Thermal Lifetime Calculation of Capacitor Insulation Using the Activation Energy Method

A rapid method based on activation energy values for the lifetime assessment of PP films used as dielectrics for capacitors is proposed. The activation energy is determined from a nonisothermal measurement made by differential scanning calorimetry and an aging test at a single elevated temperature. The use of the onset temperature of the exothermal peak is proposed to evaluate the activation energy of the degradation of the PP film. Four types of PP film capacitors were thermally aged at 100 °C for different aging times. For each aging time, the capacitance was measured at different frequencies. According to the standards, two end-of-life criteria (2% and 5%) were imposed for the reduction in the capacitance. The parameters of the lifetime line a and b were determined, and finally, the lifetime values were calculated. The novel proposed method is effective in terms of both energy and manpower costs compared with the current method, which uses three aging temperatures.