Testing Electrolytic Capacitors - Capacitance

Unfortunately, in a lot of Power Supply designs (Inverter and Transformer based), the Filter
capacitors almost always end up being placed close to Heatsinks. This is called 'Bad
Engineering'! It occurs when the Hardware Engineer considers the lack of board Real-Estate
as being more important than longevity of the product in the field. Some Engineers might
argue that the devices are rated at 105 degrees C and that the Heatsinks only get up to say
95 degrees C. Not a problem. Wrong! There must always be a margin for error.

The issue is that Capacitor Manufacturers don't chart or scale down the specifications for the
temperature rating to a lower displacement temperature (in this case 10 degrees C). Thus,
our 95 degree C temperature becomes an indeterminate value, and a reliability risk (you
have to manage all design risks). Adding to this, the temperature rating is usually specified
for 10,000 hours or less (only 1 year). This does not make for good product life!

Of cause, there are other factors to consider in the life of a Filter Capacitor such as: Dielectric
puncturing (due to Voltage Spikes), outgasing (caused by the electrolyte heating up, and
changing from a solid to Hydrogen gas), and internal connection degradation (due to
mechanical stress, and the effects of heat). When a Capacitor suffers in these ways, they will
eventually explode - Violently! When it gets to this point, the product is dead in the water!

To thoroughly test Electrolytic Capacitors (out of circuit, with no residual charge), I would
suggest using the following procedure:

1. Visually inspect the component. Look for can distortion (the 'can' is a term to describe the
outer housing), Electrolyte leakage, and outgasing (although some devices are vented).

2. Using a Capacitance Meter: Measure the components Capacitance. Usually the tolerance
is within +-20% of the specified value.

3. Using an ESR Meter: Measure the components ESR (Effective Series Resistance). This
will help determine the validity of bonding between the Capacitors leads and plates. This will
normally be well less than 3 ohms.

4. Using a Capacitor Leakage Tester: Measure the leakage. This is the DC current that flows
when a High Voltage is applied to the capacitor (within the Working Voltage of the Capacitor).
Ideally this would be zero Amps (leakage values measured in micro Amps), as a Capacitor
only passes AC Voltages (and currents).

High Voltage Electrolytic Capacitors are commonly used as the energy storage devices for
Coil Gun applications.

With a Coil Gun (also called a Gauss Gun), the name of the game is to store as much energy
as you can, then to rapidly discharge this energy into a coil so as to accelerate a projectile
down a gun barrel.

The capacitors are usually arranged in a Series/Parallel configuration dictated by the
required Working Voltage, and Capacitance for the design in question.

Consider the case where you have four 1000uF 450V Capacitors, and an 800V Power
Supply being available to charge the Capacitors. It would be unrealistic to place all four
capacitors in parallel, and to turn the power supply on. This would result in 800V being
applied across four capacitors with a total Working Voltage rating of only 450V. The result
would be explosive, and very dangerous!

A Beginner's Guide to the Capacitor