Survey of Today's Use of Power Rectifiers in Industry

This paper has given a thumbnail sketch of today's use of various types of power rectifiers in industry. The picture is broad because it involves so many kinds of rectifiers and types of rectifier equipment, as well as varieties of application. It will be seen that the rectifying devices used for industrial rectifier units (mercury-arc rectifier tubes and semi-conductors) are similar to many of the devices used in electronics and communication, if not in size, at least in principle of operation. Thus the industrial engineer, the user of power rectifier equipment, and the radio engineer, today have a common interest in the science of electronics and electronic circuits. Electronics has provided the vital tool for the development of radio and telecommunication. It has provided for industry a tool which is often superior in performance, simpler in operation, and generally more attractive than other alternative ways of doing the-same job. The greatest strides forward will probably be made in the field of semi-conductors. Germanium may be expected to largely replace mechanical rectifiers and compete seriously with mercury-arc rectifiers up to voltages of about 500 direct current. Silicon metallic rectifiers will very likely prove to supplement but not replace germanium as a useful commercial product.