INTRODUCTION

Astronaut Michael Collins peered out of the docking window of the Apollo command module , the Columbia. A flashing strobe brilliantly indicated the position against the Moon’s surface of the lunar module ascent stage, the Eagle. It carries Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, Jr. back from the Sea of Tranquility in July 1969. The rendezvous completes mankind’s greatest exploration.

At a family reunion, the grandfather collapses. Emergency paramedics arrive on the scene, reviving the stricken man with a portable heart difibrillator. Flashing lights atop the vehicle warn motorists to give way as it speeds the man away from medical treatment.

A couple walk along a bayshore at dusk. Dancing red, blue and white lights cast ethereal reflections across the harbor. They are beacons of safety, warning approaching aircraft of skyscrapers, watertowers, and communications antennae.

The forward spotter of the NATO "Blue Army" directs his artillery unit’s firepower at an approaching "enemy" armor group during war games. The powerful beam of his hand-held laser range finder penetrates the haze and smoke of the mock battlefield. Fusillades pulverize the armor group with unmatched precision.

A secretary reproduces the annual plan of a Fortune 500 company for a hastily called board meeting. The brilliant light of the office copier creates crisp, high resolution documents at an astonishing pace.

Many papers and articles have appeared acclaiming the virtues and warning of the shortcomings of ceramic, tantalum, aluminum electrolytic and film capacitors which operate in steady state direct current circuitry or in high frequency alternating current applications. Relatively few have discussed the paper or film energy discharge capacitor which is the subject o f this paper. After charging, the energy discharge capacitor is held at the operating voltage for some time period, after which it is discharged in fractions of a milisecond. The resulting discharge energy pulse achieves very high instantaneous power used to perform various tasks. Thus the name. by proper dielectric selection, the available energy can be higher than eight joules per cubic inch or about one hundred forty joules per pound. With special design considerations, discharge currents higher than one thousand amperes at duty cycles in the range of one per second can be attained. When used in stationary installations the capacitor size and weight is not of singular importance; but one portability is required, these factors and the case of mounting become critical. This paper is an attempted to acquaint the unfamiliar with the paper and film energy discharge capacitor and to provide a refresher course for the experienced capacitor user.

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