quote:
Originally posted by Vilkku
Then I don't think there would be a difference on if you have one or many wired. But at least there would be some current passing in the whole thing in that case, unlike the first model.
Connecting capacitors in series decreases the capacitance (so there is hardly ever a valid reason to do that). The total voltage applied to the circuit is divided between the capacitor charges.
Connecting capacitors in parallel combines capacitance and leaves each capacitor charged to the total applied voltage. Neither case leads to a voltage increase.
The charge pump works by employing some type of switching circuit to charge one capacitor per clock cycle, with the full input voltage -- then combine them in series to produce increased output voltage. Charge pumps are fairly complicated compared to the simplistic series circuit in question.
If the input is AC and desired output DC, it is relatively easy to design a
voltage multiplier circuit using only capacitors and diodes.
