Bridge Rectifier

A bridge rectifier is an electronic circuit that converts alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC). It uses four diodes arranged in a bridge configuration to achieve this conversion.

The bridge rectifier's operation relies on the fact that diodes only allow current to flow in one direction. When AC voltage is applied across the bridge, the diodes conduct in such a way that only the positive half-cycles of the AC waveform are passed through to the output. The negative half-cycles are blocked.

• This results in an output DC voltage that has a pulsating nature.
• To obtain a smoother DC output, a filter capacitor is typically connected across the output of the bridge rectifier.