Capacitors Blog

Suntan Technology Company Limited
----All Kinds of Capacitors

Desalination could dramatically help the looming shortage with water. The problem is the membrane.

Right now, desalinting seawater largely revolves around pressurizing water and forcing it through a membrane to purify it. The process takes a lot of energy and hence a lot of cost. Desalinating seawater can cost as much as 50 cents a liter.

A collection of private companies and research institutes in Spain have begun to experiment with capacitive deionization for purifying seawater. In this, two electrodes would be placed in a tank. The ions (i.e., salt particles) would be drawn to one electrode. The ions would absorb the ions, which could then be released in a regeneration cycle. Capacitive purification was considered in the past, but the materials were too expensive. So who knows, it might work now.

Expect to see a number of desalination come to the fore in the next few years. Policy makers and the public love the idea and areas of Australia, Africa and China are already suffering through prolonged droughts.

Some of the more interesting ideas out there:

Porifera: A spin-out from Lawrence Livermore National Labs, the company wants to make a desalination membrane out of carbon nanotubes. The company claims it won’t take much energy to purify water in this way and the membrane can’t get fouled. Salt and other bad stuff can’t fit through the pore/openings in the nanotubes.

NanoH2O: Grew out of a research project at UCLA and so far has raised $20 million in two rounds. It has a membrane embedded with nanoparticles that repels salts and lets water pass. By exploiting chemical attraction, NanoH2O reduces the amount of mechanical-induced pressure required for reverse osmosis: The company claims it can process 70 percent more water with 20 percent less power than conventional reverse osmosis plants.

Quos: A highly secretive Chicago company founded by Chinbay Fan and funded by Khosla Ventures. One thing Quos can’t keep secret: patent applications for a system that desalinates and purifies with graphite porous electrodes.

“The apparatus is capable of removing ionized and non-ionized organic compounds, inorganic ions, particulates and bacteria from wastewater streams in a single unit to produce potable water. Porous carbon-based electrodes function as impurities filters to remove particulate matter, such as ash, sand and high molecular weight compounds, as electrodes to concentrate and remove ionic species, and as adsorbents to remove organic materials and bacteria from the wastewater stream,” says patent application 11/724534.

Stonybrook Purification: It has created a thin, fibrous scaffold for reverse osmosis membranes that increases water flow to the reverse osmosis membrane. The company, out of SUNY Stony Brook, also has its own reverse osmosis membrane.

Suntan Technology Company Limited
---All Kinds of Capacitors

Aluminum electrolytic capacitor maker Lelon Electronics has seen extra orders from China appliance makers due to the China government's program to promote sales of home appliances in rural areas. The extra orders have covered Lelon's reduced orders from the US and Europe, the company said.

The price of aluminum electrolytic capacitors has been stable since August 2008, while the price of aluminum foil continues to drop, lowering Lelon's cost pressure. However, order visibility for aluminum electrolytic capacitors is still low, the company noted.

Lelon has entered the wind power market with its large-size capacitors, and plans to apply the product to other applications. The company has already shipped a small volume of large-size capacitors to a motorcycle maker and expects to expand into the automotive segment.

Suntan Technology Company Limited
---All kinds of Capacitors

NIC Components has unveiled a new range of film chip capacitors which are designed to offer stable characteristics over a wide operating temperature range.

The NSMX series of wound, metallised polyphenylene sulphide film capacitors can be used in applications that require low-absorption characteristics.

According to the company, they are suitable for use in power supplies requiring low-loss parameters.

The product has an operating temperature range of -40 degrees c to 125 degrees c and is RoHS compliant.

NSMX series is also compatible with the latest SAC reflow soldering processes up to 260 degrees c.

The firm states that it has very stable temperature, frequency, voltage, bias and dielectric absorption, with ElectronicsTalk stating that this makes them an alternative to other dielectrics such as MLCCs.

Meanwhile, Vishay recently announced the release of three new X2 electromagnetic interference suppression film capacitors, which it claims offer an increased voltage rating while continuing to meet safety approvals.

Rapid Electronics are a leading UK supplier of electronic components, electrical products and industrial equipment to the Assembly Manufacturer sector.

Suntan Technology Company Limited
---All kinds of Capacitors

What is Gold Capacitor

• The storage cell that used absorption/release reaction of ions
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Tantalum capacitor could cost more as raw material prices react to the closure of Australian mines.

"The suspension of tantalum production at the Wodgina mine means that the industry is entering uncertain times for tantalum," said Edmund Coady, sales director of component distributor Charcroft Electronics. "Capacitor manufacturers can renew their contracts with the tantalum powder manufacturers and accept a significant price increase in return for a reliable and continuous source of supply, or they can play a waiting game."

Suntan Technology Company Limited
---All Kinds of Capacitors

Advanced Capacitors World Summit 2009Final program confirmed featuring the latest in industry developments, applications and technology PORTLAND, Maine, January 6, 2009 —IntetechPira, a leading conference and research organization is pleased to announce the final program for the 7th annual Advanced Capacitors World Summit 2009 set for March 31 – April 2, 2009 at the Hilton Torrey Pines in La Jolla, CA, US.

Co-Chaired by Richard Smith, ANA Strategic System Group and Andrew Burke of the University of California Davis Institute of Transportation Studies, this year’s program is designed to help current and prospective users, integrators and suppliers of advanced power systems understand modern energy storage and delivery challenges for power intensive applications and identify business opportunities and realities with adopting advanced capacitors and capacitor hybrid systems to solve application energy requirements. Speakers will discuss the latest market trends and developments, power engineering and integration strategies, design and business implications and costs associated with advanced power systems for various applications, including transportation, automotive, power and consumer electronics and renewable energy.

Market Overview and industry developments:

Bobby Maher of M Cubed Consulting will start off the program with a comprehensive overview of ultracapacitor market trends and technology advancement and David Alexander from IVUS Energy Solutions, creator of the patented FlashPoint Power Technology, will address serious challenges that arise when developing capacitors for the market. Andy Burke of UC Davis will provide an engaging comparison of ultracapacitors and advanced battery technology in terms of performance, cost and versatility, while John Miller of Maxwell Technologies will show how the two technologies can be best applied in tandem. A panel presentation from members of the investment community will conclude the morning session and will provide insight on how to secure funding in uncertain economic times.

John Skibinski of Eaton Corporation will shed light on the growing demand for advanced energy storage technologies for wind and solar applications. Speakers from Volvo Technology Corporation, General Electric and NREL will discuss engineering energy storage systems for hybrid electric vehicles and heavy hybrids. Aerospace applications will be explored with presentations from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and company partner PC Krause and Associates and additional new and emerging applications will be covered by Jin Song of Nesscap.

Olgierd Paluskinski of the University of Arizona and M Grant Norton of GoNano Technologies will discuss the latest work with improving the energy density of capacitors. Paluskinski will also discuss how his group has used nanotechnology to achieve better performance and reduced cost for photovoltaics applications serving to reduce fluctuations in output power while increasing conversion efficiency. Yuri Maletin of APowerCap Technologies will reveal how nano-engineered capacitors using inexpensive nanoporous carbon material can lead to improved performance, while reducing cost, in automotive, hand-tools, energy quality and power management applications and systems.

Applications and technology:

Additional presentations from ISE Corporation, Ionix Power Systems LLC, Sigma Technologies International, Rockport Capital and Battery Ventures will also be featured.

As one of the worlds leading forums for discussing the latest technical advances and market trends in the EC industry, IntertechPira’s Advanced Capacitors World Summit 2009 is a dynamic industry event, providing a unique opportunity to gain the necessary knowledge and network with global leaders from around the world.

For complete program details and registering options, please visit: www.advancedcapacitorsws.com

Members of the press interested in attending, to find out if you qualify for a complimentary press pass, please contact Press Officer Sheri Bonnell at sheri.bonnell@pira-international.com or +1 207 781 9637.

 Recent advances in electrochemical capacitors for energy storage open new opportunities for water desalination devices with high energy efficiency.

Existing technologies for hard, brackish and sea water desalination are highly energy consuming even in the case of the best available technology nowadays, Reverse Osmosis. In addition to this problem, the construction of desalination plants requires intensive capital expenditures.

Capacitive Deionization is a technological alternative to Reverse Osmosis provided it is a non-membrane and low-pressure process, which are possibly the two main drawbacks of the Reverse Osmosis technology. The Capacitive Deionization concept is schematically represented in the Figure. During the deionization cycle, an external electrical charge is applied on a pair of electrodes introduced in the feed water, this makes the ions dissolved in the water to migrate towards the electrode of opposite charge, where they are adsorbed. In the regeneration cycle, the electrical load of the electrodes is switched off, therefore adsorbed ions are released. If an electrical circuit is connected at this stage, an electrical current will be produced, just like in the discharge of a capacitor.

Early studies almost 40 years ago showed that Capacitive Deionization could be a feasible technology for low-cost water desalination, but by that time appropriate materials were not available yet. However, nowadays with the most recent advances in electrochemical capacitors, there are improved electrodes with performances good enough to bring the Capacitive Deionization systems from research laboratories to real life applications.

A capacitor or condenser is a passive electrical component consisting of an insulating, or dielectric, layer between two conductors. When a voltage potential difference occurs between the conductors, an electric field occurs in the insulator. This field can be used to store energy, to resonate with a signal, or to link electrical and mechanical forces. Capacitors are manufactured as electronic components for use in electrical circuits, but any two conductors linked by an electric field also display this property. The effect is greatest between wide, flat, parallel, narrowly separated conductors.

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