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Re: [Amps] Filter Capacitors

To: manfred@ludens.cl, amps@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [Amps] Filter Capacitors
From: TexasRF@aol.com
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:52:14 -0400 (EDT)
List-post: <amps@contesting.com">mailto:amps@contesting.com>
Hi Manfred, I totally agree with the Farad definition but we were  
discussing ripple voltage and that is related not only to the Farad but time  
constants as well.
 
The charging time constant resistance includes transformer secondary and  
primary resistance (as reflected into the secondary) and house wiring. The  
discharging time constant is determined by the plate load resistance plus any 
 bleeder current.
 
One time constant is the interval for the voltage charge to 65% of the peak 
 value or discharge from the peak value. In the stated case of 3050v peak, 
the  voltage change would be 3050 X .65 = 1982.5 v.
 
The charging time constant will be quite short since R is hopefully small.  
A typical plate transformer might have a total of 30 ohms secondary plus 
stepped  up primary resistance. With an 80 uFd filter, the 65% charge time 
would be 2.4  milliseconds. Since there are almost 3 such time constants 
between the 8.3  millisecond charge cycles, the filter charge reaches about 96% 
of 
the peak  charging voltage.
 
The discharge time constant is plate load resistance plus bleeder current  
times the filter Farads. For 3000v at 1A plate current and 3 mA bleeder 
current,  the total resistance os 3000 / 1.003 = 2991 ohms. The time constant 
then is 2991  X 80 e-6 = .239 seconds. The voltage decay of the charged filter 
C then is  1982.5 v in 239 milliseconds. in our 8.3 millisecond charge 
cycle the voltage  drop would be 8.3 / 239 X 1982.5 = 68.8 volts.
 
Therefore the peak to peak ripple is also 68.8 volts.
 
Note there is charging and discharging current for the filter C but it not  
come into the math above.
 
I will leave it to others to comment on 68.8 volts ripple being ok or not  
ok. It is only about 2.25% of the plate voltage so it seems like it would be 
 adequate.
 
I have been going over the same calculations for a 10GHz twt amplifier  
power supply. In that case, the tube displays .008 dB power change per volt on  
the cathode. To keep the carrier hum low enough, I was shooting hum at the 
-20  dB level which is 1% of the power. So, the hum would be -.0436 dB / 
.008  dB = 5.4 volts ripple. 
 
That is going to require lots of microfarads or a really good electronic  
filter or both.
 
73,
Gerald K5GW
 
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 4/13/2012 1:38:13 P.M. Central Daylight Time,  
manfred@ludens.cl writes:

Gerald,

> I have not seen the 1v, 1A, 1 second, 1  microfarad theory before. 

It's not a theory. It's the very definition  of the unit "farad"!

But it's "farad", not "microfarad"! A capacitor of  one microfarad 
instead would gain one volt in one second if charged by one  microampere. 
Or if charged by one ampere, it would gain one volt in every  microsecond.
If you get confused by where to add "micro" and where not,  better use 
the base units only, without any prefix, even if then a typical  Pi tank 
tuning capacitor might end up having a capacitance of 0.0000000002  farad.

If you don't believe me about the definition, look it up  here

http://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/definition/farad

or  here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farad

or google for additional  sources!

> I will  
> need to look into that as I was  under the impression that voltage drop 
was 
> based  on time  constants and they are related to 65% voltage charge or 
>  discharge.

Those time constants happen when you charge a capacitor  through a 
resistor, resulting in a non-constant charging current. In many  
situations it's good to use those time constants, for example when you  
use a 555 timer chip. But in a power supply filter calculation it's more  
practical to consider the load current as being constant, and thus apply  
the definition of the unit.

In other cases, like RF work, you would  typically use neither the linear 
volt ampere second farad relationship,  nor the RC time constant, but 
instead you would use the LC resonant  frequency, Q factor, and the 
reactance of your capacitor at a given  frequency.

For a power supply filter, a calculation using the reactance  of the 
filter capacitor isn't really applicable, because the waveform  delivered 
by the rectifier contains an infinite series of harmonics, and  so a 
given capacitor has an infinite number of different reactances to  consider!

So we have to use the most suitable method for each  particular situation.

Manfred.

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