Qualitative Practice Question and Solution - Power Supply Rectifiers

[Zach Stone P.E.]

We hear so much about qualitative questions and how difficult they can be to solve from previous exam takers. 

I wanted to offer an example of a qualitative question this week for practice. 

For those of you that are new or not familiar with qualitative questions, they are a tricky breed of exam questions designed to test your application of theory to select the most appropriate answer and usually does not involve any math.

Most often than not, more than one answer could be right, but one stands out as the "most correct", which is why they can be so difficult. 


Below is a quiz question taken directly from the Power Supplies Module in our Online Course to give you a better idea of qualitative questions and the different strategy you can use to help you solve them:

Quote
II.B.2. Power Supplies Quiz
Question 9 – Compared to a half wave rectifier, a full wave rectifier differs most nearly in that:

A) The average voltage output will be larger in value.

B) The average voltage output will be smaller in value.

C) It will require a larger peak voltage AC input signal to account for the three additional diodes.

D) The instantaneous input power seen at the power source will have a frequency twice as big as both the frequency of the instantaneous input voltage and current.


 

To see the solution and check your work, and to see why the other answers are not correct, visit the free full-length article linked below:

Electrical PE Review - Qualitative Practice Question and Solution: Power Supplies

Happy qualitating