How to Choose the Right Capacitor for Smoothing a Full-Wave Rectified Output?

  • Thread starter Thread starter neduet
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Capacitor
AI Thread Summary
To smooth a 6-volt peak full-wave rectified output, the capacitor rating depends on the acceptable ripple voltage and load current. A 1000 µF capacitor can produce approximately 0.8 volts peak-to-peak ripple with a 150-ohm load drawing 40 mA. Larger capacitors may reduce ripple but require significant charging current, which can complicate the design. Using a voltage regulator is recommended for achieving a more stable DC output, but it necessitates a minimum input voltage of around 9 volts. Proper calculations for ripple are essential to ensure the regulator operates effectively without dropping below its minimum voltage.
neduet
Messages
64
Reaction score
0
Need capacitor for smoothing?
hello friends

if i have 6 volt peak full-wave rippled output wave form comes from full-wave rectifier. the what rating capacitor (in faraday) i connected with it to make it smooth dc wave.

thanks a lot


frequency is 50hz and 220volt input
and out from rectifier

and my load demands taking current about some mAmp
 
Engineering news on Phys.org
There always will be some ripple. You need to define how much ripple you can tolerate. The amount of ripple will also increase with the load current so you also need to define the maximum load current for the ripple specification.
 
As an example, with your supply and a 150 ohm load (40 mA), and a 1000 uF capacitor, the ripple would be about 0.8 volts p-p.

You could use a larger capacitor, but the charging current for a bigger capacitor quickly gets very large. Even a 1000 uF capacitor needs about 500 mA charging pulses to charge it.

It is usually better to use a voltage regulator, but you would need at least about 9 volts from the power supply to get 6 volts out and this would have to be filtered.
However, the output of a voltage regulator can be almost perfect DC with only slight ripple and noise visible on an oscilloscope.
 
vk6kro said:
It is usually better to use a voltage regulator, but you would need at least about 9 volts from the power supply to get 6 volts out and this would have to be filtered.
However, the output of a voltage regulator can be almost perfect DC with only slight ripple and noise visible on an oscilloscope.

True, but even so you still need to be able to calculate how much ripple you'll have so that you don't go below the minimum voltage the regulator can regulate.
 
Hey guys. I have a question related to electricity and alternating current. Say an alien fictional society developed electricity, and settled on a standard like 73V AC current at 46 Hz. How would appliances be designed, and what impact would the lower frequency and voltage have on transformers, wiring, TVs, computers, LEDs, motors, and heating, assuming the laws of physics and technology are the same as on Earth?
While I was rolling out a shielded cable, a though came to my mind - what happens to the current flow in the cable if there came a short between the wire and the shield in both ends of the cable? For simplicity, lets assume a 1-wire copper wire wrapped in an aluminum shield. The wire and the shield has the same cross section area. There are insulating material between them, and in both ends there is a short between them. My first thought, the total resistance of the cable would be reduced...
I used to be an HVAC technician. One time I had a service call in which there was no power to the thermostat. The thermostat did not have power because the fuse in the air handler was blown. The fuse in the air handler was blown because there was a low voltage short. The rubber coating on one of the thermostat wires was chewed off by a rodent. The exposed metal in the thermostat wire was touching the metal cabinet of the air handler. This was a low voltage short. This low voltage...

Similar threads

Replies
10
Views
4K
Replies
7
Views
6K
Replies
7
Views
4K
Replies
1
Views
2K
Replies
1
Views
2K
Replies
7
Views
2K
Back
Top