Electronic – why the PIV of full wave rectifier is 2vm

diodesrectifier

Peak inverse voltage (PIV) is the maximum voltage a diode can handle in reverse bias condition.

Why does the PIV of the diodes in a full wave rectifier need to be 2×Vm?
(where Vm is the peak voltage of the input AC signal.)

Best Answer

Consider the circuit diagram of a center-tapped full wave rectifier where D1 is forward biased and D2 is reverse biased.enter image description here

The maximum reverse voltage appearing across will be 2*Vp. Where Vp is the amplitude of input signal.

So the diode that is used in a center-tapped full wave rectifier should have a PIV of atleast twice the peak voltage of input sine wave. Otherwise diode breakdown will happen and current will flow through the reverse biased diode. And the circuit is not a rectifier anymore.

Similarly, PIV for a full wave bridge rectifier will be Vp.