Nachformieren oder refreshen von Aluminium Elektrolyt Kondensatoren

Do you have older stocks of high-quality electrolytic capacitors that need to be incorporated into a new production order?

During the long-term storage of aluminium electrolytic capacitors, the insulating oxide layer degrades and the capacitors no longer provide the full insulation strength. When a current is applied or when the devices are switched on, this results in an above-average increase in current flow (up to a short circuit), which attempts to repair the defects.

This excessive current cannot usually be realised in a device/application and usually so much current flows that the device fuse responds or safety mechanisms respond during the burn-in test.

In our in-house test laboratory, we can check your radial, snap-in or screw connection electrolytic capacitors with older date codes and reform them if necessary.

Our reformation routine is as follows:

Firstly, we check the actual condition of the capacitors and measure the characteristics such as capacitance, dissipation factor and ESR or impedance.

By analysing the measurements, we either upgrade the electrolytic capacitors for reforming or reject a refreshing.

During the reforming process itself, we apply voltage to your capacitors slowly and gradually, activating a current limiter in order to keep the stress load and gas pressure under control.

Any defects in the aluminium oxide layer are thus gently repaired and the leakage current is minimised.

This reformation process is carried out in several voltage stages, depending on the nominal voltage.

The time required depends on the ageing stage itself and the nominal parameters and can take several hours.

If the residual current is within an acceptable range, the reforming process is terminated and the capacitors are slowly discharged again.

Once the reforming process is complete, 100% of the capacitors are measured again and the characteristics are made available to the customer in a test report on request. We also measure the residual current in a selection.

Only capacitors that are again within the manufacturer's specifications leave our test laboratory as good parts.