full-wave vs half-wave rectifier

Question

Full-wave rectifier advantage over half-wave?

RankGuru · Accepted Answer

1. **Half-Wave Rectifier**: Utilizes only one half of the AC cycle. Resulting DC output is intermittent, with an average voltage $V_{avg} = V_m / \pi$.
2. **Full-Wave Rectifier**: Utilizes both positive and negative halves of the AC cycle (using a center-tapped transformer or a bridge circuit).
3. **Efficiency**: It is nearly twice as efficient ($81.2\%$ vs $40.6\%$).
4. **Average DC Output**: The average voltage is doubled: **$V_{avg} = 2V_m / \pi$**.
5. **Ripple Factor**: It also has a lower ripple factor ($0.482$ vs $1.21$), meaning the output is 'smoother' even before filtering.

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full-wave vs half-wave rectifier

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