EEU-EB2D221

Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors

Aluminum electrolytic capacitors are probably the most widely used capacitors in the industrial world today. These capacitors offer a number of advantages over their counterparts in other technologies. Most notably, they are lighter weight, smaller in size, and can offer high capacitance values at relatively low voltage ratings.

The EEU-EB2D221 application field is the power related fields. Voltage stabilizing capacitor applications in AC line voltage, DC voltage, drive frequency adjustment and power supplies are where you might find aluminum electrolytic capacitors in use. Examples include power supplies for such things as air conditioners, PCs, consumer electronics from TVs and microwaves, to medical and even automotive equipment.

The working principle of aluminum electrolytic capacitors is the same that any other capacitor has. It works based on the charged particles (electrons) travelling between two plates. The important difference is that the electrolytic capacitors’ plates are covered with a layer of electrolyte (a mixture of water and solvents such as alcohol). This electrolyte ensures a longer lifetime of the capacitors compared to other capacitors.

When an electric field is applied over the plates, the electrons stored in the electrolyte move and produce an electric field in opposition to the external field. This compensates some of the incoming voltage and reduces the voltage drop at the capacitor terminals. This is the main functionality of aluminum electrolytic capacitors.

Aluminum electrolytic capacitors can be found in a wide variety of applications and are favored over ceramic and film types because they offer higher capacitance values for a given size of the capacitor and are more reliable with prolonged use. They also have decent temperature and voltage range stability with very limited leakage at high temperatures.

Aluminum electrolytic capacitors are being used in various AC circuits for power line conditioning, power management for automotive, industrial control boards, low-frequency oscillator circuits etc. This type of capacitor works on the principals of induction and electrostatic capacity which are the foundation of the energy technology that most of us use.

They have multiple advantages such as light-weight, high impedance, large capacitance range, low ESR and ESL values, low inductance, long life, low cost, high-temperature capability, improved reliability and good performance in ripple currents. Some of their applications include filter capacitors, general AC circuit capacitor, power capacitor and filter frequency compensation capacitor.

Generally, aluminum electrolytic capacitors are the most popular choice when one needs to design a power related application since they provide higher capacitance than other technologies, excellent performance under ripple current, good reliability and high temperature capabilities, while they are also easy to use and are economically feasible solutions.