Half-Wave Rectifier

Half-wave rectifier: a single diode in series with a load lets only one HALF of the AC cycle pass.

During the positive half of input AC: diode forward-biased, current flows.

During the negative half: diode reverse-biased, blocks current (output = 0).

Output is a series of positive pulses, not smooth DC.

Average (DC) output voltage: V_dc = V_m/π ≈ 0.318 V_m, where V_m is the input peak.

RMS output: V_rms = V_m/2 (over the full cycle).

Ripple factor (RMS of AC component / DC) for half-wave: ~1.21 — very poor; needs heavy filtering.

PIV (Peak Inverse Voltage) the diode must withstand: V_m.

Efficiency: ~40.6% — poor. Half-wave is used only when simplicity matters and load draws little current.