CAPACITORS

CAPACITORS
The capacitor is a component which has the
ability or “capacity” to store energy in the
form of an electrical charge producing a
potential difference (Static Voltage) across its
plates, much like a small rechargeable battery.
 CAPACITORS
There are many different kinds of capacitors
available from very small capacitor beads used
in resonance circuits to large power factor
correction capacitors, but they all do the same
thing, they store charge.
 CAPACITORS
A capacitor has the ability of being able to store an
electrical charge Q (units in Coulombs) of
electrons.

When a capacitor is fully charged there is a

potential difference, p.d. between its plates, and
the larger the area of the plates and/or the smaller
the distance between them (known as separation)
the greater will be the charge that the capacitor
can hold and the greater will be its Capacitance.
 DIELECTRIC
In its basic form, a capacitor consists of two or
more parallel conductive (metal) plates which
are not connected or touching each other, but
are electrically separated either by air or by
some form of a good insulating material such
as waxed paper, mica, ceramic, plastic or some
form of a liquid gel as used in electrolytic
capacitors. The insulating layer between a
capacitors plates is commonly called the
Dielectric.
 DIELECTRIC
A dielectric is a medium that can withstand high
electric stress without appreciable conduction.
When such stress is applied, energy in the form
of an electric charge is held by the dielectric.
Most of this stored energy is recovered when
the stress is removed. The only perfect dielectric
in which no conduction occurs and from which
the whole of the stored energy may be
recovered is a perfect vacuum.
 LIQUID DIELECTRICS
The important electrical properties of the liquid are
dielectric strength, conductivity, flash point, gas
content, viscosity, dielectric constant, dissipation
factor, stability, etc.
Liquids are used in high voltage equipment to
serve the dual purpose of insulation and heat
conduction.
Highly purified liquids have dielectric strength as
high as 1 MV/cm. The breakdown strength can
reduce due to the presence of impurities.
 LIQUID DIELECTRICS

Petroleum oils are the commonest insulating liquids.

However, askarels, fluorocarbons, silicones and
organic esters including castor oil are used in
significant quantities.
Askarels and silicones are particularly useful in
transformers and capacitors and can be used at
temperatures of 200°C and higher. Castor oil is a good
dielectric for high voltage energy storage capacitors
because of its high corona resistance, high dielectric
constant, non-toxicity and high flash point
 SOLID DIELECTRICS
Many organic and inorganic materials are used
for high voltage insulation purpose.
Widely used inorganic materials are ceramics
and glass.
The most widely used organic materials are
PVC, PE or XLPE.
Kraft paper, natural rubber, silicon rubber and
polypylene rubber are some of the other
materials used as insulation in electrical
equipment.
SOLID DIELECTRICS
 CAPACITANCE
Capacitance is the ratio of the amount of electric
charge stored on a conductor to a difference in electric
potential. There are two closely related notions of
capacitance: self capacitance and mutual capacitance.
Any object that can be electrically charged exhibits self
capacitance. In this case the electric potential
difference is measured between the object and
ground. A material with a large self capacitance holds
more electric charge at a given potential difference
than one with low capacitance.
 CAPACITANCE
In a typical capacitor, two conductors are used
to separate electric charge, with one conductor
being positively charged and the other
negatively charged, but the system having a total
charge of zero. The ratio in this case is the
magnitude of the electric charge on either
conductor and the potential difference is that
measured between the two conductors.
 CAPACITANCE
The capacitance is a function only of the
geometry of the design (e.g. area of the plates
and the distance between them) and the
permittivity of the dielectric material between
the plates of the capacitor. For many dielectric
materials, the permittivity and thus the
capacitance, is independent of the potential
difference between the conductors and the
total charge on them.
The SI unit of capacitance is the farad (symbol:
F)
 CAPACITANCE
The capacitors ability to store this electrical
charge ( Q ) between its plates is proportional to
the applied voltage, V for a capacitor of known
capacitance in Farads. Note that capacitance C is
ALWAYS positive and never negative.
Charge on Capacitor: Q (Charge, in Coulombs) =
C (Capacitance, in Farads) x V (Voltage, in Volts)
 CONSTRUCTION OF CAPACITOR
The simplest construction of a capacitor is by using
two parallel conducting metal plates separated
through a distance by an insulating material, called
the dielectric.
Due to this insulation between the conductive
plates, the charge/current cannot flow between the
plates and is retained at the plates. The plates may
be of different shapes like rectangle, square, circular,
and can be made into different shapes like a bead,
disc, or cylindrical type by always maintaining
constant insulation level between the plates.
 CONSTRUCTION OF CAPACITOR

The size of these capacitors depends on their

power handling capacity.
In order to charge the capacitor, it has to be
connected across a voltage source and the
charging current will continuously flow to the
capacitor till it is fully charged. Once it is fully
charged it by itself becomes a voltage source.
 TYPES OF CAPACITOR

The different types of capacitors are following.

• Electrolytic Capacitor
• Mica Capacitor
• Paper Capacitor
• Film Capacitor
• Non-Polarized Capacitor
• Ceramic Capacitor
 Electrolytic Capacitor
Generally, the electrolyte capacitors are used when
the large capacitor values are required. The thin
metal film layer is used for one electrode and for the
second electrode (cathode) a semi-liquid electrolyte
solution which is in jelly or paste is used. The
dielectric plate is a thin layer of oxide, it is developed
electrochemically in production with the thickness of
the film and it is less than the ten microns.
 Electrolytic Capacitor
The uses of electrolytic capacitors are generally
in the DC power supply circuit because they are
large in capacitance and small in reducing the
ripple voltage. The applications of this
electrolytic capacitors are coupling and
decoupling. The disadvantage of the electrolytic
capacitors is their relatively low voltage rating
because of the polarization of electrolytic
capacitor.
 Mica Capacitor
This capacitor is a group of natural minerals
and the silver mica capacitors use the
dielectric. There are two types of mica
capacitors which are clamped capacitors &
silver mica capacitor. Clamped mica
capacitors are considered as an obsolete
because of their inferior characteristic.
 Mica Capacitor
The silver mica capacitors are prepared by
sandwiching mica sheet coated with metal on
both sides and this assembly is then encased in
epoxy to protect the environment. The mica
capacitors are used in the design calls for stable,
reliable capacitor of relatively small.
 Mica Capacitor

The mica capacitors are the low loss capacitors,

used at high frequencies and this capacitor is
very stable chemically, electrically, and
mechanically, because of its specific crystalline
structure binding & it is a typically layered
structure. The most common used are Muscovite
and phlogopite mica. The Muscovite mica is
better in the electrical properties and the other
Mica has a high-temperature resistance.
 Paper Capacitor
The construction of paper capacitor is between
the two tin foil sheet and they are separated from
the paper, or, oiled paper & thin waxed. The
sandwich of the thin foils and papers then rolled
into the cylindrical shape and then it is enclosed
into the plastic capsule. The two thin foils of the
paper capacitors attach to the external load.
 Paper Capacitor
In the initial stage if the capacitors the paper
was used in between the two foils of the
capacitor, but these days the other materials like
plastics are used, therefore it is called as a paper
capacitor. The capacitance range of the paper
capacitor is from 0.001 to 2.000micro farad and
the voltage is very high which is up to 2000V.
 Film Capacitor
The film capacitors are also capacitors and
they use a thin plastic as the dielectric. The
film capacitor is prepared extremely thin using
the sophisticated film drawing process. If the
film is manufactured, it may be metalized
depend on the properties of a capacitor. To
protect from the environmental factor the
electrodes are added and they are assembled.
 Film Capacitor
There are different types of film capacitors are
available like polyester film, metallized film,
polypropylene film, PTE film and polystyrene
film. The core difference between these
capacitors types is the material used as a
dielectric and dielectric should be chosen
properly according to their properties. The
applications of the film capacitors are stability,
low inductance, and low cost.
 Film Capacitor
The PTE film capacitance is a heat resistance and
it is used in the aerospace and military
technology. The metalized polyester film
capacitor is used in the applications are it
requires long stability at a relatively low.
 Non-Polarized Capacitors
The non-polarized capacitors are classified
into two types
• plastic foil capacitor and the other one is
• the electrolytic non-polarized capacitor.
 Non-Polarized Capacitors

• The plastic foil capacitor is non-polarized by

nature and the electrolytic capacitors are
generally two capacitors in the series, which
are in the back to back hence the result is in
the non-polarized with half capacitance
 Non-Polarized Capacitors
The non polarized capacitor requires the AC
applications in the series or in parallel with the
signal or power supply.

The examples are the speaker crossover filters

and power factor correction network. In these
two applications, a large AC voltage signal is
applied across the capacitor.
 Ceramic Capacitor
The ceramic capacitors are the capacitors and
use the ceramic material as a dielectric. The
ceramics are one of the first materials to use
in the production of capacitors as an insulator.
Ceramic Capacitor
 Ceramic Capacitor
There are many geometries are used in the ceramic
capacitors and some of them are the ceramic tubular
capacitor, barrier layer capacitors are obsolete because of
their size, parasitic effects or electrical characteristics. The
two common types of ceramic capacitors are multilayer
ceramic capacitor (MLCC) and ceramic disc capacitor.
• The multilayer ceramic capacitors are prepared by
using the surface mounted (SMD) technology and they
are smaller in size, therefore, it is used widely. The
values of the ceramic capacitors are typically between
the 1nF and 1µF and the values are up to 100µF are
possible.
 Ceramic Capacitor
• The ceramic disc capacitors are manufactured
by coating a ceramic disc with silver contacts
on both sides and to achieve with the larger
capacitance, these devices are made from
multiple layers. The ceramic capacitors will a
have high-frequency responses due to the
parasitic effects like resistance and
inductance.
 SERIES CAPACITOR CONNECTION

When capacitors are connected in series,

the total capacitance is less than any one
of the series capacitors’ individual
capacitances. If two or more capacitors
are connected in series, the overall effect
is that of a single (equivalent) capacitor
having the sum total of the plate spacings
of the individual capacitors.
Thus, the total capacitance is less than any one
of the individual capacitors’ capacitances.
 PARALLEL CAPACITOR CONNECTION

When capacitors are connected in parallel,

the total capacitance is the sum of the
individual capacitors’ capacitances. If two or
more capacitors are connected in parallel, the
overall effect is that of a single equivalent
capacitor having the sum total of the plate
areas of the individual capacitors. An increase
in plate area, with all other factors
unchanged, results in increased capacitance.
Thus, the total capacitance is more than any one
of the individual capacitors’ capacitances.