Capacitor ESR measurement technique

Capacitor issues were determined for a particular type of pulse capacitor. The techniue 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 loss figureswere further used to calculate effective values of capacitor oESR for the pulse condictions; 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.