[Amps] PIV requirement for identical, individual diodes used in a bridge rectifier configuration?

[Steve Katz]

The previous post is correct.  Two reverse biased diodes are never in
series in a bridge made of only four rectifier cells.  Two diodes
"opposite each other" in the bridge are forward biased, while the other
two diodes "opposite each other" are reverse biased, but the full
reverse bias is applied to each of those two cells.

With 1600Vrms I'd never use a 2000 PIV rated rectifier; it's a recipe
for failure unless the rectifiers are very underrated and can actually
withstand considerably more than that.  Usually a "2000 PIV" rectifier
has at least two junctions in series internally, possibly more than two,
but the discussion treats each like it was a single cell.




 
> In my example, a 1600VAC transformer secondary is connected through 
> bridge rectifier (built from 4 individual diodes each rated 2000V PIV;

> current is not a concern here) into a filter capacitor. Do I proceed 
> as if the PIV is 4KV (due to two reverse-biased diodes in series), or 
> if not, how do I determine the appropriate diode rating requirement?
>