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Chapter 5 Capacitance & Inductance

Electrical & Electronics Technology
(29EAET)

Mechanical Track (Oct 21)

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Instructional Objectives
• Describe the operation and application of capacitors.
• Describe the properties of capacitance.
• List and explain the factors determine capacitance.
• Define absolute permittivity, permittivity of free space and relative
permittivity of a material.
• Identify the electrolytic capacitor and its symbol.
• Identify the different types of capacitors & state their applications.
• Calculate total capacitance in series, parallel and series-parallel
combination capacitance circuits.
• Derive an expression for the energy stored in a capacitor in terms of voltage
and capacitance.
• Describe self-induction.
• List and explain the factors affecting inductance.
• Solving inductors circuits in series or parallel.

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5.1 Capacitors
• A capacitor is a device that stores electric charge.
• Typical applications for capacitors include reservoir and smoothing rectified
AC output supply, radio tuning circuit, time delay circuit, filters, oscillator
circuit, power factor correction circuit and for starting single phase motors.
• A basic capacitor consisting of two parallel conducting plates
separated by an insulating material called a dielectric.

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5.2 Capacitance
• Capacitance is a measured of its ability to store an electric charge when
potential difference (p.d.) is applied to its two terminals.
• The symbol for capacitance is C and its unit is farad F.
• The microfarads (μF) and picofarads (pF) are most frequently used for
expressing capacitance. Note : μ = , p =
• The capacitance of a capacitor is defined as follows:

Capacitance

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Example 5.1
A 6 V constant voltage source is used to store 24 μC of charges in a capacitor
C.
(a) What is the capacitance of the capacitor C?
(b) How much charges is stored in the capacitor when a 9 V constant voltage
source is connected across it?

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5.3 Factors Determining Capacitance

• The capacitance depends on three factors:
• Area of the plates, A.
• Distance separate the plates, d.
• Dielectric constant, ε.
(epsilon)

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5.3.1 Absolute Permittivity (ε), Permittivity of

Free Space (εo) & Relative Permittivity (εr)
• Permittivity specifies the ease with which an electric flux is permitted to pass
through a given dielectric material.

• ε - Absolute permittivity F/m

• εr - Relative permittivity
• εo - Permittivity of free space or vacuum (εo = 8.854x F/m)

Some common dielectric materials and their dielectric

Material constants Typical εr Values
Air (vacuum) 1.0
Teflon 2.0
Paper (paraffined) 2.5
Oil 4.0
Mica 5.0
Glass 7.5
Ceramic 1200
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Example 5.2
A parallel capacitor was constructed from two metal plates of area, A = 30
separated by a dielectric, d = 2 mm thick. It was known that the material had a
relative permittivity of 6. Find the capacitance. (εo = 8.854x F/m)

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Example 5.3
Each plate of a parallel-plate capacitor measures 1cm by 2cm. The plates are
separated by a 0.2mm thickness of mica. The permittivity (ε) of mica is 44.2 x .
(a) Find the capacitance of the capacitor.
(b) Find the capacitance if each dimension of each plate is doubled.
(c) Find the capacitance under the conditions of part (b) if the
thickness of the mica separation is also doubled.

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Example 5.3
Solution
(a) The area of each plate is,
A = 1 cm x 2 cm = 2 x 10 -4 m2

(b) The capacitance,

Doubling the dimensions of each plate A’ : A’= 2 cm x 4 cm = 8 x 10 -4 m2

if A’ = 4 x A -> The capacitance, C’ = 4 x C
C’ = 4 x 44.2 pF = 176.8 pF
(c) Since capacitance is inversely proportional to the separation, doubling the value of
the separation will reduce the capacitance by one-half:

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5.4 The Use of Capacitors

• All capacitors are rated by their manufacturer to withstand specific
maximum working voltages or rated voltage.
• The maximum working voltages are dependent on the physical
constructions of the devices. If the applied voltages are higher than the
maximum rated working voltage, the dielectric will fail (i.e. breakdown).

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5.4 The Use of Capacitors

• Most electrolytic and tantalum capacitors are polarized. The circuit symbol
for polarized capacitor are as shown:

A point to note for this types of capacitors is that the p.d. between
terminals must have correct polarity, otherwise we will risk damaging
the capacitor.

Leakage Current
The ideal or perfect dielectric should has an infinite resistance and no current can pass
through the dielectric. In practical capacitor there is a very large value of resistance
between the two plates. Hence there is small amount of current will flow through the
two plates. This small current is referred to as leakage current. It causes the
capacitor to slowly, over a long time to discharge.
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5.5 Capacitor Circuits

5.5.1 Series capacitors
Each of the individual capacitors has
the same amount of charge

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Example 5.4
Determine the total capacitance of the circuit below.

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5.5 Capacitor Circuit

5.5.2 Capacitor in Parallel

E

In conclusion:
- capacitance is increased by connecting capacitors in parallel.
- capacitance is reduced by connecting capacitors in series.
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Example 5.5
Determine the total capacitance of the circuit below.

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Example 5.6
Given the following circuit (C1= 1μF, C2= 2μF, C3=3μF, C4= 4μF) determine:
(a) the total capacitance
(b) the charge on each capacitor and
(c) voltage across each capacitor

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Example 5.6
Solution
(a)

(b) Total charge, QT = CT V = 0.609μF X 100V = 60.9μC

In capacitors in series, QT = Q1 = Q2 = 60.9μC

(c) Charge across C3, Q3 = C3V3//4 = 3μF X 8.7V

= 26.1μC
Charge across C4, Q4 = C4V3//4 = 4μFX 8.7V
= 34.8μC
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5.6 Energy Stored in a Capacitor

• A capacitor stores energy in the form of an electric field which is
represented by lines of force between the positive and negative charge
plates.

Example:
Determine the energy stored in a capacitor of 10 μF. This capacitor had been
charged to 15 V.
Solution

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5.7 Charging & Discharging a Capacitor (Reference)

5.7.1 Time Constant - τ (Tau)
When a capacitor is connected to a voltage source, it takes a certain length of
time for the capacitor to charge to a value equal to the voltage applied. (or
become fully charged). If a high resistance is connected in series with the
capacitor, the time charging is increased.

For any given circuit containing capacitance and resistance only, the time in
seconds required to charge the capacitor to 63.2 percent of its full charge is
called the time constant for that circuit.
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5.8 Inductor Network

5.8.1 Inductor
Inductor are coils of various dimensions designed to introduce specified
amount of inductance in to a circuit.

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𝑁 𝜇𝐴
𝐿=
𝑙

N is the number of turns,

μ is the permeability of the core.
A is the area of the core in m2
l is the mean length of the core in meters

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Example 5.8
Calculate the inductance of the following air-core coil. μr for air = 1. μo = 4πx
H/m
(μ= μo μr)

Solution:

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5.8 Inductor Network

5.8.2 Self-Induction
When a voltage source is connected across a coil, it force a current through a coil

L is the inductance in Henry (H),

e is the induced / counter emf in volts

is the rate of change of current in amperes/second

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Example 5.9
A coil having a resistance of a 4Ω and an inductance of 0.8H has a current
passed through it which varies as follows:
a) Uniformly increase from 0 to 5A in 0.25s.
b) Constant at 5A for 0.5s.
c) Uniformly decrease from 5A to 0 in 1s.

Determine induced emf for each duration above.

a)

b)

c)

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Example 5.10
A current increases at a uniform rate from 2 to 6 A in a time of 250 ms. If this
current is applied to an inductor determine the value of inductance if a back emf
of 15 V is produced across its terminals.
Solution

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5.8 Inductor Network

5.8.3 Inductors in series

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Example 5.11
Three inductors have values of L1 = 10mH, L2 = 100μH, and L3 = 500μH.
Determine the total inductance of the three inductors when connected in series.

Solution
Ls = L 1 + L 2 + L 3
= 10 mH + 100 μH + 500 μH
= 10x10-3 H + 100x10-6 H + 500x10-6 H
= 0.0106 H
= 10.6 mH

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5.8 Inductor Network

5.8.4 Inductors in parallel

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Example 5.12
Three inductors have values of L1= 10mH, L2= 100μH, and L3= 500μH.
Determine the total inductance when they are connected in parallel. Assume
that there is no mutual inductance between the inductors.

Solution

= 82.6μH
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5.8 Inductor Network

5.8.5 Energy Stored in an Inductor

The electrical energy input is

L is in henrys;
I is in amperes;
W is in joules.

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Example 5.13
A 20H choke with a resistance of 180Ω is connected to a 300V supply.
Calculate the energy stored.

Solution

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