Basic Diodes and Basic Diode Applicatio NS: Report Submitted To The Electronic Engineering Lab Class 1

7/26/2010
Basic
Diodes and
Basic
Diode
Applicatio
ns
Report Submitted to
the Electronic
Engineering Lab Class
1
C.M.D.Pathinayake.
[DEE10M8-3394]
In the first activity we used the multi-meter to take the measurements of resistance of the 1N4001
diode when it is on Forward Biased state and Reverse Biased state. The connected figures are as follows:
Forward Biased State

Reverse Biased State
When considering the forward biased state we got 4.4Ohms at 1xOhm scale and 4Ohms at 10xOhm
scale of the analog multi-meter. The reverse biased resistance for the diode was infinity for both scales.
Discussion:
The above results verify the real mechanism of a diode, because when measuring resistance using a
multi-meter or any other ohm meter, it provides some amount of voltage to the device we are checking,
so in this case after setting the voltage in the the forward biased direction the it reduces the depletion
region of the diode further and further and then the diode allows that current to pass through it. Even
though ideally we should get a zero resistance if the things are same as the following figure. But at
practical situation we get some amount of resistance.
But if we connect the multi-meter terminals in the opposite direction as in the following picture, voltage
causes to increase the depletion region. So the current could not pass through the diode and shows an
infinity resistance. However as the practical situation there is a very small current passing through the
diode.
The calculations we done in the above steps are mentioned here:
Average output voltage = Peak Voltage RMS voltage= Peak Voltage

. π 20.5
=8.75/π =2.78 V =8.75/20.5 = 6.18 V
Half Wave Rectifier

Then we connected the given Half Wave rectifier circuit on the bread board and observed the following
wave form using the provided Oscilloscope. The wave forms are on the following figure
These are the output wave forms we observed:
With AC coupling mode of the Oscilloscope
With DC coupling mode of the Oscilloscope
As the next step, we got the measurements of the output voltage using both AC and DC modes of
Analog and Digital multi-meters. And calculated the average voltage and rms voltage using the wave
measurements of the Oscilloscope with the help of given equations. Then we compared the results
with the measurements from the multi-meters to answer the next questions.
Discussion:
In the positive half-cycle of the AC wave which signal generator providing, the diode is forward biased
and it allows that part of the wave to go through it. But at the negative half-cycle the diode get reverse
biased and restricts that part of the wave to go through it. So in the output wave form we get only the
positive half cycle of and a blank at the space where negative portion existed in the input wave as the
diode has cut down the negative half in the output.
For most power applications, half-wave rectification is insufficient for the task. The harmonic content of
the rectifier's output waveform is very large and consequently difficult to filter. Furthermore, the AC
power source only supplies power to the load one half every full cycle, meaning that half of its capacity
is unused. Half-wave rectification is, however, a very simple way to reduce power to a resistive load.
Some two-position lamp dimmer switches apply full AC power to the lamp filament for “full” brightness
and then half-wave rectify it for a lesser light output.
Full Wave Rectifier

This step was done at the second day of lab class; we connected the given 1N4007 diodes on the bread
board to create a full wave rectifying bridge circuit and then connected a 10kOhm resister as the load
and supplied the AC power using the given power-pack. Also we were asked to use the DC coupling
mode of the Oscilloscope when observing wave forms.
When observing the input wave to the circuit [output from the power-pack] we saw that there comes an
AC sinusoidal wave other than a DC current which normally this kind of a power-pack should do. So we
assumed that the rectifying part of this has been removed and modified to provide a step downed AC
voltage.
Full Wave Rectified Output

Discussion:
Current directions for the full-wave bridge rectifier circuit are as shown in figure in left side for positive
half-cycle and the second figure in right side for negative half-cycles of the AC source waveform. Note
that regardless of the polarity of the input, the current flows in the same direction through the load.
That is, the negative half-cycle of source is a positive half-cycle at the load. The current flow is through
two diodes in series for both polarities. Thus, two diode drops of the source voltage are lost in the
diodes.
Smoothing Circuits
This activity was the fourth stage of our lab class. We modified the previously made full wave rectifying
circuit by connecting a capacitor in parallel with the load resistor. First we used a 10 uF capacitor and
recorded the output wave and then changed 100 uF while keeping the 10 kOhm load same.
This is the basic shape of wave from we observed on this activity,(the dark line shows the smoothened
output ).But when we were using more capacitive values, the smoothness of the wave further increased.
And notably when we were using 1kOhm resistor as the load, the smoothness decreased.
Discussion:
As the output voltage increases, the capacitor is charged, and as the output voltage falls back to zero,
the capacitor releases its charge (stored energy). The resulting voltage across the capacitor looks like the
above figure. So when the capacitance of the capacitor increases the ability of keeping charge is also
increases and releasing amount of charge is also increases. Because of this incident the smoothness of
the wave increases when we increasing the value of parallel capacitor.
Clipping and Clamping

In this step we connected the given circuit on the bread board and observed input and output wave
forms to observe the diode voltage waveform we were told to take the both input and output wave
forms in two channels of the Oscilloscope and add the wave forms together after inverting the output
wave.
Voltage Doubling
As the last activity we connected this circuit in the bread board (including a 100kOhm resistor in parallel
with C2)
Discussion:
When we start with the first negative half-cycle neither one of the capacitors have been charged yet, the
electrons are going to flow in the direction shown in following figure (a)forward biasing the right most
diode(D1) and charging the capacitor C1.
Then when we get the next positive half-cycle, electrons are

going to flow in the direction shown in the following figure
(b).
(b)
(a)
Then diode D2 forward biases with the energy from the coil and the previously charged C1 capacitor.
Those two potentials charge the capacitor C2 to double the voltage, these figure (c) shows it.
Ref: AllAboutCircuits.com
(c)

Basic Diodes and Basic Diode Applicatio NS: Report Submitted To The Electronic Engineering Lab Class 1

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Basic Diodes and Basic Diode Applicatio NS: Report Submitted To The Electronic Engineering Lab Class 1

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Basic Diodes and Basic Diode Applicatio NS: Report Submitted To The Electronic Engineering Lab Class 1

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

7/26/2010

Forward Biased State

Average output voltage = Peak Voltage RMS voltage= Peak Voltage

=8.75/π =2.78 V =8.75/20.5 = 6.18 V

Half Wave Rectifier

These are the output wave forms we observed:

With AC coupling mode of the Oscilloscope

With DC coupling mode of the Oscilloscope

Full Wave Rectifier

Full Wave Rectified Output

Clipping and Clamping

Then when we get the next positive half-cycle, electrons are

You might also like