AUTOMOTIVE-FEATURE
Choosing Reliable Capacitors for Automotive Applications Choosing a capacitor for reliable performance in today's automotive electronics requires an examination of several parameters. The performance characteristics of the various capacitor technologies must be first be understood. Following this, the automotive environment and specific application must be considered in order to determine the most cost-effective and reliable solution. This article will look at the characteristics of the four major capacitor dielectric types: tantalum electrolytics, aluminum electrolytics, poly-films, and ceramics. In addition, the automotive environment will be described, and the general categories for automotive applications will be listed.
Author Andrew Wilson currently serves as Senior Manager of Product Marketing in Vishay’s Tantalum Capacitor Division. Previously, he has held the roles of Regional Business Development Manager for TTI, Market Segment Manager for Sensata Technologies, and Lead Marketing Manager for Osram’s North American OEM Component Division. An accomplished mechanical engineer with two patents and experience in electronics packaging integration, Andrew holds a BS from Wentworth Institute of Technology and a MBA from Northeastern University.
20 10 | 2021 BISinfotech
Figure 1 shows the typical capacitance and voltage ranges for some of the more popular types of capacitor dielectrics. It is interesting to note that for applications requiring capacitance values from about 0.1 μF to 100 μF, and voltages of less than 50 V, there are several overlapping choices. To further understand the performance characteristics of these various capacitor types, we will need to cover a few of the capacitor basics.
