The Half-Wave Rectifier With Inductive Load

Author: E.E. Kimberly

If a purely ideal inductive load were connected to a half-wave rectifier, the voltage applied to the load would be switched on every conducting half-cycle when the voltage was zero and about to become positive. It is to be expected then that the current would rise as shown in Fig. 8-10, When the voltage reached zero at the end of the first conducting half-cycle, the current would be maximum instead of zero as it would be if the load were purely resistive. The tube would then continue to conduct during the following negative half-cycle because the decreasing flux of the inductance would simulate a generator with positive voltage applied to the plate. The current would then be completely sinusoidal but always positive.

If the load consists of both inductance and resistance in series, the self-induced voltage of the inductance cannot maintain the current throughout the entire negative half-cycle of generator voltage, and the current varies as shown in Fig. 27-7.

Fig. 27-7. Current Characteristic of Half-Wave Rectifier Connected to an RL Load