Rectifier

How it is used

Used in power supplies, battery chargers, welding machines and drives. Engineers talk about half-wave and full-wave rectifiers, bridge rectifiers and the smoothing capacitor after the rectifier. In heavy industry, large rectifier units supply DC for processes such as electrolysis.

Example sentences

1. One diode in the bridge rectifier has failed, so the ripple on the output is much larger.

2. The rectifier turns the 230 V AC into about 325 V DC for the inverter stage.

Common collocations

• bridge rectifier
• full-wave rectifier
• rectifier diode
• rectifier output

Related terms

• diodeA semiconductor component that lets current flow easily in one direction and blocks it in the other. Its two terminals are called the anode and the cathode.
• ACShort for alternating current: current that changes direction many times per second. Mains electricity is AC, at 50 Hz in Turkey and Europe and 60 Hz in North America.
• DCShort for direct current: current that flows in one direction only, usually at a steady value. Batteries, solar panels and most electronic circuits work with DC.
• capacitorA component that stores electrical energy in an electric field between two plates. It is used to smooth supply voltages, filter noise, block DC and set timing.
• inverterA power electronic device that converts DC into AC. Inverters connect solar panels and batteries to the grid, supply AC loads in UPS systems and produce variable-frequency AC in motor drives.

More terms: Power Systems and Electrical Machines

• transformer
• load
• three-phase
• motor
• battery
• generator
• phase
• grid
• substation
• transmission line