Capacitors

What is a Capacitor?

Capacitor:

           Capacitor is an electronic component that stores electric charge.It is a passive electric component and In capacitor the charge is stored in the form of  electrical field. Capacitors play a major role in many  electrical and electronic circuits.

          The capacitor is made of 2 close conductors (usually plates) that are separated by a dielectric material. The plates accumulate electric charge when connected to power source. One plate accumulates positive charge and the other plate accumulates negative charge.

          The capacitor disconnects current in direct current (DC) circuits and short circuit in alternating current (AC) circuits.

          The capacitance is generally measured in units of Farad (F).

Capacitor symbols:

        

 Properties of Capacitors: 

• They can store the energy and it can dissipate this energy to the circuit when ever required.

• They can block DC and allow AC to flow through it, and this can couple one part of the circuit with the other.

• Circuits with capacitors depend on the frequency, so can be used to amplify certain frequencies.

• As the capacitors when applied with AC input , the current leads the voltage and thus in power applications it increases the pay load power and makes it more economical.

• It allows high frequencies and so it can be used as a filters either to filter low frequencies or to collect high frequencies.

 Voltage Rating:

         The voltage rating on a capacitor is the maximum amount of voltage that a capacitor can safely be exposed to and can store.

 

Applications:

•         coupling and decoupling applications
•         RF coupling and decoupling applications
•         Smoothing capacitor applications
•         Capacitor use as a timing element
•         Hold-up capacitor applications