Ripple Voltage Concept
Also described as ripple or ripple factor, ripple voltage results from signal variation in a DC voltage. Typically expressed as a percentage, ripple voltage can indicate minimal variations (in the millivolt range) within an electrical system.
Importance for Sensitive Systems
This concept is very important for more sensitive electrical systems, which cannot withstand even these small variations. In a 12 Volt DC voltage, for example, the electrical signal can vary between 11.99 and 12.01 Volts — a tiny variation, but one that can cause damage to the electrical system.
Practical Example
In this example, ripple voltage is the difference between the measurements: 20 continuous millivolts, or equal to 0.02 Volts. To correct this situation, it is necessary to install voltage clippers or filtering circuits.
How to Calculate Ripple Voltage?
Learning to calculate ripple voltage is quite simple, and there are various devices that perform this function. The oscilloscope is the most popular, as it only takes a few seconds to calculate ripple voltage in a given electrical circuit.
Measurement Methodology
For this, the device identifies voltage peaks and the effective voltage value (a quantity that indicates the intensity of a DC current that would produce the same heating effect as an AC current), pointing out the variation between them.
