Ideal Diode Bridge

Analog Devices' ideal diode bridge controllers replace the four diodes in a full-wave bridge rectifier with a low loss MOSFET to drastically reduce power dissipation, heat generation, and voltage drop. The Schottky diode bridge rectifier is a classic circuit used for full-wave ac-to-dc rectification and dc polarity correction. Due to the ~0.6 V drop of each diode, the two diodes in the I/O path dissipate power (1.2 W per ampere), radiate heat, raise the ambient temperature, and complicate thermal design. At low input voltages, the two diode drops significantly reduce the voltage available to the downstream dc-to-dc converter. Ideal diode bridges eliminate or reduce heat sinking requirements, which helps shrink the overall footprint and provides significant cost savings.