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Capacitors: Basics of Electrical and Electronics Engineering 1 / 44
Capacitors: Basics of Electrical and Electronics Engineering 1 / 44
Unit of capacitance is Farad (abbreviated as F), named after the British physicist
Michael Faraday.
Q = CV
where
Q - Charge stored in Coulombs
C - Capacitance in farad
V - Voltage across the capacitor in Volts
i
𝑣 =𝑣 0 𝑆𝑖𝑛𝜔 𝑡
∴𝑸=𝟐
𝝅 𝒇𝑹𝑪=𝝎 𝑹𝑪
Value of R for an ideal capacitor is infinity and hence Q is also infinity
Higher the quality factor better the quality of capacitor
10 / 44
Basics of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Capacitors are used in circuits
If there are three digits in the number, the third number indicates the
number of zeros to be put after first two digits and the value will be in pF.
104 means 10,0000 pF or 0.1 μF
If the letter k follows the digits, the value will be in kpF (kilo picofarad). 10
k means 10 kpF or 0.01 μF.
If the letters k or M follows the three digit number, it implies the tolerance
value 10% and 20% respectively.
The colours should be read like the resistor code, the top three colour
bands giving the value in pF.
The 4th band and 5th band are for tolerance and voltage rating
respectively.
For example: brown, black, orange means 10000pF = 10nF = 0.01µF.
Fixed Capacitors
Paper Capacitors
Mica Capacitors
Ceramic Capacitors
Electrolytic capacitors
Polyster capacitors
Basics of Electrical and Electronics Engineering 22 / 44
Mica capacitors
Mica sheets are brittle and cannot be rolled up like a paper dielectric
Mica is used as dielectric sheet and must be free from holes, uniformly thick and without
cracks or folds.
Made from plates of aluminium foil separated by sheets of mica
Constructed by interleaving thin films of mica with foils of tin or aluminium.
By connecting alternate foils, two sets of metal plates are formed to which separate terminals
are connected.
The complete unit is enclosed in a moulded ceramic or bakelite case with terminals coming
out at each end
Mica Capacitor
Basics of Electrical and Electronics Engineering 24 / 44
Mica capacitors
Features
Small capacitance value
High voltage rating (200V to 1000V)
Low loss factor
Less leakage current
High stability
Suitable for high frequency operation
•This paper is impregnated with a dielectric material such as wax, plastic or oil.
•
•The foil and paper are then rolled in the form of a cylinder and wire leads are
attached
•Paper capacitors vary from 0.0005mF to 2µF with voltage rating up to 1000V
•They have longer life and can be used in both dc and ac circuits
Basics of Electrical and Electronics Engineering 26 / 44
Fig. 5: Paper Capacitor
Paper Capacitor
Basics of Electrical and Electronics Engineering 27 / 44
Ceramic capacitors
Available in many shapes and sizes (like disc, tubular and button type)
These capacitors have a metallic positive plate on which a thin layer of oxide is
grown electrochemically to act as dielectric (anodization)
The oxide is in contact with a paper or gauze saturated with an electrolyte. The
electrolyte forms the second plate (negative) of the capacitor.
These capacitors are called electrolytic because they use an electrolyte as negative
plate
Another layer of aluminium without the oxide coating is also provided for making
electrical contact between one of the terminals and the electrolyte.
Basics of Electrical and Electronics Engineering 30 / 44
In most cases, the negative plate is directly connected to the metallic
container of the capacitor. The container then serves as the negative
terminal for external connections.
•The other set of plates can be rotated by means of a shaft and is called rotor
•By rotating the shaft at one end, we can change the common area between the
movable and fixed set of plates
•The greater the common area, the larger the capacitance.
•The capacitance value is in the range of pF to nF
•Used in radio tuning circuits, signal generators etc. Basics of Electrical and Electronics Engineering 36 / 44
Gang Capacitor
• Both mica and ceramic are used as the dielectric for trimmer capacitors.
• They are mechanically variable capacitors in which the distance between the electrodes is
varied to obtain variation in capacitance
• The movable plate is of spring material which can be moved closer to or away from the
fixed plate by means of a screw
• They are small value capacitors (3-30 pF, 4-70pF)
• Used in conjunction with large capacitors for fine adjustments
•It has large size and large capacitance values (400-600pF, 750-1000pF)