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

[Richard Solomon]

Be very careful when you buy 6A10's. I have seen two versions, 1,000v PIV
and 100v PIV. I believe I brought this up a while back and posted links to
both datasheets.

73, Dick, W1KSZ

On Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 10:59 AM, Steve Katz <stevek at jmr.com> wrote:
> 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?
>>
> _______________________________________________
> Amps mailing list
> Amps at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/amps