How does the presence of a diode affect the average power in a circuit?

[Icetray]

[SOLVED] Average power and diodes.

Hi,

I have this question. If a diode were connected to a circuit with an alternating current and there was a resistor was connected to it, will the average power change? For example, if we take the following values,

V max = 6.0 V
Resistance = 100 ohms,

the Average power will be 0.18 W and the max power 0.36W. When we plot the graph with respect to power dissipated by the resistor with a diode connected, we get a sinusoidal graph with it's second half cycle at a null value and it's first half at a peak value of 3.6W (assuming that the diode is forward biased at the start).

I'm not very sure how to calculate max power using graphs; but is the average power still 0.18W?

I thank you for your help in advance.

 

[Icetray]

Anyway, I think I solved it. Thanking the Half Rectified wave to be H and the original unrectified full wave to be F, the mean power of the half rectified wave should be half that of the full wave.

Therefore,

<P_{H}> = 1/2<P_{F}>
= 1/2(P_{o}/2)
= 1/4 P_{o}

where P_{o} is the max power.