


Nearly all conventional industrial capacitors except some special styles such as "feed-through capacitors", are constructed as "plate capacitors" even if their electrodes and the dielectric between are wound or rolled. The potential between the plates is limited by the properties of the dielectric material and the separation distance. The charge carriers are typically electrons, The amount of charge stored per unit voltage is essentially a function of the size of the plates, the plate material's properties, the properties of the dielectric material placed between the plates, and the separation distance (i.e. While, in absolute figures, the most commonly manufactured capacitors are integrated into dynamic random-access memory, flash memory, and other device chips, this article covers the discrete components.Ī dielectric material is placed between two conducting plates (electrodes), each of area A and with a separation of d.Ī conventional capacitor stores electric energy as static electricity by charge separation in an electric field between two electrode plates. Different types are used depending on required capacitance, working voltage, current handling capacity, and other properties. Standard capacitors have a fixed value of capacitance, but adjustable capacitors are frequently used in tuned circuits. Larger capacitors are used for energy storage in such applications as strobe lights, as parts of some types of electric motors, or for power factor correction in AC power distribution systems. Small capacitors are used in electronic devices to couple signals between stages of amplifiers, as components of electric filters and tuned circuits, or as parts of power supply systems to smooth rectified current.


Capacitors are widely used as parts of electrical circuits in many common electrical devices.Ĭapacitors, together with resistors and inductors, belong to the group of passive components in electronic equipment. They all contain at least two electrical conductors, called plates, separated by an insulating layer ( dielectric). Some different capacitors for electronic equipmentĬapacitors are manufactured in many styles, forms, dimensions, and from a large variety of materials.
