A.c. to d.c. converters

Claim 1

IN A WIDE-RANGE AMPLITUDE DETECTOR, THE COMBINATION COMPRISING: A FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD SEMICONDUCTOR ELEMENTS EACH HAVING A FORWARD OPERATING RANGE WHEREIN ITS RESISTANCE IS RELATIVELY HIGH BELOW A CHARACTERISTIC THRESHOLD VOLTAGE LEVEL THEREACROSS AND IS RELATIVELY LOW ABOVE SAID THRESHOLD LEVEL; A TRANSFORMER HAVING A PRIMARY WINDING AND A CENTER-TAPPED SECONDARY WINDING, MEANS CONNECTING SAID FIRST AND SECOND ELEMENTS IN OPPOSITELY POLED DIRECTIONS ACROSS SAID SECONDARY WINDING A CURRENT-LIMITING, IMPEDANCE CONNECTED TO SAID FIRST AND SECOND ELEMENTS, AND MEANS CONNECTING SAID THIRD ELEMENT AND SAID IMPEDANCE IN SERIES ACROSS A DIRECT CURRENT SOURCE FOR ESTABLISHING A FORWARD BIAS VOLTAGE ACROSS SAID THIRD ELEMENT, MEANS TO APPLY SAID BIAS VOLTAGE TO FORWARD BAIS SAID FIRST AND SAID SECOND ELEMENTS, AND MEANS COUPLED WITH SAID FRIST AND SAID SECOND ELEMENTS FOR DERIVING A DIRECT CURRENT SIGNAL WHICH VARIES AS A FUNCTION OF THE AMPLITUDE MODULATIONS ON AN ALTERNATING CURRENT SIGNAL APPLIED TO SAID PRIMARY WINDING.