A full-wave rectifier circuit is a circuit that rectifies the entire cycle of the AC sine-wave. A basic full-wave rectifier uses two diodes. The action of these diodes during each half cycle is shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7 Full-Wave Rectifier

Another type of full-wave rectifier circuit is the full-wave bridge rectifier. This circuit utilizes four diodes. These diodes' actions during each half cycle of the applied AC input voltage are shown in Figure 8. The output of this circuit then becomes a pulsating DC, with all of the waves of the input AC being transferred. The output looks identical to that obtained from a full-wave rectifier (Figure 7).

Figure 8 Bridge Rectifier Circuit

Summary

The important information concerning DC sources is summarized below.

DC Sources Summary

There are four common ways that DC voltages are produced.

- Batteries

- DC Generators

- Thermocouples

- Rectifiers

Thermocouples convert energy from temperature into a DC voltage. This voltage can be used to measure temperature.

A rectifier converts AC to DC.

There are two types of rectifiers.

- Half-Wave rectifiers

- Full-Wave rectifiers

Half-wave rectifiers convert the AC to a pulsating DC and convert only onehalf of the sine wave.

Full-wave rectifiers convert the AC to a pulsating DC and convert all of the sine wave.