EDLCs offer superior ageing characteristics and low leakage current

Panasonic Automotive and Industrial Systems Europe announces the introduction of the LF Series in its stacked-coin type line-up of Electric Double Layer Capacitors (EDLCs). The series offers low resistance, and minimal leakage current combined with a rated lifetime of 6,000 hours – the longest available in the market. With a 5.5V nominal rating, capacitance of 1 Farad, and operating across a wide temperature range of -40C to +85C, the series is optimised for smart meter and grid deployment applications in the European market. The series are gold capacitors, which achieve far better capacitance than aluminium electrolytic capacitors (up to 1,000 times greater), plus they exhibit superior charge and discharge performance compared to secondary batteries. The additional benefits of multiple (over 500,000) rapid charge and discharge cycles and exceptional ageing characteristics make the EDLCs ideal for applications such as RTC backup for smart meters or industrial automation processors. The increasing density of cellular networks and backhaul channels for transmission line access in cellular and fibre optic deployment also fit the enhanced lifetime offered by the series. The series has a nominal capacitance value of 1F rated at 5.5V in a compact radial housing less than 10mm high and 21.5mm in diameter. These EDLCs are guaranteed to maintain their capacitance and internal resistance without drifting at low temperatures, as opposed to competitive products where the capacitance and internal resistance may change drastically, especially after the first three years of use. The biggest advantage that series devices offer is 6,000 hours extended lifetime, three times that of previous Panasonic coin-type EDLCs. Due to the unique electrolyte used in the EDLCs, these parts also do not suffer from the “wetting effect”. Andreas Lapucha, Panasonic product marketing manager, Capacitors comments: “The launch of the LF Series coincides with several important market trends and demonstrates Panasonic’s commitment to the needs of its European customers. Scaleable and reliable backup solutions for easing infrastructure deployment is the need of the hour, but the extended lifetime of the LF Series could also usher in exciting new usecases in this segment of the small current EDLC market.”