Electrolyte Measurements Automation for Capacitor Research and Development

Abstract

The paper deals with the presentation of a complete measurement automation system (MAS) implemented in an Aluminium Electrolytic Capacitor Development Laboratory at EPCOS Hungary. The main role of the MAS is to facilitate the electrolyte and capacitor research and development, through the automation of the related measurement tasks, and to provide a powerful database system background for data retrieval and decision support. For the realization of the above requirements the National Instrument measurement and development tools were chosen as implementation and development platform. The presentation focuses on the architecture of the measurement system and presents the implementation process via a significant measurement ("Mixing (conductivity with single temperature)"), selected from the more then ten automated measurements. The results shows that with the introduction of the innovative MAS system in the Lab the research and development time for new electrolytes and capacitors has been decreased considerably