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A hand-made diode bridge. The silver band on the diodes indicates the cathode side of the diode.. A diode bridge is a bridge rectifier circuit of four diodes that is used in the process of converting alternating current (AC) from the input terminals to direct current (DC, i.e. fixed polarity) on the output terminals.
In power supply design, a bridge circuit or bridge rectifier is an arrangement of diodes or similar devices used to rectify an electric current, i.e. to convert it from an unknown or alternating polarity to a direct current of known polarity. In some motor controllers, an H-bridge is used to control the direction the motor turns.
For purposes of illustration, a basic full-wave diode-bridge rectifier is shown in the first stage, which converts the AC input voltage to a DC voltage. Operation [ edit ]
A variety of silicon diodes of different current ratings. At left is a bridge rectifier. On the 3 center diodes, a painted band identifies the cathode terminal. Silicon diodes are the most widely used rectifiers for lower voltages and powers, and have largely replaced other rectifiers. Due to their substantially lower forward voltage (0.3V ...
Various semiconductor diodes. Left: A four-diode bridge rectifier.Next to it is a 1N4148 signal diode.On the far right is a Zener diode.In most diodes, a white or black painted band identifies the cathode into which electrons will flow when the diode is conducting.
Wire crossover symbols for circuit diagrams. The CAD symbol for insulated crossing wires is the same as the older, non-CAD symbol for non-insulated crossing wires. To avoid confusion, the wire "jump" (semi-circle) symbol for insulated wires in non-CAD schematics is recommended (as opposed to using the CAD-style symbol for no connection), so as to avoid confusion with the original, older style ...
Whereas normal semiconductor diodes have a roughly fixed voltage drop of around 0.5 to 1 volts, active rectifiers behave as resistances, and can have arbitrarily low voltage drop. Historically, vibrator -driven switches or motor-driven commutators have also been used for mechanical rectifiers and synchronous rectification.
A simple precision rectifier circuit. The basic circuit implementing such a feature is shown on the right, where can be any load. When the input voltage is negative, the opamp puts its most negative voltage on the diode's anode, so the diode is reverse biased and works like an open circuit.