From Independent to Related: Voltage Ramp Rate Effects on Self-Healing Scaling in Metallized Polypropylene Film Capacitors

Abstract

Metallized polypropylene film capacitors (MPPFCs) are well-suited for high-frequency and high-electric-field applications, such as electric vehicles, aerospace, and pulsed power systems, due to their self-healing (SH) properties. However, the SH process is affected by operating conditions such as voltage level and ramp rate. It is not well understood whether the SH mechanism is consistent across various operating conditions, which may lead to inaccurate assessments of MPPFC reliability. This paper explores the effect of the DC voltage ramp rates on the SH performance of MPPFC. A more specific classification of SH processes under a high electrical field: independent SH (ISH) and related SH (RSH, composed of two or more sub-SHs). Additionally, the SH process of MPPFCs can be characterized using multiple Weibull subpopulation distributions for various voltage ramp rates. At slow ramp rates (<500 V/s), both ISH and RSH processes are present in the MPPFC, whereas at rapid ramp rates (≥500 V/s), the SH process is mainly dominated by ISH. Moreover, the cumulative SH energy of the MPPFC at the 30 V/s ramp rate is about 10 times that of the 900 V/s ramp rate. The ISH at the 900 V/s ramp rate causes several point-like damaged regions on the metalized PP film (~0.06% decrease in capacitance). In comparison, the RSH at the 30 V/s ramp rates induces clusters of holes across multiple layers in the MPPFC (~9.85% decrease in capacitance), implying that the MPPFC has overreached its expected lifetime.