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A voltage multiplier is an electrical circuit that converts AC electrical power from a lower voltage to a higher DC voltage by means of capacitors and diodes combined into a network.

Voltage multipliers can be used to generate bias voltages of a few volts or tens of volts or millions of volts for purposes such as high-energy physics experiments and lightning safety testing.

The most common type of voltage multiplier is the half-wave series multiplier, also called the Villard cascade. Such a circuit is shown opposite.

Assuming that the peak voltage of the AC source is +U_s we can describe the (simplified) working of the cascade as follows:

1. negative peak (−U_s): The C₁ capacitor is charged through diode D₁ to 0V (potential difference between left and right plate of the capacitor is U_s)
2. positive peak (+U_s): the potential of C₁ adds with that of the source, thus charging C₂ to 2U_s through D₂
3. negative peak: potential of C₁ drops to 0V thus allowing C₃ to be charged through D₃ to 2U_s.
4. positive peak: potential of C₁ rises to 2U_s (analogously to step 2), also charging C₄ to 2U_s. The output voltage (the sum of voltages under C₂ and C₄) raises till 4U_s.

In reality more cycles are required for C₄ to reach the full voltage. Adding more segments analogous to C₁-D₁-D₂-C₂, we can increase output voltage by 2U_s.

Contents 1 Layouts 2 Applications 3 See also 4 External links

Alternatives:

T

The images in this article show the diodes at right angles to the capacitors, stressing that stray capacity between the columns should be minimized.

W

The diodes are arranged diagonally, this stresses that the diodes hold DC-voltage.

Z

Sometimes the capacitors of the two columns are drawn next to each other (no shift), but this makes no sense, as the capacitors are on different potential.

X

Two cascades can be driven by a single center-tapped transformer to get full-wave rectification leading to less ripple.

Stack

A second cascade can be stacked onto the first one driven by a high voltage isolated second secondary winding connected with 180° phase shift to get full wave rectrification.

A single secondary winding of a transformer can drive to cascades of different polarity at the same time. Two of these can in turn be stacked. The goal is to reduce the ripple and the capacity at the same time. To further reduce ripple, an even number of stages is used and the connecting column gets bigger capacitors.

The high-voltage supplies for cathode ray tubes often use voltage multipliers with the final-stage smoothing capacitor formed by the interior and exterior aquadag coatings on the CRT itself.

A common type of voltage multiplier used in high-energy physics is the Cockcroft-Walton generator (which was designed by John Douglas Cockcroft and Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton for a particle accelerator, for use in research that won them the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1951).

• Marx generator (a device that uses spark gaps instead of diodes as the switching elements and can deliver higher peak currents than diodes can )
• Rectifier
• Charge pump

• Basic multiplier circuits
• Cockcroft Walton multipliers
• DC Voltage Booster