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Concept
Applications of capacitors
Summary
Capacitors have many uses in electronic and electrical systems. They are so ubiquitous that it is rare that an electrical product does not include at least one for some purpose. Capacitors allow only AC signals to pass when they are charged blocking DC signals.
The main components of filters are capacitors.
Capacitors have the ability to connect one circuit segment to another.
Capacitors are used by Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) devices to represent binary information as bits.
A capacitor can store electric energy when it is connected to its charging circuit and when it is disconnected from its charging circuit, it can dissipate that stored energy, so it can be used as a temporary battery. Capacitors are commonly used in electronic devices to maintain power supply while batteries are being changed. (This prevents loss of information in volatile memory.)
Conventional electrostatic capacitors provide less than 360 joules per kilogram of energy density, while capacitors using developing technology can provide more than 2.52 kilo joules per kilogram.
In car audio systems, large capacitors store energy for the amplifier to use on demand.
An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) can be equipped with maintenance-free capacitors to extend service life.
Groups of large, specially constructed, low-inductance high-voltage capacitors (capacitor banks) are used to supply huge pulses of current for many pulsed power applications. These include electromagnetic forming, Marx generators, pulsed lasers (especially TEA lasers), pulse forming networks, fusion research, and particle accelerators.
Large capacitor banks (reservoirs) are used as energy sources for the exploding-bridgewire detonators or slapper detonators in nuclear weapons and other specialty weapons. Experimental work is under way using banks of capacitors as power sources for electromagnetic armour and electromagnetic railguns or coilguns.
Reservoir capacitors are used in power supplies where they smooth the output of a full or half wave rectifier.
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Related concepts (12)
Applications of capacitors
Capacitors have many uses in electronic and electrical systems. They are so ubiquitous that it is rare that an electrical product does not include at least one for some purpose. Capacitors allow only AC signals to pass when they are charged blocking DC signals. The main components of filters are capacitors. Capacitors have the ability to connect one circuit segment to another. Capacitors are used by Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) devices to represent binary information as bits.
Polymer capacitor
A polymer capacitor, or more accurately a polymer electrolytic capacitor, is an electrolytic capacitor (e-cap) with a solid conductive polymer electrolyte. There are four different types: Polymer tantalum electrolytic capacitor (Polymer Ta-e-cap) Polymer aluminium electrolytic capacitor (Polymer Al-e-cap) Hybrid polymer capacitor (Hybrid polymer Al-e-cap) Polymer niobium electrolytic capacitors Polymer Ta-e-caps are available in rectangular surface-mounted device (SMD) chip style.
Tantalum capacitor
A tantalum electrolytic capacitor is an electrolytic capacitor, a passive component of electronic circuits. It consists of a pellet of porous tantalum metal as an anode, covered by an insulating oxide layer that forms the dielectric, surrounded by liquid or solid electrolyte as a cathode. Because of its very thin and relatively high permittivity dielectric layer, the tantalum capacitor distinguishes itself from other conventional and electrolytic capacitors in having high capacitance per volume (high volumetric efficiency) and lower weight.
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