Materials company Toray has tested an inverter at 150° C using a prototype film capacitor made with a proprietary heat-resistant dielectric film. The film is designed to enable air-cooled power control units for electric vehicles and flying cars.

The heat resistance of the film capacitors that stabilize power in inverters can constrain the design of higher-output drive systems. Toray says the issue is particularly important for flying cars, where smaller, lighter heat-dissipation structures are essential to extending flight range.

Toray conducted the research with Masayoshi Yamamoto, a professor at Nagoya University’s Institute of Materials and Systems for Sustainability. A capacitor using the 150° C film performed stably in a prototype inverter under high-temperature conditions, according to the company. Toray says thermal simulations indicate that the heat-resistant capacitors could halve the size of the heat-dissipation structure in a power control unit for electric mobility.

The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) supported the research through a project, selected for fiscal 2023, to develop dielectric film for 150° C film capacitors.

Toray and the university plan to develop and evaluate the film, aiming to commercialize it for use in 150° C film capacitors.

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