Effect of reverse voltage on lifetime performance of pulsed capacitors

Metallized polypropylene film capacitors (MPPFCs) are key components in pulsed power systems. This paper mainly concentrates on the effect of the reverse voltage on the lifetime performance. Firstly the effect of discharge current on the lifetime performance of capacitors is introduced. Secondly experiment is designed to investigate the lifetime under different voltage reversal coefficients (). The results indicate that the lifetime is extremely sensitive to in the range of 9.4% to 65%, and the lifetime of MPPFCs decreases with in index. Based on the experimental results, an empirically derived life-scaling equation is given by statistical analysis, which can predict the lifetime of MPPFCs under different .