High Voltage Capacitors Designed to Avoid Catastrophic Failure Modes

Abstract

A major concern in the operation of high voltage capacitors is the failure mode at end of life. While progress has been made in this area at lower voltages, little has changed for high current capacitors operating above 30 kV in steady state and pulsed power applications. Based on a new development at Maxwell Energy Products, Inc., it is now possible to build capacitors that can operate with a high degree of safety at high voltages. The capacitors reach the normal end of life, while avoiding the catastrophic failures, collateral damage, and unscheduled maintenance, associated with the normal failure mode of today s high voltage capacitors. This paper discusses the problem, capacitor failure modes, capacitor designs and describes a solution to the problem of catastrophic high voltage capacitor failures.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1999
Accession Number
ADA638539

Entities

People

  • F. W. Macdougall
  • G. L. Mckee
  • J. B. Ennis
  • R. M. Ness
  • Roland A. Cooper
  • W. A. Reass

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Capacitors
  • Circuits
  • Collateral Damage
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Electrodes
  • Electronic Equipment
  • Energy
  • Energy Storage
  • Failure Mode And Effect Analysis
  • High Energy
  • High Voltage
  • Maintenance
  • Power
  • Pulsed Power
  • Resistance
  • Terminals

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Aviation Safety Risk Assessment.
  • Electronics Engineering
  • Microwave Engineering.