Mini Quiz to check your understanding

1. What type of resistor to control current in the electrical circuit?

(A) Thermistor
(B) Rheostat
(C) Potentiometer

2. Which type of resistor that commonly use for high current?

(A) Wire wound resistor
(B) Film resistor
(C) Composition resistor

3. How many color band on the resistor for the ohmic value less than 10?
(A) 5
(B) 4
(C) 3

Date : 15/01/07 Page No :1

6. Capacitance / Capacitor
 Store electrical energy in the electrostatic
field
 Capacitor is constructed as
–Two plates; negative (-) and positive (+)
–Dielectric is an insulator.

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
 The unit of capacitance is farad (F)
 Denote by the letter C
+ -
 Symbol is Fixed Capacitor Variable Capacitor Electrolytic Capacitor

 In practical the unit used is microfarad

(µF) mean 10-6F
 One Farad is the capacity required to hold one coulomb of
electricity under a force of one volt.
C (capacitance in Farad) = Q (charge in coulomb)
V (Voltage in Volt)
where, Q = I x t (Amp . sec)

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)

How does capacitor operate and store

electrical energy?

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
The Operation:
 When two plates of a capacitor are initially
attached to a battery, electrons are drawn
from the plate attached to the positive
terminal and flow to the plate attach to the
negative terminal.

 This process continues until the plates

become fully charged.
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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
 Once its charged, the voltage across the
capacitor will match the voltage of the
battery.

 When the voltage match, the current flow

stops regardless the switch is ON

 If the switch is OFF, the capacitor will

retain its charge.

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)

Date : 15/01/07 Page No :7

6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
Capacitor store energy into 2 ways:-

 Through the electrostatic attraction across

the dielectric.
 Through distortion of the electron orbits of
the atom within the dielectric material.
 This distortion sometimes called dielectric
stress.

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
Selection of capacitor

 It is important that the capacitance be

correct type
 Breakdown voltage of the capacitor must
be greater than the voltage to which the
capacitor will be subjected when in use

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
Factors affecting capacitance of capacitor are,
 Plate Area
- the larger the plate the more electron can be stored

- increase plate area, increase capacitance and

vise versa.

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
 Distance between plate
- the plate distance determine the strength of the electrostatic field
- the strength of the electrostatic force is increase inversely to the
separation of between the plates.
- increase plate distance, decrease capacitance and vise versa.

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
Composition of dielectric
- dielectric increase, capacitance increase.

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
 Determine by the formula,

KA where, C = capacitance (F)

C = -------- A = area (m2)
D D = distance (m)
K = dielectric constant

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
Material Dielectric Constant (k)
Vacuum 1.0000
Air 1.0006
Paraffin paper 3.5
Glass 5 to 10
Mica 3 to 6
Rubber 2.5 to 35
Wood 2.5 to 8
Glycerine (15°C) 56
Petroleum 2
Pure Water 81
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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
 Capacitor is constructed in two types

- Fixed

- Variable

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
FIXED TYPE
Electrolytic capacitor.
 Have large amount of
capacity with low working
voltage.
 It is polarized.
 Higher capacity for their small physical
size extremely thin dielectric.

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
 Positive plate - aluminum foil
 Dielectric - extremely thin oxide film
 Second plate - Liquid or paste electrolyte
contacts both the positive plate and the
negative container (capacitor sealed in).

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)

Electrolytic Capacitor

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
Non-electrolytic capacitor.
 Paper Capacitor
- low value of capacitance
- used paper type where
two strips of very thin
metal foil separated by a
strip of waxed paper

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
- usually range in value from about
300 picofarads to about 4
microfarads.
- working voltage rarely exceeds
600 volts.
- are sealed with wax to prevent the
harmful effects of moisture and to
prevent corrosion and leakage.

Date : 15/01/07 Page No :20

6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)

 Mica Capacitor
- smaller capacity with
higher working voltage
- used stacks of thin
metal foil sandwiched
between thin sheet of
mica.

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
- capacitor parts are molded into a plastic case
to prevent from, corrosion and damage to the
plates and dielectric.
- generally the values ranging from 1 pF to
0.1µF
- voltage from 100VDC to 2500VDC or higher.
- Mica is an excellent dielectric and can
withstand a higher voltage than can a paper
dielectric of the same thickness.
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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
 Ceramic Capacitor
- uses a hollow ceramic cylinder as both
the form on which to construct the
capacitor and as the dielectric
material.

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)

- the plates consist of thin films of metal

deposited on the ceramic cylinder.
- second type of ceramic capacitor is in
the shape of a disk.
- leads are attached to each side of the
capacitor

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)

- completely covered with an insulating

moisture-proof coating.
- usually range in value from 1 pF to
0.01 μF
- may be used with voltages as high
as 30,000 volts

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
 Oil Capacitor
- often used in high-power electronic
equipment.
- oil impregnated paper has a high
dielectric constant
- capacitors will use oil with another
dielectric material to prevent arcing
between the plates.

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)

- If arcing between the plates of an

oil-filled capacitor, the oil will tend
to reseal the hole caused by the
arcing.
- It is referred to as a SELF-
HEALING capacitor.

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
VARIABLE CAPACITOR

- Constructed in such
manner that its value of
capacitance can be varied.
- A typical variable
capacitor (adjustable
capacitor) is the rotor-stator
type.
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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)

-Two sets of metal plates arranged so that

the rotor plates move between the stator
plates.

- Air is the dielectric. As the position of the

rotor is changed, the capacitance value is
likewise changed. This type of capacitor
is used for tuning most radio receivers.

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
- Use as aircraft fuel quantity sensor probe
by changing the dielectric constant.
- Two concentric tubes fit across the tank
from top to bottom and each tube act as
one plate of capacitor.
- When tank is empty air is dielectric (1).
When tank is full fuel is dielectric (2).
Fuel indicator measures the capacitance
of the probes and converts it into numbers
that reflects the amount of fuel in the tank.
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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
Example of Aircraft Fuel Quantity Probe using Capacitance Type

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
TRIMMER CAPACITOR

- Consists of two plates

separated by a sheet of
mica.
- A screw adjustment is
used to vary the distance
between the plates, thereby
changing the capacitance.
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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
A
SW
CHARGING / DISCHARGING B
R 100KOhm
 When switch at A, the capacitor 100V

+
will charge at 63.2% of it full C 100µF

supply voltage (63.2volt). -

 This is known as Time Constant % of V

(TC) and can be determined by 100

80

the formula TC = C x R 60 x 63.2%

where, C- capacitor in Farad 40

20
R- resistor in ohms
t sec.

50
30

40
10

20
Date : 15/01/07 Page No :33
Ex:
E=100V, R=100k, C=100uF
Time Constant = RC
= 100k x 100uF
=10 sec (63.2%)
At 10 sec, the voltage across the
capacitor is 63.2V.

Therefore, for a capacitor

becomes fully charge it required
5 x RC i.e. 5 x 10 sec = 50 sec.

Date : 15/01/07 Page No :34

The voltage across the capacitor
reach 100V at 50 sec, thus
considered fully charge and no
current flow.

A
SW

B
R 100KOhm

100V
+

C 100µF

-
Date : 15/01/07 Page No :35
6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
 When switch at B, the capacitor A
SW

will discharge to 36.8volt in 10 B

R 100KOhm

sec from 100volt (power source 100V

+
C 100µF

voltage). -
 For the capacitor becomes fully % of V

discharge (zero volt), it required 100

5 x TC thus 50 sec. 80

60

x36.8%
40
20

t sec.

50
30
10

20

40
Date : 15/01/07 Page No :36
 A
SW

B
R 100KOhm

100V
+

C 100µF

For the capacitor becomes fully

discharge (zero volt), it required
5 x TC thus 50 sec.

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 Application - used as timing circuit (often made using capacitor and resistor
in series).

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Ex 1:
Given E = 100V, R = 10k ohm, C = 50uF, calculate its time constant and at
what is the time taken for the capacitor becomes fully charge?

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Time Constant = RC
= 0.5Sec

Fully Charge = 5 x RC
= 2.5 sec

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
Capacitors in Series
 the capacitance total (CT) will be decreased
due to increase in distance plate area.

C1 C2 C3

1
CT = c / n
CT = ---------------------------
1 + 1 + 1 + ……
C1 C2 C3
CT = C1 x C2 Product)
C1 + C2 (Sum)

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Ex :
If all the capacitor are the same value

CT = c / n; c – value of capacitor in Farad

n – number of capacitor in series

CT = c /n
= 10uF
3
= 3.3uF

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If two different value of capacitor

CT = C1 x C2 (Product)
C1 + C2 (Sum)
CT = C1 x C2
C1 + C2
= 10uF x 20uF
10uF + 20uF
= 200uF
30uF
= 6.7uF

Notes : In series, the total capacitance must be less than the lowest
capacitance in the circuit.
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If more than two capacitor of difference value
CT = _______1_______
1/C1 + 1/C2 + 1/C3

CT = _______1_______
1/C1 + 1/C2 + 1/C3
= __________1__________
1/10uF + 1/20uF + 1/30uF
= __________1___________
(100000+50000+33333)F
= ___1__
183333
= 0.0000054 Farad (5.4uF)

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
Capacitor in Parallel
When adding more capacitor
in parallel, the capacitance total
will increase due to increased
in plate area. It can be
determined by
C1 C2 C3
CT = C1 + C2 + C3 +.….

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Ex :

CT = C1 + C2 + C3
= 10uF + 20uF + 30uF
= 60uF (0.000060 farad)

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Calculate the unknown value

CT = ? CT = ?

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
CAPACITORS VALUE
 Capacitor values are indicated
on the body of the capacitor
either by typographical label or
by color codes.
 This label indicates various
parameters such as
capacitance, voltage rating and
tolerance.
Date : 15/01/07 Page No :48
6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
 For Typographical label is normally in
3–digit designation label.
 First two digits are the first two digit of
the capacitance value. The third digit
is the number of zeros after the
second digit.
Example:
Label = 103
Reads 10,000 pF (picoFarad) or 10,000 x 10-12 F

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
 For color-coded type, the color code used
for capacitor is basically the same as that
being used for resistors with some variation
in tolerance designation.

 Values of the capacitor can be measured by

using digital or analog Multimeter with the
setting to capacitor

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
Example of the color code for mica and molded paper capacitors.

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
Capacitor failures

Catastrophic
- Usually a short circuit caused by dielectric breakdown
or an open circuit caused by connection failure.
Degradation
- Is a gradual decrease in leakage resistor, hence an
increase in leakage current or an increase in
equivalent series resistance or dielectric absorption.

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
 Can be measured by removing the capacitor from the circuit and checked
with ohmmeter.

The steps to check suspected capacitor as follows,

 Be sure the capacitor is discharged (short the leads).
 Connect the meter (set on a high ohms range such as x1M) to the
capacitor and observed the ohmmeter needle and it should
indicate near zero ohms.
 Then the needle should begin to move toward the high resistance
end of the scale as the capacitor charges from the ohmmeter’s
battery.
 When the capacitor fully charged, the meter will indicate an
extremely high resistance.

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6. Capacitance / Capacitor (cont’d)
 If the suspected capacitor is internally shorted, the meter will go to zero
and stay at zero.
 If it is leaky, the final meter reading will be much less than normal.
 Most capacitor have a resistance of several hundred megaohms except
electrolytic capacitor, which is normally have < 1MOhm of leakage
resistance.

 If the capacitor is open, no charging action will be observed, and the

meter will indicate an infinite resistance.

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 END OF TOPIC 6
CAPACITANCE / CAPACITOR

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