Capacitors in series Like other electrical elements, capacitors serve no purpose when used alone in a circuit. They are connected to other elements in a circuit in one of two ways: either in series…
You can see the capacitors are in series because they are back-to-back against each other, and each negative electrode is connected to the successive capacitor's positive electrode. The best way to think of a series circuit is that if current flows through the circuit, the current can only take one path.
Like other electrical elements, capacitors serve no purpose when used alone in a circuit. They are connected to other elements in a circuit in one of two ways: either in series or in parallel. In some cases it is useful to connect several capacitors in series in order to make a functional block:
So, the analysis of the capacitors in series connection is quite interesting and plays a crucial role in electronic circuits. When multiple capacitors are connected, they share the same current or electric charge, but the different voltage is known as series connected capacitors or simply capacitors in series.
Combining capacitors in series reduces the total capacitance, and isn't very common, but what are some possible uses for it? It shouldn't be used to increase the voltage rating, for instance, since you can't guarantee that the middle will be at half the DC voltage of the total, without using bleeder resistors.
Thus, if you need to have a capacitor in a high voltage circuit it may be necessary, or just more convenient, to place them in series. Recovering the nominal capacitance of the individual capacitor, if needed, is a question of building up an array of them in parallel.