Various Types of Capacitors
Capacitor is an electrical reservoir which stores and release energy and used in almost every electrical and electronic products such as amplifier, computer motherboard, television, radio, air-conditioners etc. Different materials are used in production of capacitors. You can find various types of capacitors in market and main types are ceramic, tantalum, aluminium electrolytic, polyester film, silver mica etc. Each type of capacitor has its own importance and used in electronic devices for smooth flow of current and voltage.
In ceramic capacitors two layers are used one is made of ceramic and another one is made of metal with an insulator which is called dielectric. This type of capacitors has great capacitance and high stability in high temperature. It is a fixed value capacitor means it can store and release a fixed amount of electric charge and offer high volumetric efficiency buffer. Ceramic capacitors come in number of shapes and sizes such as multi-layer, single layer disc, rectangular block, resin coated etc. Tantalum capacitor is electrolytic capacitor which consists of tantalum as anode and insulating oxide layer as cathode.
Tantalum capacitors have lower resistance value, lower leakage and high operating temperature than other electrolytic capacitors. Tantalum capacitors are small in size and suitable for every electronic device. Due to high performance tantalum capacitors are popular and little bit costly than aluminium capacitors. Aluminium capacitor is another type of electrolytic capacitor which is cheap in comparison to tantalum capacitor. Aluminium electrolytic capacitors are composed of aluminium foils one with a layer of insulating aluminium oxide. Thin layer of aluminium allows for high capacitance in effect hence higher energy density. Electrolytic capacitors are mainly used with low voltage and large capacity to store energy.
Film capacitors are also called power film capacitors. These electrical capacitors composed of an insulating plastic film as dielectric. In metalized film capacitors aluminium or zinc applied on the surface of plastic film. Two conductive layers are wound in to a cylinder shaped winding. Film capacitors are used commonly in electronic equipments. Axial, radial and SMD are main styles of film capacitors. Film capacitors are widely used in power electronic, bypassing and coupling applications.
Silver Mica capacitors are most reliable capacitors due to high precision and stability. These types of capacitors are composed of mica sheet coated with deposited metal. These are little bit costly in comparison to other capacitor types. Silver mica capacitors are used at high frequencies where low capacitor change over time is desired.