Abstract
THE conversion of alternating current into current pulsating in one direction is a problem which electrical engineers have been studying for many years. In the early days of the industry, a serious drawback to the use of alternating currents for supply distribution was that there was no accumulator suitable for storing the electrical energy, and hence the alternators had to run night and day. Electrolytic valves were then invented to rectify the alternating current, so that it could be used for charging cells. In polyphase systems of supply, this was accomplished mechanically by machines called rotary converters. At the present moment mercury vapour rectifiers are employed in many towns to get direct current from an alternating supply. In connexion with radio engineering all kinds of rectifiers are used. It will be seen, therefore, that the field is a wide one and it is continually expanding.
Alternating Current Rectification: a Mathematical and Practical Treatment from the Engineering View-point.
By L. B. W. Jolley. Pp. xviii + 352. (London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1924.) 25s. net.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Alternating Current Rectification: a Mathematical and Practical Treatment from the Engineering View-point . Nature 115, 417 (1925). https://doi.org/10.1038/115417c0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/115417c0