CHARGING AND DISCHARGING OF A CAPACITOR

Experiment

CHARGING AND DISCHARGING OF A CAPACITOR

Abstract Using capacitors of known physical dimensions dielectric constant is determined by chargingdischarging it through a resistor. The charging and discharging curves are plotted by observing charge and discharge voltages at equal interval of time. From the charging and discharging curve Tp is determined.

Introduction
A parallel plate condenser is formed by keeping two metallic plates parallel to each other. By applying a potential across the two plates an electric field is produced inside the space between the two plates. By placing an electrically insulated material within the plates the capacitance can be increased. The resulting capacitance of the parallel plate condenser is given by C=K
0 A d

Where, C is the capacitance in Farad. K is dielectric constant 0 is the permittivity 8.85x10-12 Fm-1. A is the area of the plate d is the distance between the plates or thickness of the dielectric material.

Charging and Discharging of a Capacitor

A capacitor can be charged using a resistor and a DC source. The capacitor will charge exponentially. The instantaneous voltage across the capacitor during charging is given by Vcharge = V0 (1-e-t/RC) 2

Figure -1 shows charging-discharge circuit arrangements using DC voltage source. When the switch is thrown to the discharge position the capacitor looses its charge hence it discharges through R. Therefore, the voltage across capacitor starts decreasing until it becomes zero. The instantaneous voltage across the capacitor during discharge is given by

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CHARGING AND DISCHARGING OF A CAPACITOR Vdischarge = Vo (e-t/RC) Where R is resistance in ohms C is capacitance in Farad t is the instantaneous time Vo is the maximum voltage to which capacitor is charged 3

Figure-2 shows the charge-discharge curve. The charge-discharge curve intersects at a point P. At this instant of time Tp the voltage across the condenser is the same during charge and discharge process. Therefore, we have
S2 Halt-Start X A M Charge 5V S1 Discharge B Y T C
+

Figure-1, Charging and discharging of a Capacitor Electrical connections VCharge = Vdiscagrge (1-e-Tp/RC) i.e.
1 = e-tp/RC 2 1 ) = -TP/RC 2

= (e-Tp/RC)

ln(

RC = -TP ln 0.5 C=
0.693TP R

By physically measuring the dimensions of the capacitor dielectric constant can be determined. K= Tp d 1.44Tp d = 0.693 0 AR 0 AR 5

The capacitor dimensions are mentioned in mm in general. Hence equation 5 is rewritten as 2 KAMALJEETH INSTRUMENTATION & SERVICE UNIT

CHARGING AND DISCHARGING OF A CAPACITOR

K=

1.44TP x10 3 d 0 AR

Where

A is anode foil area in mm2 d is the separation between the foils or the thickness of the paper in mm R is the resistance Ohms TP is in seconds o = 8.85x10-12

Electrolytic Capacitors
There are two types of electrolytic capacitor namely the etched foil and the plain foil capacitors. In the etched foil capacitor the surface area of the anode foil is increased to 20-300 times by a special etching process. The unevenly etched foil results in larger area and hence in the reduction of capacitor size. After the chemical etching the foil appears like multilayer plate hence the effective surface area is increased. Aluminum oxide Al2O3 is then deposited over this foil which acts like the dielectric material. In between the anode and cathode foils paper is used to avoid electrical contact between anode and cathode. The sandwiched foil is then rolled tightly to form a cylindrical structure and it is dipped in ethylene glycol solution. Three dielectric materials are used namely Al2O3, paper and ethylene glycol. Hence the dielectric constant is the resultant of these three materials. Table-1 C2 Capacitor C1 Length(mm) 47 114 Breadth (mm) 5 5 Separation (mm) 0.075 0.075 Physical dimensions of capacitor

C3 183 6 0.075

In plain foil capacitor, there is no etching process. Hence the foil are remains the same as its physical area. In the experimental setup provided by us three 25V plain foil capacitors are used as C1, C2 and C3. The physical dimensions of which are measured by opening the capacitor. The physical dimensions of these three capacitors are listed in Table-1.Over the surface of anode foil very thin layer of Al2O3 is chemically deposited. The thickness of this deposition is of the order of few microns. Hence it is very thin compared to paper thickness hence separation between the anode and cathode foil is taken as paper thickness.

Apparatus Used
RC charging discharging Experimental setup consisting of digital stop clock 0.1 sec resolution, digital dc voltmeter 0-20V set of resistors and set of capacitors of known dimensions. DC power supply 5V.

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CHARGING AND DISCHARGING OF A CAPACITOR

Experimental Procedure
1. The circuit connections are made as shown in Figure-1. R selected as 100K and Capacitor C1is selected and connected to the circuit using patch cords. 2. The digital stop clock is reset by pressing reset button. The display indicates 00.0. 3. The digital DC voltmeter and 5V-power supplies are connected to the circuit as shown in Figure-1. 4. Switch S1 (Charge-discharge) is thrown to the charge position. 5. Switch S2 (Halt-Start) is thrown to the start position watching the digital stop clock and the voltmeter. 6. The clock is stopped by controlling Halt-Start switch after 5 seconds and the voltmeter reading is noted. The capacitor is charged for 5 seconds and voltage across the capacitor after 5 second is noted from the voltmeter in Table-2. 7. The capacitor is further charged by starting the clock. After 10, 15, 20 seconds the clock is stopped to note down voltage across the capacitor. The readings obtained are noted in Table-2. 8. Trial is repeated until the capacitor is charged to 4.5Volts. In each case the capacitor voltage is noted at an interval of 5 seconds and noted in Table-2. 9. When the capacitor is charged to maximum voltage (4.5V and above), the charging is stopped and the charge discharge switch is thrown to discharge position and clock is reset. 10. The voltage across the discharging capacitor is noted after 5 seconds interval by stopping clock after five seconds. This is done until the capacitor is discharged fully.

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CHARGING AND DISCHARGING OF A CAPACITOR

C1-Charging C2-Discahrging Voltage across the capacitor(V) 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 20

C1-Discharging C3-Discahrging

C2-Charging Series6

40

60

80

100

Time in Seconds

Figure-2, Charging and discharging curves 11. Experiment is repeated for different capacitance values. And the corresponding readings are noted in Table-2. 12. A graph is drawn taking time on X-axis and voltage along the Y-axis as shown in Figure2. The charging and discharging curve intersects at a point P, where the voltage across the capacitor during charging and discharging remains the. The time at which voltage across the capacitor during charging and discharging is noted. TP = 7.5sec Dielectric constant is determined using equation-6. K= 1.44TP x10 3 d 1.44 x 7.5 x10 3 x0.075 8.1x10 4 = = = 3.89 0 AR 8.85 x10 12 x 47 x5 x100 K 2.079 x10 4

13. Experiment is repeated for C2 and C3 capacitors. The Reading obtained is tabulated in Table-2. Table-2 C2, R=100K Charge Discharge 0 4.47 0.89 3.48 1.71 2.70 2.30 2.10 2.73 1.72 3.12 1.34 3.42 1.05

Time(sec) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30

C1, R=100K Charge Discharge 0 4.50 1.74 2.83 2.68 1.71 3.41 1.14 3.85 0.70 4.11 0.43 4.25

C3, R=100K Charge Discharge 0 4.40 0.39 0.81 3.12 1.19 2.87 1.46 2.58 1.76 2.33 2.02 2.10 5

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CHARGING AND DISCHARGING OF A CAPACITOR 35 40 45 50 55 60 70 80 90 4.36 4.43 4.46 4.49 0.17 0.12 0.07 3.66 3.81 3.96 4.15 4.23 4.29 4.33 0.82 0.67 0.53 0.41 0.34 0.27 0.21 0.17 2.25 2.42 2.62 2.79 2.95 3.06 3.31 3.50 3.67 1.93 1.74 1.57 1.42 1.31 1.18 1.07 0.89 0.73

Result
The Results obtained are tabulated in Table-3 Table-3 Parameters TP(sec) Capacity(F) K C1 C2 7.5 14.5 108 208 3.89 3.21 Experimental Results C3 32.5 468 3.62

Discussions
In the actual manufacturing process of electrolytic capacitor, a standard experimentally obtained graph is used to calculate the foil area using an emphatically formula A=.015EC Where E is formation potential (~2 Working voltage of the capacitor) and C is the capacity in micro farads and A is the area in square inch. A standard graph of formation potential verses area in square inch per microfarad graph is used for both the etched foil and plain foil capacitors. Note: 1. During charging process and discharging process, after halting the clock voltmeter readings should be noted immediately without wasting time. Otherwise capacitor will start discharging through voltmeter. 2. Stopping clock exactly after 5 seconds is difficult. Hence without halting the clock readings can be easily taken by observing both the clock and voltmeter carefully. At the instant of 5second voltmeter is observed and voltage is noted.

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