Wednesday, April 4, 2012

No. 478: Successful development of a capacitor with a volume of one-third of the existing capacitor (April 4, 2012)

Technology
According to a research company, the world capacitor market that combines the lithium-ion type and electric double layer type is expected to increase 3.5 times over the level in 2010 to about 300 billion yen in 2016. Meidensha developed a capacitor whose volume is one third of the volume of the conventional capacitor in alliance with Sumitomo Electric using Sumitomo Electric’s lightweight metallic material that is excellent in conductivity. Because a capacitor can run electric components of a car besides lengthening the life of a lithium-ion battery, it will helpful to reduce the capacity of a battery and increase fuel consumption.

The conventional electric double layer capacitor uses aluminum foil or activated charcoal for the electrode material, but the newly developed capacitor uses Aluminum Celmet developed by Sumitomo Electric. Because this material has small holes on the surface and inside, it is 30% lighter than nickel and two times higher in electric conductivity than the existing capacitor. The new capacitor is 15 cm deep and 13 cm wide. Despite the small size, it has five times more storage capacity and creates 10 times more instantaneous power than the existing capacitor. Meidensha plans to commercialize the new capacitor before 2015 to get 30% share in the environmentally friendly vehicle market by 2020 with sales of 50 billion yen. 

Introduction of lithium-ion capacitor

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