Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitor Redesign Saves Space
August 23, 2017
The ever-increasing trend toward miniaturization and flatness of electronic devices is a given for consumer markets, but now the demand for smaller power circuits has also spilled into industrial and military applications, in which space and weight savings are requirements for next-generation designs. The challenge for system design engineers is to source smaller components to save space without compromising system life and reliability.
This is especially difficult when sourcing for capacitors, which are often among the tallest components on a power-supply board. The alternative is to spread the capacitors over large areas of PC board when banked in parallel to meet minimum capacitance requirements for hold-up and bulk storage. However, capacitor manufacturing technology and techniques are improving, leading to the reinvention of the humble aluminum electrolytic capacitor to achieve flatter package styles to help power-supply designers meet their design needs.
