According to the installation mode, the power capacitors can be divided into indoor type and outdoor type; according to the rated voltage of operation, they can be divided into low voltage and high voltage; according to the number of phases, they can be divided into two types: single-phase and three-phase, except for low-voltage parallel capacitors, the other are single-phase; according to the shell material, they can be divided into metal shell, porcelain insulation shell, rubber barrel shell, etc.

According to the purpose, it can be divided into the following 8 types:

1) Parallel capacitor. Originally called phase-shifting capacitor. It is mainly used to compensate reactive power of inductive load in power system to improve power factor, voltage quality and line loss.

2) Series capacitor. It is connected in series with high voltage transmission and distribution lines, which can compensate the distribution inductance of the line, improve the static and dynamic stability of the system, improve the voltage quality of the line, lengthen the transmission distance and increase the transmission capacity.

3) Coupling capacitor. It is mainly used for high-frequency communication, measurement, control and protection of high-voltage power lines, as well as components in the device of extracting electric energy.

4) Circuit breaker capacitor. It was originally called equalizing capacitor. Parallel connection plays a voltage equalizing role on the fracture of UHV Circuit Breaker, which makes the voltage between the fracture sections even during the breaking process and when it is disconnected, and can improve the arc extinguishing characteristics of the circuit breaker and improve the breaking capacity.

5) Electric capacitor. It is used in the electric heating equipment system with the frequency of 40 ~ 24000 Hz to improve the power factor and the voltage or frequency characteristics of the circuit.

6) Pulse capacitor. It is mainly used for energy storage, such as impulse voltage generator, impulse current generator, oscillation circuit for circuit breaker test, etc.

7) DC and filter capacitors. It is used in high voltage direct current device and high voltage rectifying filter device.

8) Standard capacitor. It is used as a standard capacitor or a capacitive voltage divider for measuring high voltage in the circuit of power frequency high voltage measuring dielectric loss.