Half-wave rectifier calculator

Calculate half-wave average and RMS output, peak current and load power.

Schematic

Loading CircuitSim schematic…

Results

Average output voltage2.84 V

Input and rectified output

InputOutput

Peak output	9.3 V
RMS output	4.56 V
Pulse frequency	50 Hz

Advanced results

Average load current	2.84 mA
Peak load current	9.3 mA
Load power	20.79 mW
Conduction angle per half-cycle	171.97 °

How half-wave rectifier works

One diode passes the positive portion of the sine wave into R1. A constant forward drop delays conduction until the input exceeds that voltage. The average output includes the non-conducting part of each cycle; it is not the peak voltage.

v_o(t)=\max(0,V_p\sin(2\pi ft)-V_F)

Constant-drop diode, ideal source and resistive load; no smoothing capacitor. The guest diode has a small on resistance.

Change the form inputs or click a component value on the schematic. Choose Try in CircuitSim to simulate the configured circuit.

Do the math

Selected input values
V1 — Input peak voltage	10 V
R1	1 kΩ
D1	700 mV
V1 — AC input frequency	50 Hz

Peak output: $V_{pk}=V_p-V_{drop}$
$10\,\mathrm{V}-700\,\mathrm{mV}$
≈ 9.3 V
Conduction starts: $\alpha=\sin^{-1}(V_{drop}/V_p)$
$\sin^{-1}\left(\frac{700\,\mathrm{mV}}{10\,\mathrm{V}}\right)$
≈ 4.01 °
Average output: $V_{avg}=\frac{2V_p\cos\alpha-V_{drop}(\pi-2\alpha)}{2\pi}$
$\frac{19.95\,\mathrm{V}-2.1\,\mathrm{V}}{2\pi}$
≈ 2.84 V
Load power: $P_L=V_{rms}^2/R_1$
$\frac{(4.56\,\mathrm{V})^2}{1\,\mathrm{k\Omega}}$
≈ 20.79 mW

Half-wave rectifier calculator

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Schematic

Results

How half-wave rectifier works

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