Electric Circuits: Full-Wave Rectifier

In power electronics, a full-wave rectifier provides rectification from an AC (Alternating Current) wave to a DC supply. Simcenter STAR-CCM+ provides simulation capabilities that allow you to investigate the effect of circuit component choices on the electromagnetic performance of such devices.

In this tutorial, you create a full-wave rectifier circuit and couple it to the secondary coil of a transformer. You build the circuit using the graphical circuit editor provided in Simcenter STAR-CCM+, and apply the magnetic vector potential model in both the solid and air regions. The electric current densities in the coil regions are modeled using the excitation coil model.

The rectifier circuit is shown below.

Simulations such as this allow you to examine the impact of the magnetic field produced by the transformer and ensure that any screening, for example, is effective. Due to the tight coupling between the circuit and the electromagnetic model, you can also make immediate assessments of the impact that circuit component choices have on the transformer design.