This article is part of WikiProject Electronics, an attempt to provide a standard approach to writing articles about electronics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can choose to edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. Leave messages at the project talk pageElectronicsWikipedia:WikiProject ElectronicsTemplate:WikiProject Electronicselectronic articles
The term "pulsed DC" as used in this article is more appropriately called "half-wave" or "full-wave" rectified AC as in the Wikipedia
"Rectifier" article. The term "pulsed DC" is commonly used to describe a signal consisting of one or more rectangular ("flat-topped"), rather than sinusoidal, pulses.[1]Kesteinke (talk) 17:05, 6 July 2015 (UTC)kesteinke[reply]
One fifty year old textbook defines "pulsed DC" as if it were something special because the voltage never dips below zero. It's a definitional problem. By implication, it is DC, with all that goes along with it: (a) its Fourier transform has a single peak at zero hertz, and (b) won't be converted by a transformer. The definition of pulsed DC is specious. The cases worthy of discussion, "flat-topped," half-wave, and full-wave rectified AC, are all signals with one or more sinusoidal components in superposition with a DC voltage. One might argue that a square wave between zero and x volts is pulsed DC, but a Fourier analysis will show that it has an infinite number of odd-numbered sinusoidal harmonics. This badly formed definition (courtesy of the authority of Wikipedia) is being used a authority in other venues, such as physics.stackexchange. The challenge is to find an authority that says this definition is wrong. I recommend the article be rewritten or scrapped. Rhadow (talk) 13:28, 11 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
On second thought, here is a better argument against this article. "Pulsed DC" fails as a definition. It makes an assertion of what it *is*, but is insufficient to describe what it *isn't*: a sinusoidal signal (alternating current by definition) superposed on a direct current (whose Fourier transform has a single peak at zero). If you cannot describe what it isn't, then it is everything. At best, it conveys little information. At worst, it's illogical. Rhadow (talk) 00:50, 12 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Pulsed DC (also known as pulsating DC) is an electronics term which has been used historically at least in the USA to describe rectified AC before it is filtered. [2]
Also, it is a modern term used in physical vapor deposition using magnetron sputtering technology, used to differentiate it from DC and RF. [3][4][5] — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tigerracing (talk • contribs) 16:34, 19 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]
^Chapter 2 of "Introductory Signals and Circuits" by Jose B. Cruz, Jr. and M. E. Van Valkenburg, Blaisdell Publishing Company, 1967.
