Doubtlessly, there is a shift towards an entirely new and more environmental-friendly perception of individual mobility. Apparently, we are talking of electric vehicles and the corresponding charging infrastructure. The goals are set – more and more car manufacturers state their promises to discontinue the production of combustion engines.
There are plenty of visions – that, however, can only be brought to life when there are matching technologies and components available that make EVs catch up with their petrol-driven predecessors. In terms of reach, in terms of safety and in terms of voltage.
All that still causes some headache for automotive engineers, as next-gen mobility widely depends on next-gen components.
Let’s exemplarily look at capacitors and see what Panasonic Industry has to offer along the driveway to the future:
Figure 1: Main in-vehicle application for xEV
OBC & DC / DC converter
As the most essential part of an electric vehicle, batteries’ increasing capacity is the key for development nowadays. This requires design for EV chargers (on-board chargers) with higher and higher power output.
Ready to meet this need, Panasonic Industry offers its film capacitor ECQUA (AC rated), ECWFG (DC rated) and ZPV (DC rated) series featuring large current handling ability, high reliability and high safety, contributing to high-power OBC and DC/DC converter design and development.
Figure 2: OBC (on-board charger) & DC/DC converter circuit
Taking into account that reliability i.e. humidity resistance is critical for this application, Panasonic Industry has developed its proprietary enclosure sealing technology and aluminium vapour deposition to achieve humidity resistance along with compliance to AEC-Q200.
Figure 3: High humidity-resistant vapour deposition film & sealing technology
Taking ECQUA series as an example, it has the following guaranteed THB (temperature humidity bias) testing data:
・AC275V rated product : 85℃, 85%RH, AC240V, 1000h; 85℃, 85%RH, AC275V, 500h
・AC310V rated product : 85℃, 85%RH, AC275V, 1000h
Have a look at those two reliability tests to compare Panasonic’s technology with the conventional one:
Figure 4: Humidity resistance load test
Figure 5: High-frequency step-up loading test
Without an iota of doubt, the safety and security of automobiles are certainly also two of the most critical areas of automobile engineering today.
Taking it into account, Panasonic Industry has been providing its automotive-grade film capacitors with patterned metallization technology (also well known as “fuse function”), which ensures the safety of the electric circuit with open failure mode.
Figure 6: Comparison of general and patterned metallization
Demo video for fuse function
Figure 7: Safety limit AC step-up test
Thanks to this excellent impact deduction Panasonic Industry automotive-grade film capacitors are the ideal solution for high-stress application such as onboard chargers, DC/DC converter, electric compressors and inverters.
Briefly said - one less worry: In terms of capacitor reliability, the way to future mobility should be paved.
For more information on the automotive-grade film capacitor product line-up and the respective specs and advantages, please visit the Panasonic Industry website: