ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC

PRINCIPLES I

Lecture 05 – Capacitor and Capacitance

T. Subashini De Silva
subashini.d@slit.lk
Department Of Electrical & Computer Engineering
Faculty Of Engineering
Sri Lanka Institute Of Information Technology
Early experiments have found that,
keeping two metal plates (using the same material) close too each other, and by applying a
supply voltage the plates get charge. In this scenario one plate act as a storage of positive
charges and the other as a storage of negative charges.

Facts are,
1. when d is too small
2. when A is greater
Area = A 3. by applying an insulator / dielectric area in
between the metal plates

Separation = d

greater the amount of electric

charges get stored

Ref. Video – Capacitor_v1 and How a Capacitor Works - by Dr. Oliver Winn
Capacitor
 Capacitors are devices, that provide electrical energy storage.
 Named as CONDENSOR in early days.
 A capacitor consists of two metal plates (conductors) & separated by an Insulator.

Leads
Symbol/s
Metal Plates

Dielectric Area
An insulator – a non
conducting material
e.g. air, oil, mica, plastic,
Leads
ceramic etc.

Basic Construction of a parallel plate capacitor

 Deficiency of ‘-’
charges

Flow of charges

Excess of ‘-’ charges

 The capacitor is charged

 If the amount of charged transferred during the process is
Q coulombs, capacitor has a charge of Q.

Ref: Video – Capacitor_v2 and Capacitor_v3

 Capacitors voltage cannot
change instantaneously

Current in a capacitor exists only while capacitor voltage is changing

Current through a capacitor is equal to C times the

rate of change of voltage across it
Energy stored by a capacitor =>
Hence, charge stored in the capacitor (Q) is proportional to the voltage applied.
QαV
So that, Q = CV ; where C is the capacitance of the capacitor (unit – F)

Capacitance of a capacitor is 1 F, if it stores 1 coulomb of charge when the voltage

applied is 1V

Where, A – cross sectional area of the metal plates (m2)

d – separation between plates (m)
– absolute dielectric constant (F/m) – this is a relative measure of the
permittivity of the material which changes from material to
material.
 When battery is disconnected,
the stored charges in each plate remains as it its
until the capacitor gets connected to a load.

When a bulb is connected the capacitor

acts as a battery and light up the bulb.
Positive end – attracts excess negative
charges from the other
end
Negative end – attracts excess positive
charges from the other
end
 The number of excess charges in each
plate get neutralized due to the flow of
charges.

When the amount of charges decrease,

less amount of current
flow
brightness get reduced

If the voltage applied increased beyond a critical value (the value mentioned in the capacitor), the
capacitor gets explode.
Practical / Non-ideal Capacitors
Practical capacitors have several non-ideal characteristics.
 Leakage current
When a practical capacitor discharged from its source eventually it gets discharged hence
the dielectrics are in use not perfectly insulated.
 Equivalent series resistance
The resistance develop in capacitor leads as a capacitor ages which is in series with the
capacitor.
 Dielectric absorption
When a capacitor discharged by temporary shorting its leads, atoms sometimes remain
partially polarized when the short is removed. These atoms cause a residual voltage to
appear across the capacitor named Dielectric Absorption
 Temperature coefficient
If capacitance increases with increasing temperature – Positive Temperature coefficient
If capacitance decreases with increasing temperature – Negative Temperature coefficient
If it remains essentially constant – Zero Temperature coefficient
Types of Capacitors
 Fixed Capacitors
 Ceramic
 Plastic film capacitors
 Mica capacitors
 Electrolytic capacitors
 Surface mount capacitors

 Variable Capacitors
Capacitors in Series and Parallel
Voltage Divider Rule for Series Capacitors
+ VT –
+ V1 – + V2 – + V3 –

Hence, voltage across a capacitor inversely proportional to its capacitance

Energy Stored by a Capacitor
An ideal capacitor does not dissipate power. The total power applied in charging the
capacitor is stored in the capacitor and releases when it gets discharged.

Using p = vi where i = C dv/dt

Hence,
p = vC dv/dt
Also

Note:
By differentiating the Energy curve => power
Capacitor Charging

 Capacitor voltage gradually increase up to a steady state value (capacitor voltage cannot
change instantaneously)
 Capacitor current is discontinuous
 Initially capacitor acts as a short circuit (maximum current flow = E/R) and eventually
once it charged act as an open circuit (minimum current flow ≈ 0)
Capacitor Discharging

 Capacitor acts as a voltage source with a voltage of E

 Current changes to –E / R at its initial condition
Transient Analysis
Used in determining characteristics of the capacitor with respect to time.

Capacitor charging equations

hence
5τ

and

Time constant (τ)

Time constant – Product of R and C; larger the τ longer the duration of transient
(the rate a capacitor charges is depend on this)
Capacitor discharging equations

hence

and