A single-phase (half-wave) voltage multiplier consisting of an array of n doubler stages. All capacitances in the circuit are equal. The circuit consists of two series stacks of capacitors, the "charging stack" (on top) and the "load stack" (the one connected to the output terminal).
Both are interconnected by a meandering stack of diodes. The output voltage (open circuit) is an even multiple of the AC peak voltage supplied by the transformer (neglecting the forward voltage of the diodes). The AC peak voltage supplied by the transformer, Up, is √2•URMS, provided the sine wave is not distorted.
The disadvantage of the single-phase multiplier is that the load stack not only has to store the electrical charge which flows through the load resistor (not shown in the diagram) and smoothen the output voltage but also has to recharge the charging stack during the negative half wave. This results in comparatively bad voltage regulation and high ripple voltage under load.
Circuit Diagram of single-Phase (Half-Wave) Multiplier with n doubler stages (classical Cockcroft-Walton Circuit)