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How does the full wave bridge work? What were the positive and negative swings?

The idea is to consider each part of the ``swing'' of the input sinusoid and look at which parts of the full-wave bridge are more positive or negative, in order to figure out which way the diode conducts. We can treat the diodes in our simplest model, as one-way current valves that conduct when the back-of-the-arrow side is more positive than the vertical line side.

During the positive swing (positive hump of the sinusoid), the top node of the bridge is more positive than the bottom. The top left diode won't conduct but the top right one will, as it will be forward-biased. The right node will be only 0.6 V less positive than the top. The bottom right diode will be reverse-biased and won't conduct. Current can flow right to left across the center resistor, so there will be a $+$ to $-$ voltage drop across it; the current will flow through the forward-biased bottom left diode to the bottom.

During the negative swing, it's a similar situation, except that the current flows from the positive bottom node, through the forward-biased bottom right diode, right to left across the center resistor, and through the top left diode to the more-negative top node. In both cases there a $+$ to $-$, right to left voltage drop across the center resistor. Since that's where the output voltage is taken from, the output swing will always be positive.


next up previous
Next: About this document ... Up: Content Questions Previous: How does a Zener
Kate Scholberg 2017-02-23