SCHOTT solutions no. 2/2013 > Research & Development

When used as a a dielectric, glass-ceramic (in the foreground) can reduce the thickness of high-voltage capacitors significantly. This, in turn, increases their storage density, as this comparison between conventional (left) and innovative capacitors on the basis of glass-ceramic (right) shows. Photo: SCHOTT/C. Costard
Electrifying Glass-Ceramics
SCHOTT researchers have further developed glass-ceramics into highly promising dielectric materials for high-voltage capacitors. Power electronics for renewable energy, medical technology and laser applications are just a few of the areas that they can be used in.
Thilo Horvatitsch
Power electronics are becoming more and more important, to convert and transport electrical energy from offshore wind turbines, for example. Here, there is a clear trend toward increasingly higher power densities, by using semiconductor materials such as silicon carbide, for instance.

High-voltage capacitors on the basis of glass-ceramic are ideally suited for use in many applications, for instance offshore wind parks or computer tomography systems. Photo: Thinkstock

Photo: Thinkstock