Development and Processing of Dielectric Films for Application in Large Wound Capacitors Navy SBIR FY2012.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2012.1 Topic No.: N121-095 Topic Title: Development and Processing of Dielectric Films for Application in Large Wound Capacitors Proposal No.: N121-095-0999 Firm: PolymerPlus LLC 7650 Hub Parkway Valley View, Ohio 44106 Contact: Deepak Langhe Phone: (216) 525-0186 Web Site: www.polymerplus.net Abstract: Current state-of-the-art biaxial oriented polypropylene (BOPP) polymer film capacitors exhibit excellent room temperature performance, however, possesses at least two major drawbacks. Wound BOPP capacitors usually occupy one-third to one-half of the volume of pulsed power and power conditioning units, and their performance above 85�C significantly decreases. These problems can be alleviated by increasing the energy storage while maintaining low losses at both ambient and elevated temperatures. The objectives of this Phase I SBIR proposal are to develop further and to optimize the dielectric performance of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)-based multilayer films discovered at the National Science Foundation Center for Layered Polymeric Systems (CLiPS) which meet these goals and to demonstrate their viability for large-scale film production, utilizing the multilayer film coextrusion technology developed at Case Western Reserve University and PolymerPlus LLC. The film performance will be optimized in terms of ferroelectric/dielectric polymer pairs, composition, layer thickness and number of layers, temperature, and biaxial stretching. Detailed technical goals are to achieve energy density >10 J/cm3 at electric breakdown, dielectric loss (tan delta) <0.01 at 1 kHz, and hysteresis loop loss <20% under high electric fields (>500 MV/m) and at high temperatures (e.g., 125 �C) to meet Navy's needs for all electric ships. Benefits: During Phases I of this project the PolymerPlus team will design, develop, and test high energy density, low loss, multilayered films for various energy storage/conversion systems. The initial application target will meet the Navy's needs for all electric ships. It is expected that broader markets beyond this application are possible with the potential for smaller sized and higher temperature performance capacitors utilizing the films developed through this proposal. First, the novel multilayer polymer film technology offers a significantly improved material for the dielectric film capacitor field, by substantially enhancing the energy density while keep low dielectric and hysteresis losses. Second, since multilayer films show promise as a replacement for BOPP used in film capacitors on the market for a broad range of applications, a great economic benefit in current markets is possible. Third, this technology will also benefit other energy-related applications including dc link capacitors for hybrid electric vehicles and inverters for grid-connected photovoltaics. Finally, other major potential focus areas include pulsed power market (power drilling technology for the oil and gas industry and deep enhanced geothermal power) and power conditioning market. Additionally, fundamental science in electrostatic energy storage will be substantially advanced. Return