N ew product development of conductive polymer hybrid aluminum electrolytic capacitors (hybrid capacitors) has been becoming active. Amid the popularization of electrified vehicles (xEVs) and the increase in the number of electronic components incorporated in a vehicle, the demand for hybrid capacitors has dramatically increased recently. Moreover, as the adoption of fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication services is expected to swell, capital investments on 5G infrastructure will gather momentum. With these developments, leading components manufacturers accelerate the expansion of their product lineups and pursue development of products with smaller size, larger capacitance, higher rated voltage, higher operating temperature, longer life, low equivalent series resistance (ESR), and higher ripple current tolerance.

Hybrid capacitors adopt conductive polymer and electrolytic solution for the electrolyte. They provide oxide film repair of the electrolytic solution in addition to having low ESR property and high thermal resistance, which are characteristics of conductive polymers. Hybrid capacitors also offer high reliability and high rated voltage.

For several years, the development of hybrid capacitors has dramatically advanced, and the full-scale adoption of hybrid capacitors in power supplies of various electronic control units (ECUs) in vehicles has been expanding. Leading components manufacturers, including Panasonic Corp., Nichicon Corp., Nippon Chemi-Con Corp., Rubycon Corp., SUN Electronic Industries Corp., and Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd., and its wholly owned subsidiary ELNA Co., Ltd., have been vitalizing new product development and investing in plants and equipment to bolster their supply system.

New Product Developments
As a new product, Nichicon has developed the GYC Series, which is guaranteed to operate for 4,000 hours at 135°C. The company has commenced mass production of the GYC Series with a monthly production capacity of 1 million units.

For its GYA Series, Nichicon has added a 16V rating product that is guaranteed to operate for 4,000 hours at 125°C. The company has already started offering samples of the product and plans to commence mass production with monthly production capacity of 200,000 units in October.


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