What is the role of inductor characteristics in smoothing rectified AC current?

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Inductor characteristics play a crucial role in smoothing rectified AC current, primarily through inductance, which resists changes in current flow. In addition to inductance, important factors include DC resistance (DCR), parasitic parallel capacitance, and saturation current. DCR is significant as it affects power loss during current ripple smoothing, necessitating the use of a sufficiently large inductor to minimize voltage drop. The inductor must also be large enough to avoid saturation under high current conditions. Understanding these characteristics is essential for effective filtering in rectifier circuits.
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hi I was wondering if anyone would be able to help me out; which inductor characteristic is utilised in the smoothing of rectified ac current
 
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Inductance, Not sure what other characteristics there are?
 
Inductors tend to resist any change in current flow. That's why, at the output of the rectifier, besides the parallel mounted filtering capacitor you can use a series inductor (choke) for a better filtering.
 
Integral said:
Inductance, Not sure what other characteristics there are?

Probably he was referring to their parasitic parallel capacitance and their DC resistance (DCR). Those other characteristics often need to be taken into account. In the case of the OP, probably only the DCR would matter, since you don't want to throw away too much power in the current ripple smoothing function, so you need to use a physically large enough inductor to handle the ripple current without dropping much voltage across the DCR.

Oh yeah, and the inductor has to be physically large enough not to saturate due to the current. So I guess that makes 4 total characteristics of the inductor:

Inductance L
DCR
Parallel Capacitance Cp
Saturation Current Isat
 

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