A pulsating direct current is a direct current (dc) that changes in value at regular or irregular intervals.
A pulsating direct current may change in value, i.e., be always present but at different levels, or it may be a current that is interrupted completely at irregular or regular intervals (at specific frequency), but when present, is always in the same direction.
Pulsating currents are commonly created by using diode rectifiers or by DC sources connected in series with AC sources (where the amplitude of AC ≤ DC).
Famous quotes containing the words direct and/or current:
“Of course it is of no use to direct our steps to the woods, if they do not carry us thither. I am alarmed when it happens that I have walked a mile into the woods bodily, without getting there in spirit.... What business have I in the woods, if I am thinking of something out of the woods?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“What in fact have I achieved, however much it may seem? Bits and pieces ... trivialities. But here they won’t tolerate anything else, or anything more. If I wanted to take one step in advance of the current views and opinions of the day, that would put paid to any power I have. Do you know what we are ... those of us who count as pillars of society? We are society’s tools, neither more nor less.”
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906)