Capacitor/Super capacitor

Capacitors
➢ A Capacitor is a little like a battery but works completely differently. A battery is an
electronic device that converts chemical energy into electrical energy, whereas a
capacitor is an electronic component that stores electrostatic energy in an electric
field.
➢ Capacitor is a device that can store charge in an electrical circuit.
➢ A capacitor is a passive component that is able to store both negative and positive
charges.
➢ Depending upon the design, construction, size, and storage capacity of a capacitor, it
can be used in a variety of applications.
 Construction
➢ The basic construction of all capacitors is
similar.

➢ A capacitor is made of two electrically

conductive plates placed close to each other, but
they do not touch each other.

➢ One plate is for a positive charge while the

other is for a negative charge.

➢ These conductive plates are normally made of

materials such as aluminum, brass, or copper.
The space between the conductors may be filled
by vacuum or with an insulating material known
as a dielectric.
 Working
➢ Consider a parallel plate capacitor with a dielectric between them. Now, apply the voltage V
in the circuit, plate 1 has the positive charge and plate 2 has negative charge. Across the
capacitor an electric field appears. When these plates are applied with the voltage they will
carry positive charge from the battery at plate 1 and negative charge on plate 2. For some
time the voltage is applied and within that time the capacitor gets charged to the maximum
limit of holding charge and this time is called as charging time of the capacitor.

➢ After some time when the capacitor has reached its maximum limit of charging then we will
cut the supply of power to the capacitor. For a certain time, the two plates hold a negative
and positive charge. Thus, the capacitor acts as a source or electric charge. If these plates
are connected to a load, the current flows through the load from plate 1 to plate 2 until all
the charges are dissipated from both plates. This time of discharging of the capacitor is
known as the time of dissipation.
 Super Capacitors
➢ Electric double-layer capacitors, also known as super capacitors electrochemical double
layer capacitors (EDLCs) or ultra capacitors are electrochemical capacitors that have an
unusually high energy density when compared to common capacitors.

➢ An ultra capacitor , also called a super capacitor , is an electrical component capable of

holding hundreds of times more electrical charge quantity than a standard capacitor
This characteristic makes ultra capacitors useful in devices that require relatively little
current and low voltage.

➢ In some situations, an ultra capacitor can take the place of a rechargeable low-voltage
electrochemical battery.
Advantages of Supercapacitor
➢ Very High efficiency
➢ Fast charging property.
➢ Supercapacitor has a long life than a battery 10 to 15
years.
➢ The supercapacitor can withstand any temperature
between -30 to 65-degree centigrade whereas a
battery can withstand -10 to 40-degree centigrade.
➢ The supercapacitor is very light in weight.
➢ Supercapacitors can be installed in a short area as it
has very smaller in size
➢ The supercapacitor has a very fast transient response.
Disadvantages of supercapacitor
➢ The supercapacitor has very low specific energy
➢ It is very difficult to make high voltage capacity
supercapacitor at the present time that is why mostly
2.7V supercapacitors are available in the market.
➢ The linear discharge voltage property of the
supercapacitor is a disadvantage for us.
➢ Price of supercapacitors is more than Li-ion batteries
for the same capacity.
➢ The supercapacitor quickly discharges than a battery
when it is not connected with the load or in other words
the self-discharging property of Supercapacitor is a
disadvantage for us.
 Applications
➢ The capacitor used for storage of energy.
➢ Capacitors are used to run the motor.
➢ Capacitors is used in single phase motors.
➢ Capacitors are widely used in radio and telecommunications.
➢ It is generally used in filter circuits and tuning circuits.
➢ It is used in long time constant circuits and also used as storage capacitor in digital
equipment's.
➢ Used in tuning circuits for selection of frequency an used as temperature constant.
➢ Used in high frequency microwave system.
➢ To assist create a smooth sound, capacitors connect the steady DC impulses with the
quickly varying voltages that drive speakers.