Polymer Aluminum Electrolytic CapacitorsPC(notePC, All in one PC) usage examples

PC(notePC, All in one PC) market trends and challenges

Image of PC(notePC, All in one PC) usage examples
Image of PC(notePC, All in one PC) market trends and challenges

Recently, demand for space saving all-in-one PCs as well as thin and lightweight laptop PCs that are easy to carry is rapidly growing since working from home and telecommuting has become a common thing.
On the other hand, following the increase in jobs such as simulations and video editing that require high processing power, PCs with a lower drive voltage to suppress power consumption are being developed. Since lowering the voltage decreases the voltage tolerance, stable power with a low voltage fluctuation is required.
Low ESR, high capacity, compact/low-profile capacitors are required to achieve PCs with a higher performance along with space saving properties.

Features of Murata's polymer capacitor ECAS series

Murata's polymer capacitors have low ESR, low impedance, and have a high capacity.
Additionally, they are superior for their ripple absorption, smoothing, and transient response performances since there is no DC bias characteristic for capacitance and the temperature characteristic is stable.
Therefore, it is optimal for smoothing purposes in the input/output stage of power circuits and as backup for load fluctuation around the CPU.
This contributes to reducing the number of parts as well as the size of the circuit board area.

Examples of used circuits

The ECAS series can be used in circuits such as shown in the figure below.

Image of Example of applied circuit

Benefits of using the ECAS series

1. Low ESR

The ECAS series with its low ESR characteristics has excellent ripple noise suppression performance.

[Results of a simulation]

2. Voltage fluctuation stability with respect to load fluctuations

The ECAS series with its large capacitance characteristics features excellent stability with respect to load-side fluctuations in large-current applications.

When a tantalum capacitor is used Image of When a tantalum capacitor is used
When the ECAS series is used Image of When the ECAS series is used

3. High capacity

The ECAS series is higher in capacity compared to MLCC and have no voltage dependences. Therefore, they can be used to reduce the number of components and miniaturize the set for applications that use several MLCCs.

Image of Reduction in quantity due to large capacitance
Item Total effective capacitance @ 12V Qty. Total area
ECAS 100uF/16V 100 1 31.39
MLCC 47uF/16V 99 9 72

Comparison with other capacitors

1. Comparison with tantalum capacitors

Low ESR

The ECAS series possesses a stable reliability compared to tantalum capacitors, contributing to stable operations on products that have adopted them.

Graph of Low ESR

Reliability

The ECAS has more stable reliability compared to tantalum capacitors, which contributes to stable set operation.

Graph of Reliability * Test condition: High temperature load

2. Comparison with MLCC

Stable capacitance with respect to temperature and voltage changes

The ECAS series is composed of materials with low acoustic noise, contributing to reduced environmental noise from the capacitors.
The effective capacitance of MLCC varies with changes in DC voltage and temperature.
By contrast, the ECAS series has almost no capacitance change with respect to DC voltage or temperature, enabling use for stable power supply design.

Graph 1 of Stable capacitance with respect to temperature and voltage changes
Graph of Stable capacitance with respect to temperature and voltage changes

3. Comparison with can type Al electrolytic capacitors

Since the ECAS series are low-profile components, they are capable of contributing to providing slim and compact designs.

Image of Comparison with can type Al electrolytic capacitors
Item Product height (max.)
ECAS 47uF/16V 2.0mmT
Can-type aluminum electrolytic capacitors 47uF/16V 4.5mmT
  1. Image of Older PC using can-type aluminum electrolytic capacitors
  2. Image of Thin-type PC using the ECAS Series

Application Note

PDF documents of PC (laptop PCs, all-in-one PCs) application examples are also available.
Download the documents below to view the materials.

Application notes for PCs (laptop PCs, all-in-one PCs) (PDF: 0.4 MB)