Murata Electronics Increases Capacitance, Reduces Cost Of X2 Safety GB Series

Aug 24, 2009 10:32 AM

Murata Electronics North America announced that it has increased the capacitance range and reduced the cost of its GB safety capacitor series.  This series, which satisfies the Class X2 safety standard against voltage surges (when connected to power supply primary circuit lines between hot and neutral conductive paths), is used to remove mode noise that can cause electromagnetic interference in power supply applications.  Additionally, the line has been certified by international safety standard IEC-60384-14 (VDE in Germany, SEMKO in Sweden, and ESTI Switzerland) for power supply primary circuits.  This is the first SMD X2 rated product to achieve 56nF capacitance as a monolithic ceramic capacitor. In attaining this, Murata also reduced the cost by 15 percent over the previous design by replacing precious metals used for electrodes with base metals.  As such, the series enables a total unit volume reduction by 10 percent when replacing the typical choice of film capacitors for power supply primary circuits. All of these features combined make the GB Series ideal for small and low profile applications such as ac/dc power supply adaptors for note-size PCs and netbooks.

Safety standards are required for capacitors used in power supply primary circuits because of the risk of exposure to high-voltage surges. Historically, film capacitors used for this application were large and not heat-resistant. The market trend for smaller electronic equipment created demands for miniaturized capacitors within these circuits. Since 1993, Murata has met these demands by continuously modifying its safety capacitor series so that they are smaller than film capacitors.  Further, replacing precious metals (such as palladium or silver) used for electrodes with base metals (like nickel) reduces production costs. The range of capacitance has increased from a range of 10nF - 33nF upwards to 56nF to meet the need for higher capacitance.

This line (global part numbers: GA355QR7GB103KW01L, GA355QR7GB153KW01L, GA355DR7GB223KW01L, GA355ER7GB333KW01L, GA355ER7GB473KW01L (new) and GA355XR7GB563KW06L (new)) is available for approximately $0.54 per sample (contingent upon product number) with a lead time of 10 to 12 weeks.

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