CAPACITOR ESR MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUE J.E. Dolan and H.R.

Bolton Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Systems Engineering, UWCC, P.O. Box 904, Cardiff, CF1 3YH, U.K.
loss = net terminal energy flow

Abstract Capacitor losses were determined for a particular type of pulse capacitor. The technique used involved measurement of terminal voltage and current waveforms during charge and discharge phases; comparison of the derived terminal energy flows and the corresponding changes in the stored energy gives the internal capacitor loss. The measured l o s s figures were further used to calculate effective values of capacitor ESR for th , r pulse conditions; these would be directly applicable in numerical circuit modelling of pulsed circuits. The values obtained under both unipolar and voltage reversal conditions appeared to validate the use of a single appropriate value of ESR under pulsed conditions. Introduction Our interest in capacitor losses arose from work on bench-top proof-of-principle experiments on energy recovery with Melville line magnetic pulse compression circuits [l], from which it became clear that the loss per stage can be considerable. In the literature, attention has tended to focus on magnetic switch losses, but it began to seem as though other components in the system might be absorbing at least as large a proportion of the pulse energy as the magnetic cores. A particular concern in repetitive feeds is capacitor heating and the need to derate capacitors accordingly, particularly i f capacitor voltages are reversed. The following work was therefore intended to give some idea of the proportion of pulse energy loss to be expected i n capacitors.

change in 1/2CV2 energy

Principle of current measurement Because the capacitor internal resistive voltage drop is significant, it was found that deduction of the circuit current from the rate of change of capacitor terminal voltage was unsatisfactory. A particular feature of the experiment was therefore the measurement of current by use of a 30-turn Rogowskilike inductive pick-up coil with turn diameter of about lcm, and axial length of about 3cm, located between the capacitor terminal plates. The pick-up coil generates a voltage given by Vp = M di/dt
(1)

where M is a constant of proportionality. Integrating (1) w.r.t. time gives the capacitor current:

In order to calibrate M, carrying out the double integral of (1) w.r.t. time gives the change in capacitor charge, &Q, multiplied by M;

1s:

1i Vp dt dt = M 1:
= M

dt

AQ

(3)

Principle of Capacitor loss-measurements

A 0.15pF, 40nH. 65KV Maxwell type S S pulse capacitor was chosen for the tests. The manufacturers quoted capacitance value of 0.149pP was approximately checked using an LCR meter, and also by measuring CR time-constants with known resistances. In an effort to minimise added circuit inductance and resistance, the connections to the capacitor terminals were made through parallel copper plates. Initially, measurements of resonant frequency and decrement per cycle during oscillatory discharge were made: however, as discussed by Nunnally et a1 [ 2 ] . a reasonably accurate assessment of capacitor loss can only be made if the loss in external components is low, and deductions from these measurements foundered on the high external circuit loss experienced in the smallscale experimental rig. This led to the idea of obtaining the loss through direct measurement of the instantaneous power flow at the capacitor terminals. The procedure is as follows; waveforms for capacitor terminal voltage and current are obtained, and the terminal power waveform is then given by the product of terminal voltage and current waveforms. The time-integral of the power waveform gives the net terminal energy flow. Because the capacitor internal inductance is very low, the terminal voltage at zero current is a close approximation to the nominal capacitor voltage, and so the change in stored energy between maximum and mimimum voltage points can be accurately estimated. The loss is then given by

M can then be found by substituting for / \ Q , given by

which is

AQ= c (v2 - vl)

(4)

The method obviously relies on having accurate values for both the capacitance, C, and the initial and final capacitor voltages. Experimental measurements The low energy test circuit of figure 1 was used. C1, a 0.1pF capacitor, is d.c. charged, and is switched to ring across to Cz, the 0.15pP test capacitor. Switching is performed by the mercury-wetted reed relay, in series with a magnetic switch, MS1, formed from a ferrite bead with dimensions

- i.d. - 0.d. -w

1.2mm 3.4mm 5.0mm

and wound with 27 turns. With the second magnetic switch, MS2, disconnected from the circuit, C2 charges up, and then discharges back into C1 after a further delay due to MS1. The rationale for the use of magnetic switches is that their high blocking state inductance causes the already low internal inductive voltage drop in the test capacitor to become negligible at zero current, allowing more accurate estimatibn of the internal capacitor voltage.

228

pick-up

voltage

(volts)

i n d u c t.i v e p i c K- u p

Figure 1 Circuit for capacitor loss measurements, with inductive pick-up for current measurement
35v~

terminal voltage
(volts)

(a) CharainR efficiency Figure 2 shows the measured terminal and pick-up voltage waveforms for capacitor C2, and also the computed current and power waveforms. C2 was charged from OV to 23.25V, giving a change in stored energy of 40.5~5,while the terminal input energy was computed as 47.7pJ. This gives the charging efficiency, here defined as the ratio of energy in to energy stored, as 40.5/47.7 = 85%. jb) Discharnina efficiency Figure 3 shows the discharging voltage and current waveforms for capacitor C2, with C2 ringing back into C?. The incomplete discharge of C2 is due to the mismatch of C 1 and C2. The initial and final charges on C2 were 23V and 7 . W respectively, giving a change in stored energy of -35.4pJ. The terminal energy flow was computed as -32.35. This gives the discharging efficiency, here defined as the ratio of energy out to change in stored energy, as 32.3/35.4 91%.
5h

2ps

2.:

IC) Ring-round

efficiency

t_-<<., -<
0

__

1.IJ.S

...~ ... . . . . . -.. i

---_-

. .

2ps

The second magnetic switch, MS2, formed from 23 turns on a ferrite bead as above, was connected to the circuit of figure 1. After C2 charges up from C1, MS2 causes C2 to ring round to reverse polarity, while MS1 is in a blocking state. Figure 4.10 shows the voltage and current waveforms. The initial voltage on C2 is 23V, and the final voltage is -10.6V. The change in stored energy is -31.2pJ, which is about 80% of the initial capacitor energy. The computed terminal energy flow is -20.4pJ, so that the capacitor dissipation is 10.8pJ. This means that 35% of the energy loss during ring-round is due to dissipation within the capacitor. Equivalent series resistance (ESR)

terminal power (watts)

\--_

The capacitor pulse ESR, ReSr. in the above

tests
was assessed as follows. The current

three
was

pulse

assumed to be a half-sinusoid, with the half-time, t4f2, and peak current.1, defined as indicated on figures 2,3.4. The theoretically expected loss in the ESR during a half-sine pulse is given by loss = I Res, ti 2

--__
~

2PS

(5)

Figure 2 Test capacitor charging waveforms

229

i5v

terminal

1 0
1

2PS

Possible limitations of the experimental methodology used are, firstly, the need for an integral calculation, which is prone to drift, as can be seen from the waveforms for current, power, and energy on test ( ) a . However, this was probably due mainly to inaccuracies in the oscilloscope trace readings, which were performed manually. Secondly, use of the inductive pick-up for current measurement relies on the assumption that the current distribution pattern across the parallel plate capacitor feed remains uniform during the pulse, which was not actually verified. Third, the proportion of energy dissipation in the capacitor must be large enough to be measurable; otherwise a calorimetric method is indicated, as discussed by Rust and McDuff [ 3 ] for very low-loss reprate designs.
25V

terminal vults

-15v I 0

2PS

Figure 3

Test capacitor discharging waveforms

The experimentally measured capacitor loss is the difference between the terminal input energy and the increase in stored energy: equating this with the right-hand term in (5) gives a value for ReSr. The capacitor voltage was measured at the start and end of the nominal half-sine current waveforms, at which points the actual current is practically zero. The values obtained for tests ( ) ( ) a,b, and (c) above were as follows:

terminal current

iI
Figure 4

(amps )

0.54 ohms 0.55 ohms 0.48 ohms

(a) (b) (c)

Test capacitor ring-round waveforms

The values obtained for (a) and (b) are remarkably close. The value for (c) is lower, which could be because the pulse length on ring-round is longer: 1.45~s against 1.1~s. Multiplying 0.48 ohms by the factor J(1.45/1.1) gives 0.55 ohms, equivalent to the values for (a) and (b), which suggests that the explanation for the lower value in (c) may be a Sf dependence of the ESR. Discussion of results Tests (a) and (b) indicate capacitor losses under conditions of unipolar charging and discharging of 1015% of the change in stored energy. However, when the capacitor voltage was reversed, in test (c), around 27% of the initial stored energy was lost in the capacitor. Qualitatively, the higher l o s s measured on voltage reversal ties in with the fact that pulsed capacitors have to be derated according to the degree of reversal. Calculation of the pulse ESR shows that the capacitor continues to behave in a linear manner on voltage reversal; the larger proportion of loss on voltage reversal is simply due to the larger pulse current.

High current test The low voltage at which the above tests were carried out could mean that the ESR figures obtained are not valid for full-voltage operation of the Maxwell capacitor, although one would probably expect the capacitor to continue to behave linearly at higher voltage levels. A brief experiment was carried out in which the test capacitor was d.c. charged to around 4kV, and then switched onto a second, identical, capacitor through a self-breaking spark-gap, as shown in figure 5. Heavy copper wire was used for the connections. The oscillatory charging waveform for C 2 is also shown in figure 5; the half-cycle time was 1.2511s, corresponding closely to the above tests. The peak current was around 680Amps. The effective circuit resistance was calculated from the oscillation decrement as 2 x 0.55ohms (*SI). This result suggests that the capacitor equivalent series resistance forms the dominant circuit loss mechanism, and that the value of ESR determined at low (1-5A) current l e v e l s remained valid at the higher power levels.

230

r
I
"d
0-.

1'

-breaking g a p

References [11 Power, A . J . , Bolton, H.R., Bessel, W. (1987). Simulation of a pulsed power scheme feeding a dense Z-pinch plasma load, 6TH IEEE P.P. Conf., 696-699. [ 2 ] Nunnally, W.C., Kristiansen, M . , Hagler, M.O. (1975), Differential measurement of fast energy discharge capacitor inductance and resistance, IEEE No. Trans. Instrumentation and Measurement, Vol. 24, 2 , 112-114. [3] Rust, K., McDuff, G. (1986), 'Calorimetric measurements of the 'equivalent series resistance' of low-loss, high repetition rate discharge capacitors', IEEE 17th Power Mod. Symp.

Figure 5 High voltage oscillatory charging waveform

Conclusions The experimental method allows precise assessment of internal capacitor losses under fast pulse conditions, when the effect of the external circuit cannot be neglected. Proportions of initial energy lost in the test capacitor during charge transfer with pulse lengths of 1-1.5~swere found to be between 10-30%. The individual contributions of conduction, dielectric, and contact losses to the ESR cannot, of course, be distinguished. The measurements carried out appeared to indicate a constant ESR with pulse amplitude, with a putative Jf frequency dependence, but further work would obviously be necessary to establish the form of frequency dependence, whether the ESR remains constant at up to the full charge level, and its variation under rep-rate conditions. The ESR of the Maxwell pulse capacitor under test was estimated as around 0.50hms at the pulse length used. The manufacturers quoted values for the capacitance and series inductance of the capacitor were 0.15pF and 40nH respectively, giving values of characteristic impedance of only $(0.04/0.15) = 0.520hms, and nominal resonant half-cycle time of approximately $0.15~0.04 = 243ns. For efficient energy extraction, the capacitor would have to be discharged with a pulse length much longer than the capacitor self-resonant half-cycle time of 24011s. As the Maxwell capacitor is specifically designed for pulsed applications, this suggests that fast pulses and high efficiency operation of capacitors may be rather incompatible objectives.

This work was supported by Engineering Research Council.

the U.K.

Science and

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