Ripple (physics)

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This article is about ripples in electricity. For for ripples on fluid interfaces, see capillary wave. For other uses, see ripple.

In electricity, ripple is the alternating current component from a direct current power supply arising from sources within the power supply. Unless otherwise specified, percent ripple is the ratio of the root mean square value of the ripple voltage to the absolute value of the total voltage.

The ripple voltage can be calculated from the following equations:

Full-wave rectification:

V_\mathrm{r} = \frac{I}{2fC}

Half-wave rectification:

V_\mathrm{r} = \frac{I}{fC}

where

  • Vr is the ripple voltage
  • I is the current in the circuit
  • f is the frequency of the AC power
  • C is the capacitance

[edit] References

  • N. B. Tufillaro, R. Ramshankar, and J. P. Gollub, "Order-disorder transition in capillary ripples", Physical Review Letters 62 (4), 422 (1989).