How does an AC Capacitor Work?
Ⅰ What is Air Conditioner Capacitor
The so-called air conditioner capacitors are also called aluminum electrolytic capacitors. It is a capacitor made of an aluminum cylinder as the negative electrode, which is filled with liquid electrolyte, and inserted into a curved aluminum strip as the positive electrode. The core of the air conditioner capacitor is made by overlapping and winding anode aluminum foil, liner paper impregnated with electrolyte, cathode aluminum foil, and natural oxide film. After the core is immersed in the electrolyte, it is sealed with an aluminum shell and a plastic cover to form an air conditioner capacitor. Generally, there is a plastic sleeve outside the aluminum shell of the air conditioner capacitor.
So-called air conditioner capacitiors
Also, it’s a little cylindrical container within your air conditioner that stores and distributes energy. When you turn on your air conditioner, it demands more power than your home’s electrical system can provide — this is where the capacitor comes in. Moreover, the AC capacitor is a component within the outdoor condensing unit of an air conditioner or heat pump. It delivers power to the motor driving the air conditioning system. The capacitor delivers initial energy burst to turn the system on when it’s time for a cooling cycle.)
Ⅱ Types of Air Conditioner Capacitor
2.1 Electrolytic Capacitor
This capacitor for an air conditioner has polarity and leads labeled with + or — marks. It is typically used to smoothen the DC voltage after it has been rectified by diodes. They aided in reducing the ripples in the DC supply. The smaller the ripple, the larger the capacitance of the capacitor employed. This use can be seen in a simple linear power supply with a step-down transformer.
2.2 Safety Capacitor
Safety capacitors are commonly used in the inverter control circuit of an air conditioner. They can be classified into X or Y types and used in the circuit’s live parts always be careful when dealing with these capacitors as some charge on them may cause shock even when the power supply has been cut off.
Safety Capacitor Picture
Good design should have bleeding resistors to remove the charge from the device after the air conditioner has been switched off. Ensure proper certification marks such as VDE, UL, and CE markings are present on the bodies of the capacitors before using them.
Together with inductor coils, these capacitors are used to reduce the harmonics generated from the rapid switching of the AC power supply by the insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT).
2.3 Ceramic Capacitor
Ceramic capacitors are used as bypass capacitors to bypass the high-frequency content of a circuit. They could be placed parallel to the DC power intake of integrated circuits to bypass certain high frequencies noise in the circuit that may have an adverse effect on the sensitive circuitry.
As the more transformerless power supply is becoming common today due to its better efficiency and smaller space, you will see many surface mount capacitors being used in multilayer printed circuit boards. These capacitors and inductor coils are used to reduce the harmonics, which are generated from the rapid switching of the AC power supply by the insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT).
2.4 Capacitors for Starting and Running Air Conditioner
These capacitors are commonly used in single-phase electric motors. START capacitor is used to alter the phase difference between a capacitor-start motor’s START and RUN windings. This difference resulted in the generation of a starting torque capable of starting the motor with a full load connected to it.
Start and Running Capacitor
The RUN cap. is used to further adjust the phase difference between the two windings, resulting in even more beginning torque. The connections in the motor are identified by marks on the single-phase compressor. The designations are R (connected to the RUN winding), S (connected to the START winding), and C (connected to the CUT winding) (common of the two windings).
Ⅲ Structure Characteristic of Air Conditioner Capacitor
1) The working medium of the air conditioner capacitor is to form a very thin layer of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) on the surface of the aluminum foil through anodization. This oxide dielectric layer and the anode of the capacitor are combined into a complete system, and the two are interdependent. The electrodes and dielectrics of what we usually call capacitors are independent of each other.
2) The anode aluminum foil and cathode aluminum foil of air conditioner capacitors are usually corroded aluminum foil, and the actual surface area is much larger than its apparent surface area. It is one reason why air conditioner capacitors usually have large capacitance. Due to the use of aluminum foil with many fine etched holes, the liquid electrolyte is usually needed to more effectively use its actual electrode area.
The Structure of Airconditioner Capacitors
3) The negative foil acts as an electrical lead in the air conditioner capacitor. Because the electrolyte as the cathode of the air conditioner capacitor cannot be directly connected to the external circuit, an electrical path must be formed through another metal electrode and other parts of the circuit.
4) Since the dielectric oxide film of the air conditioner capacitor is obtained by anodic oxidation, and its thickness is proportional to the voltage applied by the anodic oxidation, in principle, the thickness of the dielectric layer of the air conditioner capacitor can be artificially and accurately controlled.
It is precise because of the structure characteristics and functions of the air conditioner capacitor that the air conditioner can operate normally. It should be noted that the capacitor should be checked for short circuit, open circuit and leakage before it is installed in the circuit, and its capacitance value should be checked. When installing, make it easy to see the capacitor type, capacity, withstand voltage and other symbols for verification.
The above points are related introductions to the structure characteristics of air conditioner capacitors. In fact, for air conditioner capacitors, it is not just used in air-conditioning. But there are many applications, such as air conditioning inverters, color TVs, displays, LED lights, energy-saving lamps and so on. Relatively speaking, the scope of application of air conditioner capacitors is usually in the field of household appliances.
Ⅳ Working Principle of Air Conditioner Capacitor
The capacitor is a key component to start the air conditioner motor. Most air conditioners on the market now use capacitors to start the air conditioner and take into account the operation. The damage of the capacitor will cause the compressor start current to rise too quickly, automatically turn on the protection mode to stop or fail to start the compressor, which will cause the air conditioner to fail to operate normally or automatically power off during the startup process. When the air conditioner is powered on, the capacitor acts as conduction to help the compressor start normally.
The capacitor gathers and stores energy while your air conditioner is running; in other words, it functions similarly to a rechargeable battery. That way, when your air conditioner requires a large burst of energy, the capacitor can supply it and keep everything working smoothly. The compressor (or compressors, depending on your air conditioner) powers the air conditioner’s compressor, blower motor, and fan motor, which all rely on the compressor to stay operating and cold air flowing through your home.
Ⅴ The Detection of Air Conditioner Capacitor
Method 1: Use 220V alternating current to connect directly, you can connect one pole first, and touch the other capacitor pin with another power cord. If there is an obvious small spark when touched, you can be sure that the capacitor is charged, which means that the capacitor is not broken.
Method 2: Pointer multimeter, you can also use the digital meter to measure capacitance. If you use a pointer multimeter, generally use the R × 1K gear, and connect the test leads to the two poles of the capacitor respectively. At this time, the pointer of the multimeter will swing and then slowly return to or near the zero position. Such a capacitor is good. The larger the capacity of the capacitor, the longer the charging time, and the slower the pointer swings in the 00 direction. If it is connected, the resistance value displayed by the pointer does not move, it is bad.
The methods of detecting an air conditioner capacitor
Method 3: Check with a digital multimeter. Set the digital multimeter to an appropriate resistance range. The red and black test leads respectively touch the two poles of the capacitor under test. At this time, the display value will gradually increase from 0 until the overflow symbol “1” is displayed. If 0 is always displayed, it means that the capacitor is short-circuited. If it always shows overflow, it may be an open circuit between the capacitors, or the selected resistance file is not suitable.
The principle of selecting the resistance gear is: when the capacitor is large, the low resistance gear should be used; when the capacitor has a small capacity, the high resistance gear should be selected.
If you are interested in how to detect an AC Capacitor and more electronics, please follow our blog.
