Cooper Electronic Technologies Introduces New Supercapacitor with Space Age Technology.

Business Editors

ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 9, 2000

Cooper Electronic Technologies announced today the availability of its new PowerStor Aerogel Capacitor made from a revolutionary carbon aerogel foam technology. Also called Electrochemical Double-Layer Capacitors (EDLC) these ultra-high capacitance devices have 2,000 times the volumetric capacitance of standard aluminum electrolytic capacitors, as well as extremely low Electric Series Resistance (ESR) values, and ultra-low current leakage.

According to Steven D. Hogge, Vice President of Global Marketing &Sales for Cooper Electronic Technologies, &uot;The Aerogel Capacitor adds a significant proprietary material technology to our product portfolio and is synergistic to our power magnetic devices and other circuit protection components.&uot;

Product Description

The Aerogel Capacitor is an energy storage device. Charge is stored electrostatically in the electrochemical double-layer formed on the carbon surface. It is also a pulse power device because the charge can be released extremely fast, providing specific power of up to 4,000 W/Kg, which is 10 times the power of &uot;high power&uot; batteries such as Li-ion batteries.

The patented PowerStor Aerogel Capacitor not only gives an engineer a lot more capacitance, according to Bruce Jeppesen, product marketing manager for Cooper Electronic Technologies, it takes up a lot less valuable PCB space.

Applications

This &uot;ultra&uot; capacitor has breakthrough resistance that's ideal for pulse-power and electronic circuitry applications that other supercapacitors cannot support. And compared to the batteries most often used, Jeppesen said, &uot;our supercapacitors charge quickly and safely, deliver frequent energy pulses with no detrimental effects, and cycle hundreds of thousands of times without performance degradation.&uot;

The Aerogel Capacitor is primarily used in two general applications. It provides pulse-power characterized by short, high-current pulses delivered to a load and it also provides hold-up or bridge power to a device or piece of equipment for a length of time from seconds to minutes when the main power source or battery fails.

Supercapacitors bridge the gap between conventional electrolytic capacitors and batteries because they are capable of storing hundreds of times more charge than conventional capacitors. When used in conjunction with a battery, they can extend battery life and allow the battery to be sized more efficiently, thus increasing the available energy by providing high peak power when necessary.

Major Markets

Aerogel Capacitors are ideal for many market segments, including wireless communications (GSM cell phones, two-way pagers, and other data communication devices), mobile computing (PDAs, laptop computers, and other portable devices), personal computing, automotive, and consumer products (digital cameras, etc.).

Space Age Technology

Utilizing a revolutionary space age technology developed at a prominent national laboratory, Aerogel Capacitors are made with novel material called carbon aerogel foam, sometimes referred to as &uot;frozen smoke.&uot;

Carbon aerogels are a special class of open-cell foams with a monolithic interconnected structure that yields high electrical conductivity and controlled ultra-fine pore size that provides a very highly useable surface area for double-layer formation. These features make them extremely attractive as electrodes for EDLCs.

When constructing the aerogel capacitor, a porous separator is sandwiched between two aerogel carbon electrodes and wound into a jellyroll. Leads are attached in order to make electrical connections. This jellyroll is placed in aluminum or steel can and filled with an electrolyte. The can is then sealed with the leads protruding outside for electrical connections.

Specifications

Part No.         A1010AR47  A1020A1R0  A1030A1R5  A1425A4R7  A1450A100

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Capacitance
(F @ 1
 ampere)            0.47       1.0        1.5        4.7        10

Tolerance
at 20
(degrees)C        -20/+80%  -20/+80%   -20/+80%   -20/+80%  -20/+80%

ESR (milliohms
@ 1KHz),
 nominal             150        90         60         30        15

Nominal Inflow
Current @ 20
(degrees)C
 90 minutes (ua)     175       230        345        575      1150
 24 hour    (ua)      26        35         53         90       180

Pricing &Packaging

Pricing for the Aerogel Capacitor starts at $1.84 each in quantities of 10K and come in standard bulk packaging of 100 units/pkg. Special packaging is available upon request.

Cooper Electronic Technologies is a global manufacturer of electronic circuit protection, power conversion and filtering components. Brand names include Bussmann electronic fuses, Coiltronics power magnetics, SurgX ESD suppression components, Polytron polymer resettable fuses, and PowerStor Aerogel Capacitors.