AC CIRCUIT CAPACITOR

PREPARED BY: TAÑEDO, ENRICO JOSE V.

 CAPACITOR
• The capacitor is a component which has the ability or “capacity” to store electrical energy
in an electric field. It is much like a small rechargeable battery.
• It is originally known as a condenser or condensator.
• It is a passive electronic component with two terminals.
• It can’t store as much energy as a battery, but it can charge and release energy much faster.

Capacitor Symbol
CAPACITOR

• In October 1745, Ewald Georg von Kleist of Pomerania, Germany, found that
charge could be stored by connecting a high-voltage electrostatic generator
by a wire to a volume of water in a hand-held glass jar. Von Kleist's hand and
the water acted as conductors, and the jar as a dielectric (although details of
the mechanism were incorrectly identified at the time). Von Kleist found that
touching the wire resulted in a powerful spark, much more painful than that
obtained from an electrostatic machine.
HOW CAPACITOR WORKS?

• Whenever voltage is applied across its terminals, (Also known as charging of a capacitor)
current start to flow and continue to travel until the voltage across both the negative and
positive (Anode and Cathode) plates become equal to the voltage of the source (Applied
Voltage). These two plates are separated by a dielectric material (such as mica, paper, glass,
etc. which are insulators), which is used to increase the capacitance of the capacitor.
• When we connect a charged capacitor across a small load, it starts to supply the voltage
(Stored energy) to that load until the capacitor fully discharges.
• Capacitor comes in different shapes and their value is measured in farad (F). Capacitors are
used in both AC and DC systems
CAPACITANCE

Capacitance - is the amount of electric charge moved in the condenser

(Capacitor), when one volt power source is attached across its terminal.
• Capacitance Equation: C=Q/V
Where, C = Capacitance in Farads (F)
Q = Electrical charge in Coulumbs
V = Voltage in Volts
 COMMON TYPES OF CAPACITORS

1.) Film Capacitor – commonly used capacitor it is available in capacitance range from
5pF
(pF= picofarads) to 100uF (uF = microfarads). The film capacitor is a non-polarized
capacitor and its dielectric is made using thin plastic films. These plastic films are
sometimes metalized and are available in the market under the name “metalized capacitor”.
These capacitors are sometimes also called as a metalized capacitor or plastic capacitors.
2.) Ceramic Capacitors - A fixed value type of capacitor where the ceramic material
within the capacitor acts as a dielectric is the Ceramic Capacitor. This capacitor consists of
more number of alternating layers with ceramic and also a metal layer which acts as an
electrode. The composition of this ceramic material in this capacitor tells about the
electrical behavior along with its applications. We can define ceramic capacitor as:
• A fixed-value capacitor where the ceramic material acts as the dielectric.
3.) Electrolytic Capacitor - An electrolytic capacitor is a type of capacitor that uses an
electrolyte to achieve a larger capacitance than other capacitor types. An electrolyte is a
liquid or gel containing a high concentration of ions. Almost all electrolytic capacitors are
polarized, which means that the voltage on the positive terminal must always be greater
than the voltage on the negative terminal.
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.
4.) Variable Capacitor - In this type of capacitor its capacitance can be changed repeatedly
by mechanical ways it is used to set frequency resonance in LC circuits and it could adjust
the radio for impedance matching in the antenna tuner device
variable capacitors are configured to allow changing capacitance levels.
 CAPACITOR IN AC CIRCUITS

• In this figure the capacitor is connected to the AC supply voltage. The capacitor
continuously charges and discharges depending to the continuous change in voltage
levels, because the AC supply voltage value is constantly increases and decreases.
• In AC, a Capacitor causes current to flow all the time because it is constantly being
charged and discharged.
• Capacitance in AC circuits is depends on the frequency of the supplied input voltage.
THE CURRENT IS DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL TO
THE RATE OF CHANGE OF VOLTAGE APPLIED
ON THE CIRCUIT
 which can be expressed as,

I = dQ / dt = C (dV / dt)
• Current is a measure of the flow of electric charge over time. It is defined as I = dQ/dt
• Ohm’s law for capacitor I = C (dV / dt)
Where: or dv = rated of change of voltage

dt = rate change of time in second

 AC CAPACITOR PHASOR DIAGRAM

• At 0o the rate of change of the supply voltage is increasing in a positive direction resulting in a maximum charging current at that instant in time.
As the applied voltage reaches its maximum peak value at 90o for a very brief instant in time the supply voltage is neither increasing or decreasing
so there is no current flowing through the circuit.

• As the applied voltage begins to decrease to zero at 180o, the slope of the voltage is negative so the capacitor discharges in the negative direction.
At the 180o point along the line the rate of change of the voltage is at its maximum again so maximum current flows at that instant and so on.

• Then we can say that for capacitors in AC circuits the instantaneous current is at its minimum or zero whenever the applied voltage is at its
maximum and likewise the instantaneous value of the current is at its maximum or peak value when the applied voltage is at its minimum or zero.

• From the waveform above, we can see that the current is leading the voltage by 1/4 cycle or 90o as shown by the vector diagram. Then we can say
that in a purely capacitive circuit the alternating voltage lags the current by 90o.
 SOURCES:
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor
• https://learn.adafruit.com/circuit-playground-c-is-for-capacitor/what-is-a-capacitor
• https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/capacitor/cap_8.html
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• https://www.electricaltechnology.org/2013/03/what-is-rule-of-capacitor-in-ac-and-dc.html
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tive%20current%20(Icap)%20%3D%20C,of%20change%20of%20the%20voltage
.
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• https://components101.com/articles/different-types-of-film-capacitors-and-their-applications
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• https://eepower.com/capacitor-guide/types/electrolytic-capacitor/#:~:text=An%20electrolytic%20capacitor%20is%20a,capacitance%20than%20other%20capacitor%20types.&text=Almost%20all
%20electrolytic%20capacitors%20are,voltage%20on%20the%20negative%20terminal
.