Advanced simulation tools used to provide high-reliability next generation film capacitors for traction drives and power electronics

SBE has recently completed a 2 year effort funded by the US Department of Energy to create simulation tools for Polymer Film Capacitors to analyze the effect of current loads (such as ripple currents in Traction Drive Inverters) and to correlate the outputs with reliability information. This paper summarizes the highlights and describes the important results which can be utilized by the industry.