What is rectifier ? What's is …

A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current (AC), which periodically reverses direction, to direct current (DC), which flows in only one direction. The process is known as rectification, since it "straightens" the direction of current.

Half-wave rectification : In half-wave rectification of a single-phase supply, also called uncontrolled one-pulse midpoint circuit, either the positive or negative half of the AC wave is passed, while the other half is blocked. Mathematically, it is a ramp function (for positive pass, negative block): passing positive corresponds to the ramp function being the identity on positive inputs, blocking negative corresponds to being zero on negative inputs. Because only one half of the input waveform reaches the output, mean voltage is lower. Half-wave rectification requires a single diode in a single-phase supply, or three in a three-phase supply. Rectifiers yield a unidirectional but pulsating direct current; half-wave rectifiers produce far more ripple than full-wave rectifiers, and much more filtering is needed to eliminate harmonics of the AC frequency from the output.