High Temperature Nano-composite Film Capacitors for Hybrid Electric Vehicles

qFuture ground vehicles for Army applications are envisioned to use hybrid electric propulsion. Hybrid electric vehicles will require electrical power systems which are more compact and more efficient than those used in current vehicles. Power converters are being developed to fit this requirement, operating at high frequencies to reduce the size of passive components such as capacitors and inductors. DC bus capacitors for these converters are a major consumer of available volume in present designs. Reduction in the size of DC bus capacitors for power converters would be highly desirable, while still providing high temperature (up to 200¢XC) and high frequency (greater than 60 kHz) ripple current capability, and maintaining efficiency, reliability, and service life. TPL will develop a novel nano-composite dielectric film and capacitor technology that is compact, fault-tolerant and withstands the operating temperature and ripple current requirements for the Army¡¦s envisioned hybrid electric vehicle. TPL has extensive experience in the development of nano-composite material systems for advanced dielectric properties and associated high performance capacitors. The capacitor is projected to have a packaged specific capacitance > 1.2 ƒÝF/cm3, an operating temperature range of -40 to +200 „aC and adapt easily to converter circuits and cooling systems.