Diode Rectifying Circuits with Capacitance Filters

This paper presents the results of an investigation of the half wave and full wave rectifier circuits with a simple capacitance filter and using either high vacuum or mercury vapor tubes. In the fore part of the paper an equivalent circuit is set up such that when the tube is conducting, a mercury vapor tube is represented by a constant voltage drop or a high vacuum tube by a constant resistance. A detailed analysis of this circuit is carried through in the appendix, and it is found that the output characteristics depend upon three parameters. The results of this analysis are presented in the form of curves giving the angles at which the tubes begin conducting and cease conducting and also the d-c output voltage. For the more special case of no tube drop, curves of ripple voltage, maximum tube current, and tube inverse peak voltage are presented. The comparisons made between the calculated results and test results show very satisfactory agreements. It is shown that the curves given in the paper may be used in the design of rectifier circuits with capacitance filters.