Function and working principle of air conditioner capacitor

Introduction to the role of air conditioner capacitors

Capacitor is a key component for starting the air conditioner motor. Most air conditioners on the market now use capacitors to start and run the air conditioner.The damage of the capacitor will cause the compressor starting current to rise too quickly, automatically start the protection mode and shut down or fail to start the compressor, which will cause the air conditioner to fail to operate normally or automatically power off during the startup process. During the process of starting the air conditioner, the capacitor plays a conductive role to help the compressor start normally.

How to identify the quality of air conditioner capacitors

There are a lot of capacitors on the market. Various shoddy capacitors not only cannot guarantee normal use, but also cause irreparable damage to the air conditioner due to excessive or insufficient current during use. Here, I would like to share with you how to identify the quality of air conditioner capacitors. You can use a multimeter to test the capacity to see if the value is too large or too small. You can also use the multimeter's diode file to test whether it is directly conductive. If it is directly conductive, it proves that the capacitor is bad. The capacitance of ac and dc circuit capacitors is generally small.

Introduction to the working principle of air conditioner capacitor

Most air conditioners have single-phase compressors, which require capacitors to be split in phase to start. Capacitors are prone to overload when operating at a higher voltage of 220V. The quality of capacitors is directly related to whether the compressor can start normally. Therefore, when the air conditioner cannot start normally, the capacitor should be checked first. Capacitor damage is also common.

So what is the principle of capacitors? Capacitor induction motors have two windings, the starting winding and the running winding. A large capacity capacitor is connected in series to the starting winding.When single-phase alternating current passes through the running winding and the starting winding, the starting winding current is 90 degrees ahead of the running winding due to the action of the capacitor. When the magnetic field rotates, the motor generates induced current, and the current interacts with the rotating magnetic field to make the motor rotate. The above is an explanation of the principle of the capacitor.

I believe that through the editor’s introduction today, everyone has a certain understanding and knowledge of the role of air conditioner capacitors. I hope it can be helpful to the majority of maintenance personnel and I hope it can help everyone when you encounter capacitor related problems.