Hi everyone,
Ok, before you start laughing at the idea just hear me out:
I'm trying to build an induction heater and i need a powerful capacitor capable of handling 100-300 amps RMS current at about ~ 120Khz.
The capacitor is being used in the resonant tank circuit of the induction heater.
The size of the capacitor should be around ~1uF
After looking around the only capacitors i could find that fit the bill are manufactured by Celem, Vishay and General electric. Unfortuantely none of them are willing to sell individual units to a hobbyist like myself.
So i'm thinking of using in parallel about 100 smaller 0.01uF film capacitors each rated at 2 amps RMS for a total of about 200 amps capability and 1uF total capacitance.
(I can almost hear you guys snickering...)
In terms of layout i'm going to get two copper plates and drill 100 holes through both and thread the axial capacitor leads through both and solder them down. The configuration is sandwhich style with a plate, capacitor, and another plate. The plates are each about 1/4" thick and while they won't handle 200amps without heating up I intend to keep them cool with heatsinking and active fan cooling. Hopefully the heat from the capacitors themselves will also conduct to the plate where it will be dissipated.
The capacitors i intend to use are 15mm in diameter so giving each 5mm room and arranging them in square fashion the assembly should be 20cm x 20cm x 4cm.
I'll also blow air in between the capacitors to try and keep them cool directly.
Now after you guys stop laughing i'd like to hear your opinions if i'm on the right track. I understand that there will be differences of ESR and ESL between each capacitor that will imbalance the load across them. Is this going to lead to a catastrophic failure where one capacitor blows causing the next one to blow and so on? Is the whole concept worth trying or am i completely off my rocker and should try instead to set up a dummy corporation and get the real capacitors from Celem, Vishay or general electric? Is there an alternative means for meeting the requirement of a 200 amp RMS 1uF capacitor?
Thanks for your assistance.
Ok, before you start laughing at the idea just hear me out:
I'm trying to build an induction heater and i need a powerful capacitor capable of handling 100-300 amps RMS current at about ~ 120Khz.
The capacitor is being used in the resonant tank circuit of the induction heater.
The size of the capacitor should be around ~1uF
After looking around the only capacitors i could find that fit the bill are manufactured by Celem, Vishay and General electric. Unfortuantely none of them are willing to sell individual units to a hobbyist like myself.
So i'm thinking of using in parallel about 100 smaller 0.01uF film capacitors each rated at 2 amps RMS for a total of about 200 amps capability and 1uF total capacitance.
(I can almost hear you guys snickering...)
In terms of layout i'm going to get two copper plates and drill 100 holes through both and thread the axial capacitor leads through both and solder them down. The configuration is sandwhich style with a plate, capacitor, and another plate. The plates are each about 1/4" thick and while they won't handle 200amps without heating up I intend to keep them cool with heatsinking and active fan cooling. Hopefully the heat from the capacitors themselves will also conduct to the plate where it will be dissipated.
The capacitors i intend to use are 15mm in diameter so giving each 5mm room and arranging them in square fashion the assembly should be 20cm x 20cm x 4cm.
I'll also blow air in between the capacitors to try and keep them cool directly.
Now after you guys stop laughing i'd like to hear your opinions if i'm on the right track. I understand that there will be differences of ESR and ESL between each capacitor that will imbalance the load across them. Is this going to lead to a catastrophic failure where one capacitor blows causing the next one to blow and so on? Is the whole concept worth trying or am i completely off my rocker and should try instead to set up a dummy corporation and get the real capacitors from Celem, Vishay or general electric? Is there an alternative means for meeting the requirement of a 200 amp RMS 1uF capacitor?
Thanks for your assistance.