🔍 Key Concepts

• Behavior of a capacitor-input filter in a rectifier power supply • Difference between voltage regulation that is good vs. poor as load current changes • Impact of capacitor charging on rectifier peak current and transformer utilization

💭 Think About

• When a capacitor is placed directly after a rectifier, at what point in the AC cycle does it actually draw current, and how does that affect the peak current through the rectifier? • If the capacitor charges up near the peak of the waveform, what happens to the DC output voltage as the load increases—does it stay nearly constant or does it sag noticeably? • How efficiently is the transformer used if current only flows during short intervals of the AC cycle instead of more continuously?

✅ Before You Answer

• Compare which choices describe high vs. low rectifier peak currents, and ask which better matches a capacitor charging only near the AC peaks. • Identify which choices claim good versus poor voltage regulation, and think about how much the output of a capacitor-input filter drops under heavier load. • Consider whether current flowing in short, high-amplitude pulses would lead to a high or low transformer utilization factor.