Selecting and Applying

Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors for Inverter Applications

Sam G. Parler, Jr.
Cornell Dubilier
Abstract— Aluminum electrolytic capacitors are widely used in all types of inverter
power systems, from variable-speed drives to welders to UPS units. This paper
discusses the considerations involved in selecting the right type of aluminum electro-
lytic bus capacitors for such power systems. The relationship among temperature,
voltage, and ripple ratings and how these parameters affect the capacitor life are
discussed. Examples of how to use Cornell Dubilier’s web-based life-modeling java
applets are covered.
Introduction a knowledge of all aspects of the application environ-
ment, from mechanical to thermal to electrical. The goal
One of the main application classes of aluminum elec- of this paper is to assist you with selecting the right
trolytic capacitors is input capacitors for power invert- capacitor for the design at hand.
ers. The aluminum electrolytic capacitor provides a
Capacitor ripple current waveform considerations
unique value in high energy storage and low device
impedance. How you go about selecting the right ca- Inverters generally use an input capacitor between a
pacitor or capacitors, however, is not a trivial matter. rectified line input stage and a switched or resonant
Selecting the right capacitor for an application requires converter stage. See Figure 1 below. There is also usu-

(a) (b)
Current Spectrum
2.5

1.5
Ck

0.5

0
1 10 100 1000 10000
k
d= 10% d= 5% d= 2.5%

(d) (c)
Figure 1: Inverter schematics. Clockwise: (a) block diagram of a typical DC power supply featuring an inverter stage,
(b) motor drive inverter schematic shows the rectification stage, (c) typical inverter capacitor current waveforms,
(d) relative capacitor ripple current frequency spectrum for various charge current duties (d=Ic/IL ).
1

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ally an output filter capacitor. There are many power applications: snapmount, plug-in, and screw-terminal

supply topologies, and this paper is not meant to serve capacitors. See Figure 2 below and Table 1 on page 3.

as a power supply design primer. Choose your topol- Small snap-in’s and radials are often used in the 100-

ogy based on your design philosophy and the constraints 1000 W range, and larger snapmount capacitors and

of the application. As far as the capacitor is concerned, snap-in farms are used in the 1-20 kW range. Screw-

keep in mind that the RMS capacitor ripple current Ir is terminal and plug-in capacitors also begin seeing use

affected by the duty d, defined as the ratio of peak charge in the 500 W and higher power ranges.

current Ic to average load current IL approximately as:

Mechanical and assembly issues

Ir = Ic √ d/(1-d) = IL √(1-d)/d (1)

Screw-terminal and plug-in capacitors offer a more rug-

For practical duty cycles of 5-20%, this leads to ripple ged package for higher vibration and shock performance

currents that are 2-4× the DC current output by the ca- for very little additional cost compared to snapmount

pacitor. The duty d may well affect the capacitor selec- capacitors. A little additional assembly effort is required

tion, as low-duty, high-peak-current charging circuits in using plug-in or screw-terminal capacitors. For screw-

subject the capacitor to higher RMS ripple current. Note terminal capacitors, proper thread torque needs to be

that the spectral content of the ripple current shifts with monitored. A large bank of snapmount plug-in capaci-

the duty cycle as shown in Figure 1(d). Depending on tors might make sense when a large circuit board to-

the shape of the capacitor ESR (effective series resis- pology is desired and can be afforded, or if extremely

tance) vs frequency curve, changes in the current duty low inductance is desired. However, should there be a

cycle may lead to capacitor power dissipation that is capacitor problem, capacitor location and replacement

proportional to the RMS ripple current, proportional to might be difficult, and an expensive circuit board and

the square of the RMS ripple current, or somewhere

between these two extremes.

Power range

Power supplies below a hundred watts generally use

surface-mount capacitors. These devices will be dis-

cussed in a later paper. In the higher-power applica-

tions discussed in this paper, the input capacitor is usu-
ally aluminum electrolytic. This paper will focus on Figure 2(a, left; b, center; c, right): Snap-in capacitor
(left), plug-in capacitor (center), and screw-terminal
three main capacitor types used in higher-power inverter capacitor (right) .
2

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bank might be difficult or impossible to rework. Screw- available in the same case size in a 105 ºC rated capaci-

terminal capacitors can be circuit-board mounted, or tor compared to its 85 ºC counterpart.

alternatively, a laminated or discrete bus structure may

Capacitance versus voltage rating
be employed. Screw-terminal capacitors generally use
a heavier-duty paper-electrolyte pad compared to the Capacitance per surface area varies approximately in-
snapmount capacitors. This often allows them to oper- versely with the square root of the cube of the rated
ate at lower failure rates in banks with the same stored voltage. This concept allows you to calculate the rated
energy. capacitance at a rated voltage in a given case size when

you know another rated capacitance/voltage.

85 ºC versus 105 ºC ratings

C1V11.5 = C2V21.5 (2)

As far as the thermal environment is concerned, all three

of these capacitor types have ratings availabilities from For example, if you know that we offer 1.2 F at 20 V in
85 ºC to 105 ºC with ripple. In general, 105 ºC-rated a 3x8.63” package, you can figure that at a 400 V rat-
capacitors give longer life and/or higher ripple current ing we should be able to offer about 1.2×(400/20)-1.5 =
capability. The main difference in construction between 0.013 F = 13,000 uF in the same package. This scaling
the 85 ºC and the 105 ºC capacitors is in the anode foil. rule allows you to readily answer the age-old question:
The anodization voltage (formation voltage) is higher “Say, what if I were to use two 250V caps in series
for the 105 ºC capacitors. Since the anode capacitance instead of two 500V rated caps of the same physical
per foil area is lower at higher anodization voltages, size in parallel? Will I get more or less capacitance?”
this usually means that there is a little less capacitance Here we figure C250 = C500 (500/250)1.5 = 2.82 C500 <

Category Snap-in Capacitor Plug-in Capacitor Screw-terminal Capacitor

Application power range 0.1 - 30 kW 0.5 - 50 kW 0.5 kW - 10 MW
Mechancal Integrity Moderate Excellent Excellent
Mounting scheme Circuit board Circuit board Circuit board or bus assembly
Cost of Assembly Low Moderate High
Ability to re-work Poor Moderate Superior
Ability to heatsink Poor Poor Superior
Ripple current per cap < 50 A < 50 A < 100 A
Max Temperature 105 ºC 105 ºC 105 ºC
Voltage Range 6.3 - 500 6.3 - 500 6.3 - 550
Size Range 22x25 to 50x105 35x40 to 50x143 35x40 to 90x220
Best Typical Life at 85 ºC 90k hours > 100k > 100k
Overvoltage withstand Moderate Moderate Superior
Series Inductance Low (10-40 nH) Moderate (20-40 nH) Moderate (25-80 nH)

Table 1: Comparison of three main capacitor types used in power inverters: Snap-in capacitors,
plug-in capacitors, and screw-terminal capacitors .

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4C500 so we realize that using the higher-voltage caps is size in parallel will handle about the same or a little

better when high capacitance is needed. Also, just in- more ripple than two 300V or even two 250V caps of

specting the conserved quantity CV1.5 tells us that charge the same size in series. And two 400V caps in parallel

storage per capacitor volume (Q=CV) is maximized at handily beat two 200V caps in series.

low voltage ratings and that energy storage (E=½CV2) Since the inverter market has grown and the bus volt-

is maximized at high voltage ratings. From a physical ages are greater than 150 volts, the market for high-

standpoint, these facts make sense: Charge storage abil- voltage aluminum electrolytic capacitors has kept pace

ity is related to dielectric surface area while energy stor- and reflected the shift in the power supply topology.

age is related to dielectric volume. The aluminum ox- One thing to keep in mind is that the high-voltage caps

ide is grown upon the aluminum foil in proportion to are a little more expensive, but save on component count

the anodization potential in the relationship 1.4 nm/V. and complexity, and one needn’t worry about voltage

Therefore the etch pores must be larger for high-volt- division between series legs. Also, when caps are used

age foil so that etched surface area decreases; but the in series, additional voltage derating is recommended.

oxide is thicker so that dielectric volume increases. In

Mechanisms limiting capacitor life
fact, some high voltage foils are over 1/3 dielectric by
weight. Now even though these capacitors have ratings of 85
ºC or 105 ºC ambient with ripple, the capacitor life rat-
ESR and ripple current versus voltage rating
ings are generally only a few thousand to perhaps 15,000

Now even though the highest capacitance density for a hours at these ratings. There are 8,760 hours in a year,

given bus voltage is realized with the highest capaci- so these capacitors will not last many years under full-

tor voltage ratings, you might wonder about the ripple load ratings. These full-load ratings are specified as

current rating. One might guess that since the highest- accelerated life test ratings. Many deleterious chemi-

voltage capacitor market has grown immensely over cal and electrochemical reactions in the capacitor sys-

the past 20 years at the expense of the low-voltage ca- tem are accelerated with temperature. For example, elec-

pacitors, that high-voltage capacitors must offer some trolyte vapor pressure drives out the electrolyte through

advantages to stringing lower-voltage capacitors in se- the polymer seals. Leakage current generates hydro-

ries. In general, higher-voltage capacitors use higher- gen gas which increases the ESR (effective series re-

resistivity electrolyte and denser papers, so their ESR sistance). The electrolyte components decompose.

is much higher. On the other hand, ripple rating varies Water in the electrolyte is consumed. The dielectric

only weakly with the ESR, inversely as the square root becomes more conductive. It turns out that most of these

of the ESR. It turns out that two 550V caps of a given effects have a similar activation energy, Ea, discussed

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below, which leads to the rate of their corresponding conservative, as the original Arrhenius equation would
effects doubling every 10 ºC. predict that the temperature life factor would double

every 7-9 ºC.

Quantifying life-limiting degradation rates
The meaning of life
The effect of temperature on the degradation rate for

aluminum electrolytic capacitors is based on the This principle that capacitor life doubles every 10 ºC
Arrhenius rate of chemical reaction of aluminum oxide cooler the capacitor is operated needs to be mapped to
(alumina). The activation energy Ea for a material is some definition of the life of a capacitor. To illustrate

the average energy required to excite an electron of that this point, consider a capacitor rated 5,000 hours at 85
material from its quantum potential well. For anodic ºC with 10 amps of ripple current. Nothing magical hap-
alumina the value is given in the literature as Ea = 0.94 pens suddenly at 5,001 hours on such a test. In fact,

eV. The Boltzmann constant k = 8.62e-5 eV/K, so we during this life test, an accelerated ageing process has
have Ea/k = 1.091e4 K. The Arrhenius equation is: already begun, and chances are that the ESR has in-
Ea 1 - 1 creased and the capacitance has decreased from the ini-
k T2 T1
TF = e (3) tial values prior to the test. If this is not the case, then
the capacitor is underrated. Life is generally defined
Deriving the “life doubles every 10 ºC” rule
as the time to which a certain level of parametric deg-

The Arrhenius equation for the temperature life factor radation occurs. As a practical matter, this is usually

TF may be rearranged as follows to establish the famil- the time required for the ESR to reach double or triple

iar “doubles every 10 ºC” rule: its initial value or limit.

Ea 1 - 1 Ea T1-T2
k ( T2 T1 )
Definition of core temperature
k T1T2 (4)
TF = e =e
The capacitor life equation is always based on a tem-

If we define ∆T = T1-T2 and choose T1T2 based on the perature, and this is not the ambient temperature or the

normally highest usage electrolytic core temperature case temperature, but rather the “hot-spot” core tem-

range of 125 ºC this evaluates to: perature. In the instance of a capacitor DC life test with-

1.091e5 ∆T out ripple current, these three temperatures are all the
TF = e (398 K)2 ( 10 ) = e ln2 ×∆T / 10
same, assuming that the DC leakage current is causing

= 2 ∆T / 10 (5) negligible heating, which is usually true. But most ca-

which is an approximation often used in the capacitor pacitor applications have enough ripple current to cause

industry. At lower temperatures, this approximation is the capacitor winding temperature to rise above the case

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and ambient temperatures, and the hottest place in the the axial direction from the hot-spot of the capacitor to

winding, usually near the top center of the winding if the can bottom. Special construction known as “ex-

we are regarding the capacitor in a terminals-up view, tended cathode” may be used in the capacitor winding

is dubbed the “hot-spot.” Ironically, this hot-spot is of- and assembly to improve the thermal contact between

ten near the coolest place of the capacitor, often the top the winding and the can bottom. At any rate, after the

center of the capacitor top (“header”). heat is transferred to the bottom of the can, it is trans-
ferred elsewhere. This is not to say that radial heat trans-
Components of a capacitor life model
fer effects are negligible, because they are not. A tall,

Capacitor life L is a strong function of core tempera- thin capacitor winding may internally radiate and con-

ture. The core temperature Tc is the ambient tempera- vect over half of the heat from the winding to the can.

ture Ta plus the heat rise ∆T due to ripple current Ir. But in general, the heat flux (flow per area) is greatest

by far at the can bottom, especially when extended cath-

Tc = Ta + ∆T = Ta + Ir2Rsθ (6)
ode construction is incorporated.

where Rs is the capacitor’s effective series resistance In the usual environment of a capacitor in still air, the

(ESR) and is the thermal resistance from the capacitor heat spreads around the can and radiates and convects

core to ambient. So there are three main components to from the can to the environment. In an environment

modeling the capacitor life: 1. Thermal model (θ), 2. with forced-convection, the heat drop from can bottom

ESR model (Rs), and 3. Life Model (L). to can top may be significant. The temperature distri-
bution of the can wall is a function of the air speed,
Thermal model of aluminum electrolytic capacitors
capacitor size, can wall thickness, how full the capaci-

The winding of a capacitor conducts heat effectively in tor is wound, and whether extended cathode construc-

the axial direction, poorly in the radial direction. The tion is used. It is interesting to note that generally the

winding may be considered to be divided into layers of hottest and coolest places on the capacitor are near each

aluminum foil with excellent thermal conductivity, in- other— the inside top of the capacitor winding and the

terleaved with layers of papers with conductivity over middle of the capacitor top (“header”).

three orders of magnitude (1,000×) poorer. These lay-

Heatsinking capacitors
ers are in series in the radial direction and in parallel in

the axial direction. The details of a thermal analysis of Some customers choose to use a heat sink to keep their

aluminum electrolytic capacitors are presented in pa- capacitors cool to prolong the life or to run higher ripple

pers available at our website. Basically the most im- current. The best way to heatsink a capacitor is to mount

portant result is that heat is transferred most readily in the heatsink on the bottom of the capacitor.

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 cally robust as our screw-terminal and plug-in capaci-
Cornell Dubilier capacitor construction
tors. The header is thinner, and there are no spikes and

At Cornell Dubilier, we have been using extended cath- ribs in the can and header to tightly secure the winding.

ode construction in our screw-terminal capacitors for Consequently, their performance in mechanical shock

decades. These family types are now standard, and are and vibration is not as good. We generally use pitchless

designated with a “C” in the family name: DCMC, construction in most of our snap-in capacitors, except

500C, 520C, 550C, and 101C. for some 40 and 50 mm diameter units.

We use “pitchless” construction, meaning there is no

ESR models
tar, pitch, or wax used inside of the capacitor. Our screw-
terminal capacitors have a special construction that fea- Existing impedance models of aluminum electrolytic

tures ribs and a spike in the bottom of the can and on capacitors in the literature are based almost exclusively

the underside of the header. The spikes center the wind- on a capacitance C with an effective lumped series re-

ing as they are inserted into the opposite ends of the sistance (ESR) and sometimes a series inductance

cylindrical mandrel hole that runs along the axis of the (ESL). There are several limitations with this approach.

winding. The ribs run radially outward from the base First, the ESR (effective series resistance) of a capaci-

of the spikes, and they grip the winding tightly on the tor that is most typically used in this model is the value

top and bottom surfaces. These ribs also reinforce the measured on a capacitance bridge with a small-signal

can bottom and the header. An added feature of pitchless sinusoidal excitation. This ESR lumps together a series

construction is the lack of a compound that may melt resistance that is actually in series with the aluminum

and clog the header’s safety vent. We have seen truly oxide dielectric and a parallel resistance that is internal

awesome explosions from competitors’ capacitors that to the dielectric. Thus the ESR is not the “effective”

fail with pitch-clogged safety vents. series resistance at all when the step response (or any

We are now incorporating this extended-cathode, other non-sinusoidal response) of the capacitor is con-

pitchless construction in our plug-in capacitors. These sidered. In fact, the voltage drop at the capacitor termi-

new families are designated with a “C” in the family nals during a high-current transient event may be in

type: 4CMC, 400C, 420C, 450C, and 401C. Notice that error by more than an order of magnitude when the

these plug-in family designations correspond to our simple C+ESR+ESL model is used.

screw-terminal family designations with the first letter The other limitations to using a single, fixed value of

of the screw-terminal family name replaced with a “4.” capacitance and ESR are that the temperature coeffi-

Our snap-in capacitors are among the best in the indus- cients of capacitance and ESR are not taken into ac-

try, but their construction is inherently not as mechani- count, nor are the frequency responses. Figure 3(a)

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shows a typical impedance sweep of an aluminum elec- sufficient for life modeling, a simplified model is suffi-

trolytic capacitor over a broad range of frequencies and cient.

temperatures. Figure 3(b) shows the simple

A simplified ESR model
C+ESR+ESL model of this capacitor. Not only are the
frequency and temperature variations of the capacitor It is apparent that there are several components that

not addressed, but the predicted capacitance and ESR contribute to the ESR: the metallic resistance of the
are incorrect in some cases by more than an order of terminals, of the aluminum tabs which are welded to
magnitude. Clearly, an improved model is needed when- the foil, and of the foil itself; the resistance of the wet

ever accurate results are desired. papers that separate the anode and cathode, and of the
At Cornell Dubilier we have recently developed very electrolyte that resides in the etched pits of the anode
sophisticated impedance models. Figure 3(c) shows the foil; and the resistance associated with the dielectric

results of a model of a particular capacitor. These mod- loss, or dissipation factor (DFOX) of the aluminum ox-
els will be presented in a future publication, and we ide dielectric. The dependence of the electrolyte resis-
anticipate that we will have Spice models available at tance on viscosity and ionic mobility as a function of
our website soon. For the purpose of modeling ESR temperature give rise to a strong temperature-depen-

Cap vs Freq and Temp Cap vs Freq and Temp C a p v s F re q a n d T e m p

1000
1000 1000

100 100 100

Cap (µF)

Cap (µF)

Cap (µF)

10 10
10

1 1
1
0.1 0.1
1 10 100 1000 10000 100000 1000000 1 10 100 1000 10000 100000 1000000
0 .1
Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz) 1 10 100 1000 10000 100000 1000000
F r e q (H z )

ESR vs Freq and Temp ESR vs Freq and Temp E S R v s F re q a n d T e m p

100
100 100

10 10 10
ESR (Ohms)

ESR (Ohms)

ESR (ohms)

1 1 1

0.1 0.1
0 .1

0.01 0.01
1 10 100 1000 10000 100000 1000000 1 10 100 1000 10000 100000 1000000 0 .0 1
1 10 100 1000 10000 100000 1000000
Freq (Hz) Freq (Hz) F re q (H z )

Im p e d a n c e v s F re q an d T em p Im p ed a n c e vs F r e q a n d T e m p Impedance vs Freq and Temp

100 100 100
Impedance Z (ohms)
Impedance (Ohms)

Impedance (Ohms)

10 10 10

1 1 1

0.1 0.1 0.1

0.01 0.01 0.01

1 10 100 1000 10000 100000 1000000 1 10 100 1000 10000 100000 1000000
1 10 100 1000 10000 10000 1E+06
F req (H z ) F re q (H z )
Freq (Hz) 0
25 45 65 85 0 -20 -40 25 45 65 85 0 -20 -40
25 25 85 65 45 25 0 -20 -40

Figure 3(a, left; b, center; c, right): Actual capacitance, ESR, and impedance (left),
results from present oversimplified C+ESR model(center), and results from improved model (right) .
8

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dence of the ESR. equal to
Basically, though there are many components of the
fRM = fL × NΦ × NB (9)
total ESR (Rs), it may be modeled fairly accurately with
a two-term equation. where fL is the line frequency, NΦ is the number of
phases, and NB is 1 for half-wave bridge rectification
Rs = Ro(T) + Xc×DFox = Ro(T) + DFox/2πfC (7)
and 2 for full-wave bridge rectification. The fundamen-
The first term (Ro, “ohmic” resistance) represents the tal frequency fSW of the inverter switching component
true series components outside the dielectric (terminals, of the ripple current is equal to the switching frequency.

tabs, foil, electrolyte, paper) as a temperature-varying Since the ESR varies with frequency, the precise power
quantity and the second term is a frequency-varying loss would be calculated as the sum of the power losses
quantity that represents the internal dielectric loss of at each frequency. But since this is cumbersome, a short-

the aluminum oxide. The dielectric dissipation factor, cut approximation is often used. Generally it is accept-
DFox, is about 0.013 for Al2O3. able to lump the total RMS current into two compo-
nents, one at fRM and the other at fSW .
ESR variation with temperature and frequency

Cornell Dubilier’s life model

It is apparent that, depending on the capacitance, the
second term of (7) becomes negligible compared to the To model the life L we use the following equation.
first term above some frequency fHF:
L = Lb × Mv × 2((Tb-Tc)/10) (10)

fHF = 3DFox/RoC = 1/(25RoC) (8)

Here, Lb is the base life at an elevated core tempera-
The temperature variation of Ro exhibits a strong nega- ture Tb. Mv is a voltage multiplier, usually equal to

tive temperature coefficient. At 85 ºC, Ro may drop by unity at the full rated DC voltage, and greater than one
a factor to 30% of its room-temperature value. at lower DC voltage bias. One complication arises be-
cause the electrolyte resistance Ro is a function of the
ESR for non-sinusoidal ripple current
actual core temperature Tc, the core temperature is a

Ripple current in inverter applications is almost never function of the power loss, and the power loss is a

sinusoidal. Generally there are two strong frequency function of Ro, snarling us in an interdependent circle

components of the ripple current, a rectified mains com- that simple algebra cannot unentangle. Our approach

ponent and an inverter switching component, plus many to solving this challenge is to use an iterative loop in a

harmonics of these two components. The fundamental Java applet that models the core temperature and the

frequency fRM of the rectified mains ripple current is life.

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The voltage multiplier Mv Core temperature and ESR stability

The voltage multiplier Mv is used to account for the The preceding section alluded to the fact that ESR
longer life that is experienced when a capacitor is oper- changes over the life of the capacitor when hydrogen is
ated under derated DC voltage conditions. Capacitor trapped in the electrolyte. In reality, this is only one of

life is a strong function of temperature, as we have several mechanisms that lead to instability of the ESR
shown, but life is generally not a strong function of over the life of the capacitor. The capacitor ESR gener-
voltage, at least not over a large voltage span. In larger ally climbs slowly and usually linearly over the capaci-

capacitors that are very well sealed, such as our plug-in tor life until very high temperatures are reached. This
capacitors, operating at the full rated DC voltage causes effect basically amplifies the initial core temperature
hydrogen to be generated and trapped inside the ca- rise above ambient. Our life-modeling applets take this

pacitor. Much of this trapped hydrogen remains dis- effect into account by increasing the initial heat rise by

solved in the electrolyte, causing the ESR and core tem- a factor based on average ESR changes observed from

perature (when ripple is present) to increase. For this life testing we have performed.

reason, we assign a larger derating factor when both

A heuristic exercise
voltage and absolute core temperature are within 10%
of the maximum ratings for our plug-in capacitors, types Now that we have discussed the basic elements of our
400C, 401C, 420C, 450C and 4CMC. For our capaci- life-modeling Java applets, you should have a better
tors, at present we use understanding of how they work and perhaps a little
more confidence in their results.
Mv = 4.3 - 3.3 Va/Vr (11)
Let’s walk through a couple of examples of actual

where Va is the applied DC voltage and Vr is the rated

DC voltage. For the plug-in capacitors only, we use CDE Plug-In Capacitor M v vs Va/Vr for Various T c/T m
1.6 5 1 .65
M v = 4.3 - 3.3Va/Vr - 1000(T c/T b - 0.9) (Va/Vr-0.9)
Us e w he n V a/V r >0.9 and abs olute te m pe rature s Tc/Tb>0.9

Mv = 0.5 (Va/Vr)-9.3 - 1000(Tc/Tb-0.9)1.65(Va/Vr-0.9)1.65 , 1.5

Va/Vr>0.9 and Tc/Tb>0.9 (plug-in’s only) (12) 1.3

1.1
Mv

0.9
Note that Tc and Tb must be expressed as absoulte tem-
0.7

peratures (for example, Kelvin or Rankin). Figure 4 to 0.5

0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95 1 1.05
Va/Vr
the right shows the linear Mv for all of our capacitors
4.3-3.3Va/Vr Tc/Tb=1.0 Tc/Tb=0.975
T c/T b=0.95 Tc/Tb=0.925 Tc/Tb=0.9
along with the family of Mv curves for the plug-in ca-
pacitors at high stress levels. Figure 4: CDE life equation voltage multiplier Mv. The
top, linear curve is common for all CDE capacitor types,
and the lower curves are unique to plug-in types at the
highest stress levels.
10

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applets in action. The latest applets are available at our Now we could consider our ripple of 194Arms to be
website. Let us suppose that we have a 50 horsepower half at 360 Hz (due to the 3-phase rectified mains) and

motor drive application and need a bus capacitor bank half at our 5 kHz switching frequency, so ½194√2 =
to drive this motor. Suppose we have performed some 137 Arms. Our ambient temperature in the vicinity of
design work and done some Spice modeling. The in- the capacitors will be at most 65 ºC and we want a typi-

put power will be 480 VAC 3-phase, 60 Hz. Using 3- cal life of at least 60,000 hours operating.
phase, full-wave bridge rectification, we know the nomi-
Java applets in action
nal DC bus voltage will be 680 VDC with a 10% high-

line of 750 VDC. We expect a capacitor charge wave- Looking at the screw-terminal capacitors listed at
form duty to be at least 10%. Assuming a conversion Cornell Dubilier’s website, we first consider large
efficiency of 85%, we have DCMC capacitors rated 450 VDC. We will use 2 series

legs, and we will need at least 64 mF per leg to meet

Idc = P/EVdc = 64.5 Adc (13) the minimum capacitance requirements. If we want a
minimum number of capacitors, we could consider us-
and
ing 6 of the DCMC123T450FG2D (12,000 uF nomi-
Ir = Idc × √(1-d)/d = 37.3kW/0.85/680V × 3 nal per capacitor) per leg, for a total of 12 caps per
= 194 Arms (14)
bank. This means each capacitor will see 23 A at 360

This system will use regenerative braking that will tend Hz and at 5 kHz. Bringing up the screw terminal life-

to charge the bus. We want to use a bank of capacitors modeling Java applet (double applet) at our website,

rated 900 VDC and want to prevent the bus from charg- we choose the type DCMC, diameter 3.5, length 8.625,

ing the bank above 880 VDC. We would like for the and voltage 450 VDC. We click Search Catalog to look

bus capacitors to be able to absorb at least 4 kJ when up the capacitance and typical ESR automatically from

charging from the nominal DC voltage to the maximum our web database. We enter an applied voltage of 350

880 VDC. Therefore we have VDC and we enter the ripple currents, ripple frequen-
cies, and ambient temperature of 65 ºC. We click Cal-
C > 2E / (V22 - V12) = 26 mF (15)
culate and we get our power dissipation, ESR’s at each

We also want the bus droop to be less than 80 VDC frequency at the calculated core temperature. We also

during a 40 ms power loss. From charge conservation get an estimate of typical life of only 23,700 hours. See

we have Figure 5 on the next page. We click the double right-

arrow to copy from the left panel to the right panel to

C > Idc∆t/∆V = 32 mF (16) avoid having to enter all the application information

11

Design support and Cornell Dubilier product availability from:

Your Global Source for RF, Wireless, IoT & Power Technologies
www.richardsonrfpd.com | 800.737.6937 | 630.262.6800
9/2022
again. We select type 500C, then click Search Catalog, and we decide that this is overkill, so we decide to be a

then Calculate. We obtain about double the life, but still little skimpy on the capacitance and we reconsider 6

a bit less than what we want. Also notice that the ca- caps per leg at 23 A per capacitor at each frequency.

pacitance is a bit less for the type 500C due to its higher This gives us a life prediction of 139 khrs, greatly suf-

temperature rating. ficient for our purposes. See Figure 6 on the next page.

Next we consider using 7 capacitors per series bus leg If we are satisfied with this estimate, we may click the

(14 total). This reduces our ripples from 23A to 19A at Printable Form button below the applets to generate a

each frequency. We enter 19 for the two currents in the text-based page that may be printed, saved as an html

right panel for the 500C, then click Calculate. This gives file, or cut and paste into an e-mail application.

us 62,900 hours, barely meeting our life goal. As our In this particular example, it’s the 65 ºC ambient that is

goal is 60,000 hours minimum typical life, and we re- forcing us to use a higher-grade 520C capacitor. Were

alize that there is no conservatism in the applet, we the ambient 55 ºC, the type 500C would be perfect for

decide to investigate the next level of performance in a the application. One thing to keep in mind, if you need

type 520C. We click the double left-arrow, select a type a little more capacitance or ripple capability, give us a

520C, click Search Catalog, and note that the 520C of- call or send us an e-mail and we can probably work up

fers the same capacitance as the 500C, 11 mF. At 19 A a design to provide the best value for your application.

(7 caps per leg), we obtain a very large life of 175 khrs, The applets may be used to examine the effects of air-

Figure 5: Cornell Dubilier’s life-modeling Java applet output for an example 50 HP inverter capacitor application. The
DCMC and 500C do not meet the required target life requirements of 60,000 hours in this application.
12

Design support and Cornell Dubilier product availability from:

Your Global Source for RF, Wireless, IoT & Power Technologies
www.richardsonrfpd.com | 800.737.6937 | 630.262.6800
9/2022
flow, ambient temperature, ripple current magnitude and capacitor. This graph demonstrates that while provid-
frequency, various heatsinking schemes. We have gen- ing airflow helps cool a capacitor, lowering the ambi-

erated some interesting graphs from these life predic- ent temperature makes a dramatic difference. Fortu-
tions. Figure 7a shows the effect of ripple current and nately, often when airflow is increased, the ambient
air velocity on a typical large high voltage capacitor. temperature in the vicinity of the capacitors decreases

In applications with high ripple current, some custom- due to mass transfer effects.
ers have asked us about the trade-off between forced Figure 7c shows the effect of ripple frequency and
airflow and ambient temperature on capacitor life. ripple current for a large type 550C high-voltage ca-

Figure 7b shows curves of constant life for airflow vs pacitor at 55 ºC ambient.

ambient temperature for a typical large high-voltage

Figure 6: Cornell Dubilier’s life-modeling Java applet output for an example 50 HP inverter capacitor application. The
500C and 520C meet the required target life requirements of 60,000 hours in this application.

C a p a c ito r L ife v s R ip p le C u rre n t Airflow V elo city versu s Am bient T em p eratu re Ca p a cito r L ife vs Rip p le Cu rre n t
a t V a rio u s Air V e lo c itie s at several valu es o f co nstan t life a t V a rio u s Rip ple F re q ue n cie s
D C MC 682T400D F2B
45 00
10 00 000 10 000 00
40 00
35 00
Air velocity (LFM)

Capacitor Life (Hours)

Capacitor Life (hours)

30 00
25 00
1 00 000 20 00 1 000 00
15 00
10 00
5 00
0
100 00
10 000 40 50 60 70 80
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
0 5 10 15 20 25 Amb ie n t Te mp e ra tu re (ºC )
Rip p le C u r r e n t ( A r m s )
R ip p le C u rre n t (A rm s)
20 00 0 h rs 3 00 00 40 00 0 5 00 00
50 1 00 2 00 4 00 80 0 16 00 3 20 0 60 00 0 7 00 00 80 00 0 9 00 00 60 1 20 240 48 0 9 60 1 92 0

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 7: Graphs of the effects of various parameters on capacitor life.
13

Design support and Cornell Dubilier product availability from:

Your Global Source for RF, Wireless, IoT & Power Technologies
www.richardsonrfpd.com | 800.737.6937 | 630.262.6800
9/2022