CAPACITOR

TYPES AND USES OF CAPACITORS

SERIES AND PARALLEL CAPACITANCES

TROUBLES IN CAPACITORS
WHAT IS CAPACITOR ?
 CAPACITOR
 originally known as condenser
 is a device used to store charge in and
electrical circuit.
 blocks the DC voltage but pass the AC signal voltage, by
means of the charge and discharge current.
 dielectric - made up of two conductors separated by an
insulator
 paper, plastic, mica, ceramic, glass, a vacuum or nearly any other
nonconductive material.
 electrolytic - made up of a thin layer of oxide formed on a
aluminum or tantalum foil conductors.

 symbol: C
 unit: farad (F)
TYPES AND USES
OF
CAPACITANCE
 TYPES AND USES OF
CAPACITORS
 Ceramics Capacitor
 Ceramic capacitors are the workhorses of the
capacitor world these days. Ceramic capacitors are
used in millions as a result of a combination of their
cost and performance. There is a wide variety of
dielectrics that can be used as described below,
but as the name of the ceramic capacitor suggests,
they are all ceramic in nature.
 In order to ensure that sufficient levels of
capacitance can be obtained within a single
capacitor package, ceramic capacitors, like types of
capacitor have multiple layers. This increases the
level of capacitance to enable the required values
of capacitance to be achieved.
CERAMIC CAPACITOR
 TYPES AND USES OF
CAPACITORS
 Mica Capacitor
 Silvermica capacitors are able to provide very
high levels of accuracy, stability and low loss.
As a result silver mica capacitors found many
uses in radio frequency applications, particular
for oscillator and filter circuits where their
stability, accuracy and low loss (leading to high
Q) were needed. Although not as widely used
these days, they can still be obtained and are
used where stability of value is of the utmost
importance and where low loss is required.
MICA CAPACITOR
 TYPES AND USES OF
CAPACITORS
 Paper Capacitor
 In this construction, two rolls of tinfoil
conductor separated by a tissue-paper insulator
are rolled into a compact cylinder. Each outside
lead connects to its roll of tinfoil as a plate.
The entire cylinder is generally placed in a
cardboard container coated with wax or
encased in plastic.
 It is often used for medium capacitance values
of 0.001 to 0.1 µF, approximately. The physical
size for 0.05 µF is typically 1in. long with 3/8in.
 TYPES AND USES OF
CAPACITORS
 Paper Capacitor
A black band at one end of a paper capacitor
indicates the lead connected to the outside
foil. This lead should be used for the ground or
low-potential side of the circuit to take
advantage of shielding by the outside foil.
 There is no required polarity, however, since
the capacitance is the same no matter which
side is grounded. It should be noted that in the
schematic symbol for C the curved line usually
indicates the low-potential side of the
capacitor.
PAPER CAPACITOR
 TYPES AND USES OF
CAPACITORS
 Plastic Capacitor
 Many capacitors of foil construction use a
plastic film. These feature very high insulation
resistance, over 1000 MΩ, low losses and
longer service life without voltage breakdown,
compared with paper capacitors. The plastic
capacitors are available in sizes of 0.001 to 1.0
µF, like paper capacitor.
PLASTIC CAPACITOR
 TYPES AND USES OF
CAPACITORS
 Electrolytic Capacitors
 These are commonly used for C values ranging
from 5 to 5000 µF, because electrolytics
provide the most capacitance in the smallest
space with least cost.
 Electrolytic capacitors are polarized, that is
the DC voltage applied to the capacitor
terminals must be on the correct polarity. All
polarized electrolytic capacitors have their
polarity clearly marked with a negative sign to
indicate the negative terminal and this polarity
must be followed.
 TYPES AND USES OF
CAPACITORS
 Electrolytic Capacitors
  Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors
 Today electrolytic capacitors or as they are
more correctly termed, aluminum electrolytic
capacitors are used in huge quantities. They are
very cost effective and able to provide a larger
capacitance per volume than other types of
capacitor. This gives them very many uses in
circuits where high currents or low frequencies
are involved.
 TYPES AND USES OF
CAPACITORS
 Aluminum electrolytic capacitors are
typically used most in applications such as
audio amplifiers of all types (hi-fi to mobile
phones) and in power supply circuits. Like
any other capacitor, it is necessary to
understand the advantages and limitations
of these capacitors to enable them to be
used most effectively.
 TYPES AND USES OF
CAPACITORS
 Electrolytic Capacitors
 Tantalum Electrolytic Capacitors
 Tantalum capacitors are widely used in
electronics design these days. Tantalum
capacitors offer a form of capacitor that
provides a very high capacity density. As a
result this form of capacitor has found
widespread use in many areas of electronics. In
view of its size and the attainable levels of
capacitance, these capacitors are widely used in
many mass produced items of electronics
equipment.
 TYPES AND USES OF
CAPACITORS
 The tantalum capacitor is similar to the
electrolytic capacitor, but using tantalum within
the construction of the capacitor it is able to
offer extremely high levels of capacitance for
any given volume. As such tantalum capacitors
are widely used in electronics equipment where
there is a need for small size and a high level of
capacitance. In view of its advantages, the
tantalum capacitor is used in large volumes
within the electronics manufacturing industry.
 TYPES AND USES OF
CAPACITORS
Electrolytics are widely used capacitors
due to their low cost and small size but
there are three easy ways to destroy an
electrolytic capacitor:
 Over-voltage - excessive voltage will cause
current to leak through the dielectric resulting
in a short circuit condition.
 Reversed Polarity - reverse voltage will cause
self-destruction of the oxide layer and failure.
 Over Temperature - excessive heat dries out
the electrolytic and shortens the life of an
electrolytic capacitor.
ELECTROLYTIC CAPACITOR
Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors
Tantalum Electrolytic Capacitors
 TYPES AND USES OF
CAPACITORS

DIELECTRIC CONSTRUCTION CAPACITANCE BREAKDOWN, V

Air Meshed plates 10 - 400 pF 400 (0.02-in. air

gap)
Ceramics tabular 0.5 - 1600 pF 500 – 20,000
Electrolytic Disk 0.002 - 0.1 µF
Aluminum 5 – 1000 µF 10 - 450
Tantalum 0.01 – 300 µF 6 - 50
Mica Stacked sheets 10 – 5000 pF 500 – 20,000
Paper or Rolled foil 0.001 – 1 µF 200 – 1600
Plastic film
 TYPES AND USES OF
CAPACITORS

TYPES ADVANTAGE DISADVANTAGE

Air Variable Low capacitance

Ceramics Variety Fragile
Electrolytic Large capacitance Leakage resistance
Mica Stable values Expensive
Paper or Inexpensive Temperature sensitive
plastic