Voltage-Multiplier Circuits

126

Voltage Doubler

Half-wave voltage doubler.

 Voltage Doubler 127

Double operation, showing each half-cycle of operation: (a) positive half-cycle; (b)
negative half cycle.
 Voltage Doubler 128

Full-wave voltage doubler.

 Voltage Doubler 129

Alternate half-cycles of operation for full-wave voltage doubler.

 Voltage Tripler and Quadrupler
130

Voltage tripler and quadrupler.

Voltage Tripler and Quadrupler 131

a) negative peak (−Us): The C1 capacitor is charged through diode D1 to 0 V

(potential difference between left and right plate of the capacitor is Us)
b) positive peak (+Us): the potential of C1 adds with that of the source, thus
charging C2 to 2Us through D2
c) negative peak: potential of C1 drops to 0 V thus allowing C3 to be charged
through D3 to 2Us.
d) positive peak: potential of C1 rises to 2Us (analogously to step 2), also
charging C4 to 2Us. The output voltage (the sum of voltages under C2 and
C4) raises till 4Us.
Practical Applications
132

Rectification

FIGURE 2-125 Battery charger: (a) external appearance; (b) internal construction.
FIGURE 2-126 Electrical schematic for the battery charger of Fig. 2-125. 133
FIGURE 2-127 Pulsating response of the charger of Fig. 2-126 to the application of a headlamp as a load. 134
Protective Configurations 135

FIGURE 2-128a Transient phase of a simple R-L

circuit.

FIGURE 2-128b Arcing that results across a switch

when opened in series with an R-L circuit.
 136

FIGURE 2-129a Inductive characteristics of

a relay.
relay

FIGURE 2-129b Snubber protection for the configuration of Fig. 2-129a.

FIGURE 2-129c Capacitive protection for a switch. 137

FIGURE 2-130 Diode protection for an R-L circuit.