Technical Article on Capacitor Heating

DonH50

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Jun 22, 2010
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amirm

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Thanks Don. I am reading through it but it is hard to follow with the fuzzy text and such. What does this graph mean for example:



How could the Vcap have a range under the curve???
 

DonH50

Member Sponsor & WBF Technical Expert
Jun 22, 2010
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Aluminum capacitors have a pretty large temperature coefficient (tempco) so the graph is meant to show that, if you start in a cold environment, the value can change a lot as everything warms up to normal operating temperature. You can buy special versions that are more temperature-stable, and other types of capacitors that do not vary so much with temperature. A lot of capacitors also vary in value with applied voltage, which can do strange things if you aren't careful in your design.
 

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