformer becomes the primary of step down transformer. Actually a
transformer can be termed a step up or step down transformer only after it has been put into
service. Therefore, when referring to the windings of a particular transformer, the terms high voltage
winding and low voltage winding should be used instead of primary and secondary windings.
A. The Power Transformer
The transformer is either to step-up or step-down the AC supply voltage to suit the
requirement of the solid state electronic devices and circuits fed by the DC power supply. One
of the important features of a transformer is the electrical isolation offered between the
primary and the secondary. The voltages in the primary and secondary windings are directly
proportional to the turns ratio of the two windings. If V1 is the voltage applied to the primary,
V2 is voltage induced in the secondary, N1 is the number of turns in the primary and N2 is the
number of turns in the secondary, then the relationship between them is given by the
expression
B. Induction law
The transformer is based on two principles: first, that an electric current can produce
amagnetic field and second that a changing magnetic field within a coil of wire induces a
voltage across the ends of the coil (electromagnetic induction). Changing the current in the
primary coil changes the magnetic flux that is developed. The changing magnetic flux induces
a voltage in the secondary coil. Referring to the two figures here, current passing through the
primary coil creates a magnetic field. The primary and secondary coils are wrapped around a
core of very high magnetic permeability, usually iron, so that most of the magnetic flux passes
through both the primary and secondary coils. Any secondary winding connected load causes
current and voltage induction from primary to secondary circuits in indicated directions. The
voltage induced across the secondary coil may be calculated from Faraday's law of induction,
which states that:

Where Vs= Es is the instantaneous voltage, Ns is

the number of turns in the secondary coil, and d/dt is the derivative of the magnetic
flux through one turn of the coil. If the turns of the coil are oriented perpendicularly
to the magnetic field lines, the flux is the product of the magnetic flux density B and

the area A through which it cuts. The area is constant, being equal to the crosssectional area of the transformer core, whereas the magnetic field varies with time
according to the excitation of the primary. Since the same magnetic flux passes
through both the primary and secondary coils in an ideal transformer, the
instantaneous
voltage
across
the
primary
winding
equals

Taking the ratio of the above two

equations gives the same voltage ratio and turns ratio relationship shown above, that
is,

The changing magnetic field

induces an emf across each winding. The primary emf, acting as it does in opposition
to the primary voltage, is sometimes termed the counter emf. This is
in accordance with Lenz's law, which states that induction of emf always opposes
development of any such change in magnetic field.

Lecauge Flux
The ideal transformer model assumes that all flux generated by the primary winding
links all the turns of every winding, including itself. In practice, some flux traverses
paths that take it outside the windings. Such flux is termed leakage flux, and results in
leakage inductance in series with the mutually coupled transformer windings. Leakage
flux results in energy being alternately stored in and discharged from the magnetic
fields with each cycle of the power supply. It is not directly a power loss (see Stray
losses below), but results in inferior voltage regulation, causing the secondary voltage
to not be directly proportional to the primary voltage, particularly under heavy load.
Transformers are therefore normally designed to have very low leakage inductance.
Nevertheless, it is impossible to eliminate all leakage flux because it plays an essential
part in the operation of the transformer. The combined effect of the leakage flux and

the electric field around the windings is what transfers energy from then primary to
the secondary.
In some applications increased leakage is desired, and long magnetic paths, air gaps,
or magnetic bypass shunts may deliberately be introduced in a transformer design to
limit the short-circuit current it will supply. Leaky transformers may be used to supply
loads that exhibit negative resistance, such as electric arcs, mercury vapour lamps,
and neon signs or for safely handling loads that become periodically short-circuited
such as electric arc welders.
Air gaps are also used to keep a transformer from saturating, especially audiofrequency transformers in circuits that have a DC component flowing through the
windings.
Knowledge of leakage inductance is for example useful when transformers are
operated in parallel. It can be shown that if the percent impedance (Z) and associated
winding leakage reactance-to-resistance (X/R) ratio of two transformers were
hypothetically exactly the same, the transformers would share power in proportion
to their respective volt-ampere ratings (e.g.500 kVA unit in parallel with 1,000 kVA
unit,
the
larger
unit
would
carry
twice
the
current).

Figure 1 leakage flux

3.D.B

Rectifier

A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current (AC), which periodically reverses
direction, to direct current (DC), which flows in only one direction. The process is known as
rectification. Physically, rectifiers take a number of forms, including vacuum tube diodes, mercury-arc
valves, copper and selenium oxide rectifiers, semiconductor diodes, silicon-controlled rectifiers and
other silicon-based semiconductor switches. Historically, even synchronous electromechanical
switches and motors have been used. Early radio receivers, called crystal radios, used a "cat's whisker"
of fine wire pressing on a crystal of galena (lead sulfide) to serve as a point-contact rectifier or "crystal
detector".
Rectifiers have many uses, but are often found serving as components of DC power supplies and highvoltage direct current power transmission systems. Rectification may serve in roles other than to
generate direct current for use as a source of power. As noted, detectors of radio signals serve as
rectifiers. In gas heating systems flame rectification is used to detect presence of flame.
The simple process of rectification produces a type of DC characterized by pulsating voltages and
currents (although still unidirectional). Depending upon the type of end-use, this type of
DC current may then be further modified into the type of relatively constant voltage DC
characteristically produced by such sources as batteries and solar cells.
A more complex circuitry device which performs the opposite function, converting DC to

AC, is known as an inverter.

The Full Wave Bridge Rectifier
Another type of circuit that produces the same output waveform as the full wave rectifier circuit
above, is that of the Full Wave Bridge Rectifier. This type of single phase rectifier uses four individual
rectifying diodes connected in a closed loop "bridge" configuration to produce the desired output. The
main advantage of this bridge circuit is that it does not require a special centre tapped transformer,
thereby reducing its size and cost. The single secondary winding is connected to one side of the diode
bridge network and the load to the other side as shown below.
The Diode Bridge Rectifier

Figure 2 Diode Bridge Rectifier

The four diodes labelled D1 to D4 are arranged in "series pairs" with only two diodes conducting
current during each half cycle. During the positive half cycle of the supply, diodes
D1 and D2 conduct in series while diodes D3 and D4 are reverse biased and the current flows the load
as shown below.
The Positive Half-cycle
During the negative half cycle of the supply, diodes D3 and D4 conduct in series, but diodes D1 and D2
switch "OFF" as they are now reversing biased. The current flowing through the load is the same
direction as before.

Figure 3 Positive Half-cycle

The Negative Half-cycle

As the current flowing through the load is unidirectional, so the voltage developed across the load is
also unidirectional the same as for the previous two diode full-wave rectifier, therefore the average
DC voltage across the load is 0.637Vmax. However in reality, during each half cycle the current flows
through two diodes instead of just one so the amplitude of the output voltage is two voltage drops (
2 x 0.7 = 1.4V ) less than the input VMAX amplitude. The ripple frequency is now twice the supply
frequency (e.g. 100Hz for a 50Hz supply)
Although we can use four individual power diodes to make a full wave bridge rectifier, premade bridge
rectifier components are available "off-the-shelf" in a range of different voltage and current sizes that
can be soldered directly into a PCB circuit board or be connected by spade connectors.
The image to the right shows a typical single phase bridge rectifier with one corner cut off.
This cut-off corner indicates that the terminal nearest to the corner is the positive or +ve output
terminal or lead with the opposite (diagonal) lead being the negative or -ve output lead. The other
two connecting leads are for the input alternating voltage from a transformer secondary winding.

Figure 4 Negative Half-cycle

3.D.C

The Smoothing Capacitor

We saw in the previous section that the single phase half-wave rectifier produces an output wave
every half cycle and that it was not practical to use this type of circuit to produce a steady DC supply.
The full-wave bridge rectifier however, gives us a greater mean DC value
(0.637 Vmax) with less superimposed ripple while the output waveform is twice that of the frequency
of the input supply frequency. We can therefore increase its average DC output level even higher by
connecting a suitable smoothing capacitor across the output of the bridge circuit as shown below.
Full-wave Rectifier with Smoothing Capacitor

Figure 5 Full-wave Rectifier with Smoothing Capacitor

The smoothing capacitor converts the full-wave rippled output of the rectifier into a smooth
DC output voltage. Generally for DC power supply circuits the smoothing capacitor is an Aluminium
Electrolytic type that has a capacitance value of 100uF or more with repeated DC voltage pulses from
the rectifier charging up the capacitor to peak voltage. However, there are two important parameters
to consider when choosing a suitable smoothing capacitor and these are its Working Voltage, which
must be higher than the no-load output value of the rectifier and its Capacitance Value, which
determines the amount of ripple that will appear superimposed on top of the DC voltage.
Too low a capacitance value and the capacitor has little effect on the output waveform. But if the
smoothing capacitor is sufficiently large enough (parallel capacitors can be used) and the load current
is not too large, the output voltage will be almost as smooth as pure DC. As a general rule of thumb,
we are looking to have a ripple voltage of less than 100mV peak to peak.The maximum ripple voltage
present for a Full Wave Rectifier circuit is not only determinedby the value of the smoothing capacitor
but by the frequency and load current, and is calculated as:
Bridge Rectifier Ripple Voltage

Where: I is the DC load current in amps, is the frequency of the ripple or twice the input frequency
in Hertz, and C is the capacitance in Farads.
The main advantages of a full-wave bridge rectifier is that it has a smaller AC ripple value for a given
load and a smaller reservoir or smoothing capacitor than an equivalent half-wave rectifier. Therefore,
the fundamental frequency of the ripple voltage is twice that of the AC supply frequency (100Hz)
where for the half-wave rectifier it is exactly equal to the supply frequency (50Hz).
The amount of ripple voltage that is superimposed on top of the DC supply voltage by the diodes can
be virtually eliminated by adding a much improved -filter (pi-filter) to the output terminals of the
bridge rectifier. This type of low-pass filter consists of two smoothing capacitors, usually of the same
value and a choke or inductance across them to introduce a high impedance path to the alternating
ripple component.
Another more practical and cheaper alternative is to use an off the shelf 3-terminal voltage regulator
IC, such as a LM78xx (where "xx" stands for the output voltage rating) for a positive output voltage or
its inverse equivalent the LM79xx for a negative output voltage which can reduce the ripple by more
than 70dB (Datasheet) while delivering a constant output current of over 1 amp.
In the next tutorial about diodes, we will look at the Zener Diode which takes advantage of its reverse
breakdown voltage characteristic to produce a constant and fixed output voltage across itself.

3.D.D

Regulators

A voltage regulator (also called a regulator) with only three terminals appears to be a simple device,
but it is in fact a very complex integrated circuit. It converts a varying input voltage into a constant
regulated output voltage. Voltage regulators are available in a variety of outputs like 5V, 6V, 9V, 12V
and 15V.
The LM78XX series of voltage regulators are designed for positive input.

An unregulated input voltage Vi is filtered by a capacitor C1 and connected to the ICs IN

terminal.
The ICs OUT terminal provides a regulated +12 V, which is filtered by capacitor C 2.
The third IC terminal is connected.

Figure 6 7805 regulator

The output voltage of a regulator circuit can be increased by using a pair of voltage-divider resistors.
It is not possible to obtain a voltage lower than the stated rating. You cannot use a 12V regulator to
make a 5V power supply, but you can use a 5V regulator to make a 12V supply. Voltage regulators are
very robust.
These can withstand over-current draw due to short circuits and also over-heating. In both cases, the
regulator will cut off before any damage occurs. The only way to destroy a regulator is to apply reverse
voltage to its input. Reverse polarity destroys the regulator almost instantly.

Figure 7 shows the circuit for increasing the output voltage of a regulator circuit using a pair of voltage-divider resistors.

For applications requiring negative input, the LM79XX series is used.