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Capacitance Meter: Theory & Design

This document describes how to construct a simple capacitance meter using an 8051 controller. It works by using an RC circuit to charge a capacitor, and measuring the time it takes to reach 63.2% of the input voltage using a comparator and microcontroller. This time measurement allows the capacitance to be calculated using the formula C=τR, where τ is the measured time constant and R is the known resistor value. The circuit uses a transistor to discharge the capacitor before each measurement.

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159 views3 pages

Capacitance Meter: Theory & Design

This document describes how to construct a simple capacitance meter using an 8051 controller. It works by using an RC circuit to charge a capacitor, and measuring the time it takes to reach 63.2% of the input voltage using a comparator and microcontroller. This time measurement allows the capacitance to be calculated using the formula C=τR, where τ is the measured time constant and R is the known resistor value. The circuit uses a transistor to discharge the capacitor before each measurement.

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CAPACITANCE METER

In order to test an electronic circuit, we need some testing equipment. Capacitance

meter is electronic equipment used to measure capacitance. This project will show

how to construct a simple capacitance meter using 8051 controller.

Theory & Design

Capacitance can be measured using the RC circuit. In this project, we have

designed the capacitance meter using RC circuit, comparator and microcontroller.

RC circuit

Voltage across the capacitor(Vc) at any instant of time during the charging period

is given as,

Vc=Vi(1-e-tRC)

where, Vc - Voltage across the capacitor

Vi - Supply voltage
t - is the elapsed time since the application of supply voltage

RC - is the time constant of RC charging circuit

The time required to charge the capacitor to 63.5 percent of input voltage is known

as time constant (τ), as given by

τ=RC

The capacitance is given by the following formula:

C=τR

Circuit Diagram
Working Principle

Transistor is used to discharge the capacitor before starting the measurement.

Variable resistor near the comparator is used to set the voltage to 63.2 percent of

input voltage.

 Initially the base of the transistor should be made low to discharge the

capacitor.

 After the pressing the key1, base of the transistor will be made high.

 So that the capacitor starts charging.

 Charging time of the capacitor is calculated using stop watch APIs.

 When the voltage across the capacitor reaches 63.2 percent of input voltage,

comparator triggers a signal.

 After receiving the signal from the comparator, stop watch will be stopped.

 Using the above formula, capacitance is calculated.

Source: http://www.zilogic.com/blog/zkit-51-cap-meter.html

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