1. electronics fundamentals
circuits, devices, and applications
THOMAS L. FLOYD
DAVID M. BUCHLA
Chapter 9 – The Basic Capacitor

2. The Basic Capacitor Capacitor:
Electrical device composed of two parallel conductive plates separated by an insulating material (dielectric).
The ability to store charge is the definition of capacitance.
Conductors
Dielectric

3. The Basic Capacitor Initially uncharged Source removed Fully charged
Charging
The charging process…
A capacitor with stored charge can act as a temporary battery.

4. Capacitance Capacitance is the ratio of charge to voltage
C = Capacitance (ability to store charge)
Q = Charge (coulombs)
V = Volts

5. Capacitance Capacitance (farad) Farad
Amount of capacitance when one coulomb of charge is stored with one volt across the plates.
The amount of charge on a capacitor is determined by the size of the capacitor (C) and the voltage (V).
If a 22 mF capacitor is connected to a 10 V source, the charge is
220 mC

6. Capacitance An analogy:
Imagine you store rubber bands in a bottle that is nearly full.
You could store more rubber bands (like charge or Q) in a bigger bottle (capacitance or C) or if you push them in more (voltage or V). Thus,

7. Energy Storage
A capacitor stores energy in the form of an electric field that is established by the opposite charges on the two plates.
The energy of a charged capacitor is given by the equation
where
W = the energy in joules
C = the capacitance in farads
V = the voltage in volts

8. Electrical Characteristics
Voltage rating – amount of voltage that can be withstood across the plates
Breakdown or working voltage - voltage at which physical damage is done to the capacitor.
Dielectric strength – A measure of a compounds ability to serve as an insulator. V/mil (.001” or 2.54 * 10-5 meter)
See Table 9-2 – Page 392
Temperature coefficient – indicates the amount and direction of change in capacitance value with temperature
Leakage – amount of charge that leaks through the dielectric

9. Physical Characteristics
Plate area – Capacitance is directly proportional to the plate area.
Plate separation – Capacitance is inversely proportional to the distance between the plates.

10. Dielectric constant (or relative permittivity) – measure of a material’s ability to establish an electric field.
Capacitance is directly proportional to the dielectric constant.

11. Dielectric constant (or relative permittivity) – measure of a material’s ability to establish an electric field.
Capacitance is directly proportional to the dielectric constant.
Absolute permittivity of a vacuum = (epsilon)
A= area in meters2
d = meters
c = farads
Capacitance

12. Capacitor types Mica - very hard, heat resistant mineral
Mica capacitors are small with high working voltage. er (5)

13. Capacitor types Ceramic disk
Ceramic disks are small non-polarized capacitors
They have relatively high capacitance due to high er (1200)

14. Capacitor types Plastic Film
Plastic film capacitors are small and non-polarized.
They have relatively high capacitance due to larger plate area. er (depends on the film used)

15. Capacitor types Electrolytic (two types)
Electrolytic capacitors have very high capacitance
not as precise as other types and
tend to have more leakage current.
Electrolytic capacitors are the only ones polarized.
Symbol for any electrolytic capacitor
Aluminum electrolytic
Tantalum electrolytic

17. Defibrillator Capacitor can deliver over 500 joules of energy
Power Factor Correction

18. Capacitor types Variable Variable capacitors:
have small capacitance values and
are adjusted manually
called Trimmers, padders or tuning capacitors because they are used to make very fine adjustments in a circuit.
Varactor diode - A semiconductor that exhibits capacitive characteristic; it is adjusted with an electrical signal.

19. Capacitance meter

20. Capacitor labeling
Small capacitors values are frequently stamped on them such as .001 or .01, which have implied units of microfarads.
Electrolytic capacitors have larger values, so are read as mF.
Usually stamped as mF, but some older ones may be shown as MF or MMF).

21. Capacitor labeling
A label such as 103 or 104 is read as 10x103 (10,000 pF) or 10x104 (100,000 pF) respectively. (Third digit is the multiplier.)
When values are marked as 330 or 6800, the units are picofarads.
What is the value of each capacitor?
Both are 2200 pF.

22. Capacitors in series
Divide Voltage across them in proportion to their capacitance
Current is same at all points while charging; then goes to zero
Q is charge and C is capacitance

23. I

24. Series capacitors
When connected in series, the total capacitance is smaller than the smallest one.
Capacitance for any number of capacitors in series
Capacitance for two capacitors in series

25. Series capacitors
If a mF capacitor is connected in series with an 800 pF capacitor, the total capacitance is
444 pF
1000pF

26. Voltage in Series Capacitors
Voltage depends on capacitance value
Smallest value capacitor will have the largest voltage across it
Largest value capacitor will have the smallest voltage across it.

27. Parallel capacitors
When capacitors are connected in parallel, the total capacitance is the sum of the individual capacitors.
The voltage across capacitors in the same parallel branch is the same.
The total charge stored by each capacitor is proportional to its capacitance. QT=Q1+Q2+Q3+…+QN
VC2 = VC1

28. Parallel capacitors The general equation for capacitors in parallel is
If a mF capacitor is connected in parallel with an 800 pF capacitor, the total capacitance is
1800 pF

29. Capacitors in DC Circuits
A capacitor charges when connected to a DC voltage.
When fully charged, there is no current flow.
Except for leakage, a capacitor will remain charged for long periods.
A capacitor appears as an “open” to a constant voltage.
A capacitor appears as a “short” to an instantaneous change in voltage.
When discharging the flow of current is in the opposite direction from the charging cycle.

30. The RC time constant RC Time Constant:
A fixed time interval that equals the product of the resistance and the capacitance in a series capacitor circuit.

31. The RC time constant
When a capacitor is charged through a series resistor and dc source, the charging curve is exponential.

32. The RC time constant
When a capacitor is discharged through a resistor, the discharge curve is also an exponential. (Note that the current is negative.)

33. The RC time constant VS
The same shape curves are seen if a square wave is used for the source. VC VR

34. Universal exponential curves
The general voltage formula is
v =VF + (Vi - VF)e-t/RC
VF = final value of voltage
Vi = initial value of voltage
v = instantaneous value of voltage
The final capacitor voltage is:
greater than the initial voltage when the capacitor is charging, or
less that the initial voltage when it is discharging.

35. Universal exponential curves
Specific values for current and voltage can be read from a universal curve. For an RC circuit, the time constant is
Rising (charging) exponential
Falling (discharging) exponential
Any capacitor will charge in 5 time constants!!

36. Universal exponential curves
How long will it take to charge the capacitor shown in the circuit below to 16 volts? Use the charging curve shown.
20v
16 volts = 80% of final value
80% (16 v) of charge occurs at ~ 1.6 time constants
τ = (10*103Ω)*(.001x10-6F) = 10 x10-6 sec = 10µs
∴ Time to reach 16v = 1.6 x 10µs ~ 16 µs
Time to reach 17.2 volts?

37. Universal exponential curves
How long will it take to charge the capacitor shown in the circuit below to 16 volts? Use the charging curve shown.
20v
Time to reach 17.2 volts?

38. Capacitors in AC Circuits
When the source voltage is held at a constant amplitude and the frequency is:
increased the amplitude of the current increases which indicates a decrease in resistance to charging.
decreased the amplitude of the current decreases which indicates an increase in resistance to charging

39. Capacitive Reactance
The opposition to ac by a capacitor is known as Capacitive reactance (XC). Unit is Ohms
Capacitive reactance is:
inversely proportional to frequency
inversely proportional to capacitance
f – hertz
C - farads
The capacitive reactance of a mF capacitor when a frequency of 15 kHz is applied is
226 W

40. Reactance for Series Capacitors
When capacitors are in series, the total capacitive reactance is the sum of the individual reactance's.
Assume three mF capacitors are in series with a 2.5 kHz ac source. What is the total reactance?
The reactance of each capacitor is
5.79 kW

41. Reactance for Parallel Capacitors
When capacitors are in parallel, the total reactance is the reciprocal of the sum of the reciprocals of the individual reactance's.
If the three mF capacitors from the last example are placed in parallel with the 2.5 kHz ac source, what is the total reactance?
The reactance of each capacitor is 1.93 kW
643 W

42. Ohms Law for Capacitors
The capacitive reactance of a capacitor is the same as a resistor
Xc same as resistance
Current and volts must be in the same units but it does matter which
(i.e. rms, peak, p to p)
Calculate I
7957.7Ω
Irms= 2vrms/7957.7Ω = 0.25mA

43. Capacitive Voltage Divider
Two capacitors in series are used as a capacitive voltage divider.
The capacitors split the output voltage:
in proportion to their reactance and
inversely proportional to their capacitance.
XCX is the reactance of the capacitor CX
XC(tot) – total capacitive reactance
VX – voltage across capacitor CX
Vout

44. Capacitive Voltage Divider
What is the output voltage for the capacitive voltage divider?
Vout
91 mV

45. Capacitive Voltage Divider
Instead of using a ratio of reactances in the capacitor voltage divider equation, you can use a ratio of the total series capacitance to the output capacitance (multiplied by the input voltage). The result is the same. For the problem presented in the last slide,
91 mV
Vout

46. Capacitive phase shift
When a sine wave is applied to a capacitor, there is a phase shift between voltage and current such that current always leads the voltage by 90o.

47. Power in a capacitor
Energy is stored by the capacitor during a portion of the ac cycle and returned to the source during another portion of the cycle.
Power is maximum where the V and I curves cross

48. Power in a capacitor Voltage and current are always 90o out of phase.
No true power is dissipated by a capacitor, because stored energy is returned to the circuit.
The rate at which a capacitor stores or returns energy is called reactive power.
The unit for reactive power is the VAR (volt-ampere reactive).

49. Rectifiers
Convert a sinusoidal wave (ac) to a pulsing dc wave

50. Power supply filtering
Pulsing voltage and current are not usually desirable for operating equipment
A capacitor adds a smoothing effect to the wave by discharging on the down slope of the curve.
Rectifier
60 Hz ac C
Load resistance
The filter smoothes the pulsating dc from the rectifier.

51. Coupling capacitors
Coupling capacitors are used to pass an ac signal from one stage to another while blocking dc.
The capacitor isolates dc between the amplifier stages, preventing dc in one stage from affecting the other stage.

52. Bypass capacitors
Bypass an ac signal to ground but retain a dc value. This is widely done to affect gain in amplifiers.
The bypass capacitor places point A at ac ground, keeping only a dc value at point A.

53. Selected Key Terms Capacitor Dielectric Farad RC time constant
An electrical device consisting of two conductive plates separated by an insulating material and possessing the property of capacitance.
The insulating material between the conductive plates of a capacitor.
The unit of capacitance.
A fixed time interval set by the R and C values, that determine the time response of a series RC circuit. It equals the product of the resistance and the capacitance.

54. Selected Key Terms Capacitive reactance
Instantaneous power (p)
True power (Ptrue)
Reactive power (Pr )
VAR
(volt-ampere reactive)
The opposition of a capacitor to sinusoidal current. The unit is the ohm.
The value of power in a circuit at a given instant of time.
The power that is dissipated in a circuit usually in the form of heat.
The rate at which energy is alternately stored and returned to the source by a capacitor. The unit is the VAR.
The unit of reactive power.

55. Quiz 1. The capacitance of a capacitor will be larger if
a. the spacing between the plates is increased.
b. air replaces oil as the dielectric.
c. the area of the plates is increased.
d. all of the above.

56. Quiz 2. The major advantage of a mica capacitor over other types is
a. they have the largest available capacitances.
b. their voltage rating is very high
c. they are polarized.
d. all of the above.

57. Quiz 3. Electrolytic capacitors are useful in applications where
a. a precise value of capacitance is required.
b. low leakage current is required.
c. large capacitance is required.
d. all of the above.

58. Quiz
4. If a mF capacitor is in series with a 6800 pF capacitor, the total capacitance is
a pF.
b pF.
c pF.
d mF.

59. Quiz
5. Two capacitors that are initially uncharged are connected in series with a dc source. Compared to the larger capacitor, the smaller capacitor will have
a. the same charge.
b. more charge.
c. less voltage.
d. the same voltage.

60. Quiz
6. When a capacitor is connected through a resistor to a dc voltage source, the charge on the capacitor will reach 50% of its final charge in
a. less than one time constant.
b. exactly one time constant.
c. greater than one time constant.
d. answer depends on the amount of voltage.

61. Quiz
7. When a capacitor is connected through a series resistor and switch to a dc voltage source, the voltage across the resistor after the switch is closed has the shape of
a. a straight line.
b. a rising exponential.
c. a falling exponential.
d. none of the above.

62. Quiz 8. The capacitive reactance of a 100 mF capacitor to 60 Hz is
a kW.
b. 265 W.
c W.
d W

63. Quiz
9. If an sine wave from a function generator is applied to a capacitor, the current will
a. lag voltage by 90o.
b. lag voltage by 45o.
c. be in phase with the voltage.
d. none of the above.

65. Quiz 10. A switched capacitor emulates a a. smaller capacitor.
b. larger capacitor.
c. battery.
d. resistor.

66. Quiz
Answers:
1. c
2. b
3. c
4. b
5. a
6. a
7. c
8. d
9. d
10. d