Development of High Temperature Capacitors for High Density, High Temperature Applications

A number of alternative capacitor technologies have been studied and high-temperature extruded polymer film capacitors hold the promise to meet the critical needs for temperature, energy density, reliability, cost and availability. Polymer resins capable of continuous use up to 200 degrees C can be extruded into very thin films thereby permitting higher capacitor operating temperatures, higher energy density and improved cost structure compared to films manufactured by solvent casting processes. Studies of polymeric resins have shown that high-engineered polyetherimides show great promise for use as dielectric capacitor films. Polyetherimides can be melt extruded into thin films providing a low cost, environmentally friendly dielectric material. Discussions of the results of melt extrusion, metallization, and winding into electrostatic polyetherimide film capacitors will be given comparing and contrasting the results to other electrostatic film capacitor designs.