Engineering:Constant phase element

Short description: Circuit component which represents double-layer capacitance

In electronics, a constant phase element is an equivalent electrical circuit component that models the behaviour of a double layer, that is an imperfect capacitor (see double-layer capacitance).

Constant phase elements are also used in equivalent circuit modeling and data fitting of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy data.

A constant phase element also currently appears in modeling the imperfect dielectrics' behavior. The generalization in the fields of imperfect electrical resistances, capacitances, and inductances leads to the general "phasance" concept: http://fr.scribd.com/doc/71923015/The-Phasance-Concept

General equation

The electrical impedance can be calculated:

[math]\displaystyle{ Z_{CPE}=\frac{1}{Y_{CPE}}=\frac{1}{Q_0\omega^n}e^{-\frac{\pi}{2}ni} }[/math]

where the CPE admittance is: [math]\displaystyle{ Y_{CPE}=Q_0(\omega i)^n }[/math] and Q₀ and n (0<n<1) are frequency independent.

Q₀ = 1/|Z| at ω = 1 rad/s

The constant phase is always −(90*n)°, with n from 0 to 1. The case n = 1 describes an ideal capacitor while the case n = 0 describes a pure resistor.