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Capacitors
Capacitors
A
C
d
Defining capacitance
• ‘Good’ capacitors store a lot of charge…
• …when only a small voltage is applied
• Capacitance is charge stored per volt
• Capacitance is measured in farads F
– Big unit so nF, mF and F are used
Q
C
V
Graphical representation
Q Q Gradient term is
C the capacitance
V of the capacitor
Charge stored is
Q CV directly
proportional to
y mx the applied
voltage
V
Energy stored by a capacitor
• By general definition E=QV
– product of charge and voltage
• By graphical consideration...
Q
1
E QV
2
Area term is
the energy
stored in the
V capacitor
Other expressions for energy
• By substitution of Q=CV
1
E QV
2
1 2
E CV
2
2
1Q
E
2 C
Charging a capacitor
• Current flow
• Initially
I
– High
• Finally
– Zero
• Exponential model
• Charging factors
– Capacitance
– Resistance
t
Discharging a capacitor
• Current flow
• Initially
t
– High
– Opposite to charging
• Finally
– Zero
• Exponential model
• Discharging factors
– Capacitance
– Resistance
I
Voltage and charge characteristics
V V
or or
Q Q
t t
• Charging Discharging
t t
V V0 (1 e RC
) Q Q0 e RC
Time constant
• Product of
– Capacitance of the capacitor being charged
– Resistance of the charging circuit
– CR
• Symbol ‘Tau’
• Unit seconds
Q V
CR
V Q t
CR t
When t equals tau during discharge
• At t = tau the capacitor has
t
Q Q0 e RC fallen to 37% of its original
value.
• By a similar analysis tau can
RC be considered to be the time
Q Q0 e RC taken for the capacitor to
reach 63% of full charge.
1
Q Q0 e
Q Q0 0.37
Graphical determination of tau
• V at 37%
• Q at 37% V
• Compared to initial or
maximum discharge Q
t
t RC
C t t
R
Logarithmic discharge analysis
• Mathematical consideration of t
discharge V V0 e RC
• Exponential relationship
• Taking natural logs equates V t
expression to ‘y=mx+c’ e RC
• Gradient is -1/Tau V0
ln V ln V0 t
RC
1
ln V t ln V0
RC
Logarithmic discharge graph
lnV
Gradient term
is the -1/Tau
t
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