New Industry Products

CDE’s BLH Series Exceeds Industry Standards for Humidity Testing and is AEC-Q200 Compliant

July 19, 2021 by Hailey Stewart

CDE’s BLH series of DC-Link capacitors have been designed and tested to exceed the industry’s most stringent requirements for high humidity, vibration testing, and thermal cycling.

Cornell Dubilier (Cornell Dubilier Electronics, Inc., Cornell Dubilier Marketing, Inc., and affiliates) is dedicated to advancing capacitor technology for new applications. Cornell Dubilier combines innovative products with engineering expertise to provide reliable component solutions for inverters, wind and solar power, electric vehicles, power supplies, motor drives, HVDC, motors, welding, aerospace, telecom, medical equipment, and UPS systems.

Green energy and electric transportation systems have pushed explosive growth in inverter markets. Many of these applications present harsh operating environments for power electronics circuitry. Often, these applications demand a high percentage of uptime, increasing the need for highly reliable components.

The Temperature, Humidity at Bias (THB) test exposes parts to the harsh conditions of 85 °C at 85% relative humidity with rated voltage applied. This demanding test simulates the harsh operating conditions encountered in many commercial and industrial inverter applications. Such conditions can cause non-THB rated capacitors to fail early from moisture penetration. While most capacitor makers validate their THB components for 1,000 hours under these conditions, CDE’s BLH series has been validated for 1,500 hours.

Utilizing the most advanced materials and processes, these board-mounted capacitors have been designed and tested to meet the rigors of automotive AEC-Q200 testing. Their solvent-resistant plastic case and epoxy encapsulation system are UL Recognized and meet IEC61071. Tin-plated copper RoHS-compliant terminations ensure excellent solderability. With their superior resistance to moisture and robust design, these capacitors are well suited for solar, wind, UPS, EV chargers, and other inverter applications that may be subjected to wide-ranging environmental conditions.

The series is optimized for DC link applications in medium to high-power inverters. Capacitance ranges from 1.0 to 170 µF at 450-1,200 Vdc, with high rms ripple current ratings up to 36 Arms. When operated at a 70 °C hot-spot temperature with rated voltage applied, their life expectancy is 100,000 hours.

Featured Image courtesy of CDE