 Ideally eliminates the fluctuations in the output voltage

of a half-wave or full-wave rectifier and produces a

constant-level dc voltage.

 Filtering is necessary because electronic circuits require

a constant source of dc voltage and current to provide
power and biasing for proper operation.

1.3
 Filters are implemented with capacitors.
POWER
SUPPLY  In most power supply applications, the standard 50 Hz ac
power line voltage must be converted to an
FILTERS approximately constant dc voltage.

 The pulsating dc output of a half-wave rectifier or full-

wave rectifier must be filtered to reduce the large voltage
variations.

 The small amount of fluctuation in the filter output

voltage is called ripple.

1
 Capacitor - input filter

Types of RC filter
Filters
LC filter

2
Illustration of filtering concept showing a nearly
smooth dc output voltage from the filter.

3
Capacitor-input Filter

Example of
capacitor input
filter in a dc
power supply
circuit

4
 The RC charge time of the filter capacitor
(C1) must be short, and the RC discharge time
must be long to eliminate ripple action.

 The rate of discharge of the capacitor is

determined by the value of capacitance and
the value of the load resistance.

 If the capacitance and load-resistance values

are large, the RC discharge time for the circuit
is relatively long.

5
Example of capacitor input filter with half wave rectifier
Initial charging of the
capacitor (diode is
forward-biased)
happens only once
when power is turned
on

The capacitor
discharges through RL
after peak of positive
alternation when the
diode is reverse-biased

The capacitor charges

back to peak of input
when the diode
becomes forward-
biased.
6
 Waveforms of rectifier with capacitor filter

Vs
Half-wave rectifier Vs Full-wave rectifier

ripple

Vo Vo

Rectifier output

Better filtering also results when the input frequency is high.

Full-wave rectifier output is easier to filter than the half-wave

because of its higher frequency.
7
  Capacitor quickly charges at the beginning
of a cycle and slowly discharges through RL
after the positive peak of the input voltage
(when the diode is reverse-biased).

Ripple  The variation in the capacitor voltage due to

Voltage the charging and discharging is called the
ripple voltage.

 Generally, ripple is undesirable; thus, the

smaller the ripple, the better the filtering
action.

8
 Examples of ripple output

ripple
(a) Larger ripple means less effective filtering

(b) Smaller ripple means more effective filtering

The larger the capacitor value, the smaller the ripple

for the same input and load
9
  The ripple factor (r) is an indication of the effectiveness
of the filter and is defined as

 The lower the ripple factor, the better the filter.

Ripple  The ripple factor can be lowered by increasing the

Factor value of the filter capacitor or increasing the load
resistance.
𝑉𝑟(𝑝𝑝)
𝑟=
𝑉𝐷𝐶

10
 LC Filter
The LC filter consists of
2 capacitors, C1 and C2
and an inductor (choke),
L1.

Used primarily in radio

receivers, small audio
amplifier power
supplies, and in power
supply where the output
current is low, and the
load current is relatively
constant.

11
 How does an LC filter work?

 Output from the rectifier consists of AC components which is the ripples. This
output is directly applied to the input capacitor, C1.
 C1 provides very low reactance to the AC ripples and most AC ripples gets
bypassed through C1.
 Major filtering action is done by C1.
 L1 is a large value inductor (choke) exhibits high reactance and C2 offers a very
low reactance to the ripple frequency.
 The remaining AC ripples are removed by the combining action of L1 and C2.
This combination further reduce the amplitude of the ripple.

12
 ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

Higher dc output voltage

Use of inductor makes the filter bulky, heavy
- Low voltage drop across L1 and C2
and expensive
maintains the high output.

Constant dc output voltage Poor voltage regulation

- L resist changes in current magnitude, steady - Output voltage drops rapidly with increase in
current helps output voltage remains constant. load current.

Smaller ripple factor High peak diode current

- Use of two capacitors C1 and C2 improves
filtering action High peak inverse voltage

LC Filter

13
 The RC filter consists of an input filter capacitor (C1), a
series resistor (R1), and an output filter capacitor (C2).

This filter is sometimes referred to as an RC π filter.

The RC capacitor-input filter is limited to applications in

which the load current is small.

It is used in power supplies where the load current is constant

and voltage regulation is not necessary, such as in high-
RC Filter voltage power supplies and in decoupling networks for
multistage amplifiers.

14
How does an RC filter work?

 C1 offers low reactance to the ac components of the rectified output (ripple).

 AC ripple is bypassed to ground through C1, most of the ripple is filtered at

this stage.

 The remaining ripple is passed on to the R1-C2 network, most of the ripple
voltage is dropped across R1.

 C2 offers low reactance to the AC ripple which reduces the ripple even
further.

15
 ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

Smaller capacitors can be used with good Suitable only for small load current or large
results. load resistance circuits

Requires adequate ventilation

Use of resistor reduces the size, weight and
- Large voltage drop in R1 causing increased
cost of the filter (as compared to LC filter)
heat dissipation.

Poor voltage regulation

- Voltage drop across R1 reduces the output
voltage

RC Filter

16
Filtered output from rectifier

17