Glass Passivated Bridge Rectifier

Using Arduino General Electronics
#1

Hello, I was recently de-soldering some old electronics and came across an LT GBL406 and looked it up here
and it says that it is a Glass passivated bridge rectifier. On the page it shows that there are 4 pins and the outer 2 are (+) and (-) and the middle 2 pins are(“AC symbol”).

I have 2 questions,

1)Are the outer 2 pins the rectified voltage and the middle pins is where you attach the AC signal(with polarity not making a difference)?

2)I am still learning how to read Datasheats but I believe that the “Forward Current” means that it takes a certain amount of current to turn on. So according to the datasheet, does it really take 4amps to get this circuit to work?

GBL406.pdf (95.7 KB)

#2

  1. yes, you are correct.

  2. No, the 4 amps is the maximum current the device can handle without overheating.

Paul

#3

Paul_KD7HB:

  1. yes, you are correct.

  2. No, the 4 amps is the maximum current the device can handle without overheating.

Paul

thanks for the response, what do I look for on the datasheet to see what ac voltages it works with and what DC voltage it outputs?

#4

Reading the data sheet information for any bridge rectifier will make that information obvious. Try it.

Second, you really need to read about how a bridge rectifier works! The output is pulsating DC from 0 to the peak voltage of the AC waveform.

Paul

#5

Paul is correct and the pulsing DC will be twice the AC frequency as it both half's of the waveform. Silicon has an affinity for water, to prevent water from contaminating the silicon they use glass as one of the materials, it is only a critical moisture seal. Forward current is the maximum current it will conduct without damage, in your case "anything" less then 4 amps is in range. You will have to keep that bridge at 25C to realize 4 amps continuous. They have thermal characteristics you need to check and design for.
Good Luck & Have Fun!
Gil

#6

gilshultz:
Silicon has an affinity for water, to prevent water from contaminating the silicon they use glass as one of the materials, it is only a critical moisture seal.

Reminded of the lifetime of those crappy solar garden lights.

#7