What to Think About When Replacing Film Capacitors with MLCCs

Posted by Steve Hopwood on Apr 29, 2020 2:57:00 PM

Today, the design and development of many applications, such as power electronics in electric vehicles (EVs), is driven largely by concerns about size and weight. This means the film capacitors traditionally used by electronics engineers aren’t always the best option. Instead, multi-layer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) are emerging as an excellent alternative to film capacitors. Let’s review some of the considerations to keep in mind when you are deciding if making the switch is the right choice for your application.  

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Topics: Capacitor, Automotive, Electric Vehicles

Tips From the Lab: Vertical Mount MLCC’s to Save Board Space and Achieve High Capacitance Values

Posted by Steve Hopwood on Apr 15, 2020 2:56:00 PM

As many industries, including RF and automotive, need to incorporate more features in less space, engineers are constantly looking for ways to do more in a smaller footprint. For example, there is often demand for more multi-layer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) to achieve higher capacitance values while at the same time increasingly limited space is available. Thus, continuing to simply add capacitors inside an application to achieve a higher capacitance value is not a viable option.

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Topics: Capacitor

FAQ: Does MLCC Capacitance Change with Voltage?

Posted by Steve Hopwood on Apr 8, 2020 7:00:00 AM

When an engineer designs a circuit, he or she needs to ensure that each component will “do what it says on the box.” In multi-layer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) design, one area that often concerns engineers is the fact that capacitance can fluctuate with voltage, which is known as “DC bias” or “voltage coefficient.”

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Topics: Capacitor, Automotive, Electric Vehicles

Meeting the Demands of High-Voltage Electric Vehicle Systems While Guaranteeing Reliability and Safety

Posted by Steve Hopwood on Mar 18, 2020 8:00:00 AM

As countries around the world tighten emissions standards, the demand for fully electric vehicles (EVs) is increasing. However, for EVs to see mainstream adoption, manufacturers must address the primary consumer concerns: longer driving ranges and faster charging. To address these concerns, EV manufacturers are beginning to redesign their vehicles to switch from the 400V battery systems widely used today to 800V battery systems, which can offer twice the voltage and 2.7 times the power density compared to a 400V system.

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Topics: Capacitor, Automotive, Electric Vehicles, High Reliability

FAQ: Do You Offer Flexible Termination on Your MLCCs?

Posted by Steve Hopwood on Jan 29, 2020 9:28:56 AM

Today, surface-mount multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) are used in incredibly harsh applications, resulting in increased concern from end users over the likelihood of reliability issues such as mechanical cracking. Thus, at Knowles Precision Devices our engineers are often asked if our capacitors offer flexible termination that increases the mechanical strength of our components, which helps mitigate these potential issues. Our customers can rest assured that not only do we offer flexible termination in our capacitors, we were actually the creators of the first flexible termination technology for MLCCs.

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Topics: Capacitor

A Comprehensive Guide to Selecting the Right Capacitor for Your Specific Application Needs

Posted by Simon Mao on Jan 13, 2020 8:00:00 AM

At Knowles Precision Devices, our expertise in capacitor technology helps developers working on some of the world’s most demanding applications across the medical device, military and aerospace, telecommunications, and automotive industries.

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Topics: Capacitor, Automotive, Military and Aerospace, Medical, Telecom

Application and Installation Considerations for EMI Filters

Posted by Peter Matthews on Dec 17, 2019 10:59:00 AM

EMI filtering plays an important role in reducing noise that could interfere with other devices; in medical or defense applications, for example, false alarms due to external interference could be detrimental. Here, we will continue our EMI filtering exploration with application and installation considerations. For earlier reading, review EMI filtering basics and filter performance.

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Topics: Capacitor, RF and Microwave

Insertion Loss and Performance in EMI Filtering

Posted by Peter Matthews on Nov 26, 2019 1:31:00 PM

To comply with international legislation such as the EU Directive on EMC or the FCC, EMI filtering is an essential element of equipment design. Here, we will continue to explore EMI filtering through insertion loss and filtering performance.

The insertion loss performance shows signal attenuation at any given frequency. As a metric, the insertion loss performance is most useful as a guide in the filter selection process; the actual performance in service can vary depending on circuit characteristics.

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Topics: Capacitor, RF and Microwave

How a $5 Capacitor Turned Into a $1 Billion Problem

Posted by Peter Matthews on Oct 2, 2019 3:10:24 PM

In mission-critical applications, additional screening and testing is required to ensure that only the most robust parts make it to the finished product. Preventative measures, like high quality standards, lessen the possibility of failure in the field and minimize the likelihood of astronomical downstream costs.

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Topics: Capacitor, News and Events, Military and Aerospace, High Reliability

A Quick Guide to Properly Selecting a Capacitor for MMIC RF Bypassing

Posted by Peter Matthews on Sep 30, 2019 8:26:00 AM

Supply noise creates challenges in RF systems where it can mix with RF signals, impacting signal-to-noise ratios and potentially causing spurious output. Thus, high-frequency monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifiers with broadband gain need to be protected from RF noise on the supply lines. Avoiding these issues with supply line noise requires RF designers to use a bypass capacitor that provides an efficient path to ground for RF energy on the supply line before it enters a gain stage (Figure 1).

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Topics: Capacitor

Insights Into Precision Passive Devices

Knowles Precision Devices is a premier global source for Capacitors, RF Filters, EMI Filters, Resonators, non-magnetic components and advanced dielectric materials. An umbrella for the brands of Compex, DLI, Johanson MFG, Novacap, Syfer and Voltronics, Knowles Precision Devices serves a variety of markets including military, aerospace/avionics, medical equipment, implantable devices, EMI and connector filtering, oil exploration, instrumentation, industrial electronics, automotive, telecoms and data networks.

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