This tool calculates the ripple voltage (peak-to-peak) for a full-wave bridge rectifier.
Input the Load Current, Frequency and Capacitor value (select the units using the drop down menu).
Formula
VRipple = ILOAD/(f*C)
where,
- VRipple is the peak-to-peak voltage ripple
- ILOAD is the load current
- f is the frequency
- C is the capacitor is used to smooth the output voltage to a specified ripple.
Example Calculation
For a load current of 1 Amp, 50 kHz frequency, Capacitor value of 100 uF, the ripple voltage is 0.2 Volt. Increasing the capacitor size by a factor of ten to 1 mF reduces the ripple voltage to 20 mV.
The peak-to-peak voltage can be converted to RMS voltage (approximating it as a sine wave).