Energy Storage
Whether you store energy from regenerative braking in a vehicle or hold up CPU and memory to safely shut down during a power failure, KEMET offers high-CV capacitor solutions for any application.
Overview
Batteries may be the first thought that comes to mind when you hear energy storage, but a capacitor’s low leakage and ability to store energy and release instantaneous current is the primary characteristic that makes them work so well with batteries and other power delivery networks. KEMET’s products can be split into two major categories of energy storage: bulk capacitance and energy harvesting.
High Voltage Bulk Capacitance
High voltage bulk capacitance is often found in high power AC to DC conversions or used to hold up a DC rail with minimal ripple voltage. These capacitors are often found in electric vehicles, power generation, or renewable energy.
KEMET’s Film and Aluminum electrolytic capacitors are best suited for a high voltage bulk capacitance application.
Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitor Benefits
- Products focused on extended life to maximize operating time without sacrificing operating voltage — up to 20,000 hours of life!
- Flexible design with KEMET’s aluminum electrolytic lifetime calculator, which gives an accurate estimation of how long the capacitor will last within defined operating conditions
- High energy storage density makes these capacitors a very space effective solution
- Varied mounting factors for easy board assembly or on site replacements
- Supports voltages up to 600 VDC
Film Capacitor Benefits
- Able to withstand overvoltage conditions — almost double their rated voltage
- Film capacitors are non-polarized, which are immune to reverse polarity connections
- Excellent ripple current handling performance makes it ideal when you need to have high capacitance and deal with high ripple current
- Supports voltages up to 3,000 VDC
Low Voltage Bulk Capacitance
Low voltage bulk capacitance refers to capacitors that are used to prevent a power rail from drooping past its intended voltage level. This can be caused by sudden inrush current from multiple components powering up at the same time and is commonly found in low voltage systems like computers, mobile devices, and IOT devices. Any of KEMET’s capacitor offerings could work in this category.
- Ceramic has excellent ESR, which translates to low ripple voltages
- KEMET’s tantalum and polymer line of capacitors have high CV density and good ESR that can minimize the bulk capacitance footprint
- Aluminum electrolytics and film capacitors can also be used in low voltage applications
- Solutions can be interchanged and used together cooperatively
Energy Harvesting
Supercapacitors have characteristics of both traditional capacitors and batteries. As a result, the usage of supercapacitors is similar to a battery in a DC circuit. These devices are best suited for use in low voltage DC hold-up applications such as embedded microprocessor systems with flash memory or capturing the energy from regenerative braking systems.
Supercapacitor Benefits
- Low leakage current means the supercapacitor can hold a charge longer
- Can be rapidly charged and discharged, which is useful for capturing very quick bursts of energy
- Can be charged and discharged many more times than a normal battery
