What is a selenium rectifier?

Ostemper selenium is the type of rectifier used by selenium, a chemical element that is not a metal, as a semiconductor for electrical conductivity. For a certain period of time, the selenium rectifier enjoyed popularity as possible the most widely used rectifier. Silicon rectifiers eventually took over this title.

Already at the end of the 19th century, metal rectifiers were used to convert an alternative current (AC) to a direct current (DC). This process, known as rectification, has been performed to direct electricity to one solid direction that DC offers, unlike AC that reverse directions. The device uses a piece of metal for electrical conductivity as a semiconductor. This means that such a component must have the ability to perform an electric current that is not as good as a conductor, but better than an insulator. The most common type of metal rectifiers included copper oxide and vacuum pipe rectifiers. Avery resources by means of selenium, chemical, which is not really metal. Are usually made to resemble piles of thin kulaof these or square plates, which are then met with aluminum or steel. Selen's sequence increased to meaning when vacuum pipe rectifiers did not provide a sufficient amount of amperes of the electric current required to charge the batteries on cars.

The remarkable advantage of the selenium rectifier was the ability of the user to compose multiple boards to increase the endurance of the device's voltage. In addition, unlike the rectifiers of the vacuum tube, they did not require the warm -up period because they were able to provide immediate operation. For electronic devices, selenium rectifiers were used as varied as radios, televisions and photocopies.

The use of selenium rectifiers reached its peak in the middle of the forties and mid -1970s when they were commonly employed for radio and TVs. Until this time they replaced DC generators. Before the arrival of the selenium rectifier, the DC generators were the only halfODCIs used in batteries charger applications that required a high amount of electric current.

By the end of the 20th century, however, selenium rectifiers were overtaken by silicon rectifiers or silicone diodes. These devices were actually available in the mid -1950s, but only in the 1960s began to create its dominance. These devices work at higher voltages than selenium rectifiers and are also cheaper and more reliable. However, the selenium is still produced as a substitute device.