Charging capacitor in parallel and discharging in series

Question

I wanted to use multiple capacitors to step up the voltage in a circuit. A little bit of google searching told me that it is called a Charge Pump. I figured out the charging each capacitor individually in parallel and then discharging them in series should result in the same capacitance and same voltage. Since charging capacitor in parallel will allow each capacitor to charge upto its rated capacitance(ideally!) and then discharging in series will add their voltages to give me Higher voltage without having to bargain with capacitance. Also I found there is a circuit called Marx Generator which uses the same principal,

Q1) Is my understanding correct? (which I think is)

Now If my understanding happens to be correct, I take four 50 volt capacitors and put them in series after charging them in parallel at say 36 volts. Then the output voltage from the capacitors should be approximately $$36v*4=144 v$$ .

Q2) Will the overall voltage damage the capacitors as it exceeds their individual ratings? (which I don't think will happen, but obviously need some experts help)

Now if I connect this output to two 200 volt capacitors in parallel and then put them in series. The resultant voltage should be 288 volts. Same as above followed and in theory I should end up with 288 volts approximately.

Q3) I think I have the circuit figured out but it will use a lot of switches to change the capacitor from parallel to series, Do you guys have a better way to do so?

Answer 1

Now if I connect this output to two 200 volt capacitors in parallel and then put them in series. The resultant voltage should be 288 volts. Same as above followed and in theory I should end up with 288 volts approximately.

No of course not. Sure you made a voltage of 144 volts but as soon as you apply that to an extra capacitor that voltage is going to fall - in other words the charge is going to be shared by the series bank and the added extra capacitors. Charged capacitors are not infinite sources of charge - their voltage drops when you remove charge to "charge up" more capacitors.

Q = CV i.e. charge = capacitance x voltage.

Answer 2

I would say that you are right from a theoretical standpoint if I understand your meaning. You can place charged capacitors in series and the voltage will be additive, as long as there is no load or if the capacitors were ideal and perfectly balanced.

However, in real life, capacitors in general and electrolytic capacitors in particular behave badly when placed in series. If you have all of your capacitors in series fully charged, and shorted the output (top capacitor) to ground, mismatches in the capacitor values will result in voltages with respect to ground between individual electrolytic capacitors, and some will be reverse biased (and conduct). A general rule: don't try to use capacitors in series or inductors in parallel.

Answer 3

Swapping caps charged in parallel, to a series setup, increases the voltage, but decreases the capacitance.

n caps of value C in parallel have capacitance nC, and charged to voltage V, total energy stored 1/2nCV^2.

Rearranging the charged caps to series, the effective total capacitance is now C/n, whilst the voltage is nV. The energy is therefore 1/2C/n(nV)^2. Simplifying gives the same stored energy of 1/2nCV^2.

Voltage is increased, but energy is conserved because the "available" charge is reduced (it can only flow from the "external" plates of the stacked caps).

That isn't to say charge pumps aren't useful, just that you can't break the laws of physics!

As other note, Marx uses spark gaps for discharge and resistors for charging, whilst CW use AC charging with diodes for switching