DC Power Supply

Before, the output of the full-wave rectifier was bumpy. This will cause problems with our circuits if we try to use it as a power supply.

So, to use the full-wave rectifier as a DC power supply, we'll add a smoothing capacitor to the output of the diode bridge.

Now, the output of the power supply will be much smoother. We can reduce the size of the ripples by choosing a larger smoothing cap.

The shape of the ripples is determined by the AC frequency and the RC time constant of the smoothing cap and circuit impedance.

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