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Condition monitoring of electrolytic capacitors

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Abstract

This paper presents a very simple and cheap off-line technique that is able to evaluate the aluminum electrolytic capacitors condition. Aluminum electrolytic capacitors equivalent circuit is composed by an internal resistance and a capacitance. The capacitors internal resistance increases with aging while the capacitance decreases. Manufacturers define the end of life limit of the capacitor when its internal resistance doubles its initial value or the capacitance changes more than 20% when it is compared with the initial one. The proposed technique evaluates the capacitor condition through the identification of both capacitor internal resistance and capacitance. To compute both capacitor internal resistance and capacitance a very simple, cheap, and practical experimental setup is proposed.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Professor Beatriz Borges and Eng. Hugo Ribeiro for providing the Impedance Gain-Phase analyzer for the experimental tests. This work was supported in part by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under Project No: SFRH/BD/37093/2007 and Project No: SFRH/BSAB/950/2009.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, ISEC–DEIS, Rua Pedro Nunes, 3030-199, Coimbra, Portugal

    Acácio M. R. Amaral

  2. Instituto de Telecomunicações, DEEC, University of Coimbra, Pólo II–Pinhal de Marrocos, 3030-290, Coimbra, Portugal

    Acácio M. R. Amaral & A. J. Marques Cardoso

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  1. Acácio M. R. Amaral
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  2. A. J. Marques Cardoso
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Correspondence to Acácio M. R. Amaral.

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Amaral, A.M.R., Marques Cardoso, A.J. Condition monitoring of electrolytic capacitors. Int J Syst Assur Eng Manag 2, 325–332 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13198-012-0085-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13198-012-0085-x

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