On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 Robert.Wultsch@asu.edu wrote:

> First off, I am not an Electrical Engeneer (yet) and it has been a while since
> I have had a class that dealt with electricty so if anyone notices an error
> please correct me.
>

OK
 
> Generally
> A capacitor is like a little rechargeble battery. First off a cap always is
> usally acting as a resistor. Now lets assume that you have a some what
> constant voltage DC. If the voltage drops then the cap lets out some of it's
> stored up power. If there is too much power it absorbs some. 
> 

To DC a cap looks more or less like an open circuit (minus leakage 
currents).  AC, of course, sees it a little differently.  I'll let someone 
else do the math.

> Most computers
> use 3 capacitors next to the CPU to do the job of supplying power (tri-phase
> is the term I
> think). The way this works is that one powers the cpu until the voltage starts
> to drop, and then the next takes over, and the first begins to recharge. 
> 

Um, yes and no, leaning strongly towards no.  The caps on the DC output 
of the power supply are there to filter out ripple (AC component riding 
on a DC signal, bad for digital) in the power supply output and get you 
closer to pure DC (good for digital).

> The voltage regulator in the PSU does not look like a cap, but I assume that
> it works the same way as there are bunch of cap's in there.
> 

Not really, as a voltage regulator is an active device.  It can be a 
simple transistor or a complex integrated circuit.  One thing it most 
definately is not is a capacitor.  Not even close.

> 
> On Fri, 17 Oct 2003, Bryce C wrote:
> 
> > Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't a voltage regulator a voltage
> > regulator and a capacitor a capacitor and neither look all that similar?
> > You can, of course, attach a capacitor to a voltage regulator as is done
> > on the common, home-brew IR receiver but the voltage regulator still
> > looks more like a transistor than a capacitor.
> 
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