Multilayer Capacitor Integrated Busbar Additive Manufacturing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing capacitor manufacturing techniques face challenges in achieving sufficient bus capacitance with minimal series inductance and size constraints, while maintaining cost-effectiveness and thermal performance, especially at elevated power levels and temperatures.
Innovation Solution
The use of additive manufacturing techniques to design and manufacture capacitors with multiple layers and integrated busbars, allowing for customized shapes and geometries that reduce inductance and enhance thermal conductivity, such as through direct write technology and laser engineered net shaping, coupled with graphite conductor layers and polyimide dielectric layers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional capacitor manufacturing techniques are used, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but achieving sufficient bus capacitance with minimal series inductance and small form-factor becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the busbar directly into the capacitor structure by forming conductive layers that serve dual purposes: as internal capacitor electrodes and as external busbar connections. This merging eliminates the need for separate busbar components and their associated mounting structures, thereby achieving minimal series inductance while maintaining manufacturing feasibility through layer-by-layer construction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from traditional planar capacitor layouts to three-dimensional stacked architectures with conductive layers extending in multiple dimensions. The busbar functionality is achieved through conductive layers that wrap around and connect to multiple capacitor elements in three-dimensional space, enabling compact integration while minimizing current path length and inductance.
2Volume of moving object
If capacitor size is reduced to meet form-factor constraints, then space efficiency improves, but thermal management capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates thermally conductive materials specifically in regions where heat generation and dissipation are most critical. The conductive layers and busbar structures use materials with optimized thermal conductivity properties localized to heat-prone areas, enabling effective thermal management within the compact volume without compromising overall capacitor performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite material structures combining materials with different thermal and electrical properties. The capacitor construction includes layers with optimized material compositions that provide both electrical functionality and thermal management capabilities, allowing heat dissipation pathways to be integrated into the compact structure without adding volume.
3Power
If elevated power levels are supported, then power capability improves, but manufacturing cost and thermal performance challenges increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the capacitor into multiple modular units or layers that can be manufactured independently and then assembled. This segmentation allows for standardized manufacturing processes that reduce cost, while the modular architecture enables scaling to higher power levels by simply adding more units in parallel or series configurations without proportionally increasing manufacturing complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments are directed to obtaining a specification of at least one operational requirement for at least one capacitor, generating a design of the at least one capacitor to satisfy the at least one operational requirement, the design of the at least one capacitor comprising a plurality of layers and a first integrated busbar coupled to at least a portion of the layers, and based on the design, manufacturing the at least one capacitor by utilizing an additive manufacturing technique.