High-Voltage, High-Temperature Mica Capacitors and Subcomponents for Space and Satellite Applications

ALBANY, NY, JANUARY 30, 2024  ̶  Custom Electronics, Inc. (CEI) is a globally recognized manufacturer of top-quality mica paper capacitors and tailored high-voltage assemblies. Its products are widely used throughout the military, commercial and industrial markets for energy storage, filtering and coupling applications. The company offers customizable capacitor packages and sub-assemblies with a variety of terminations, mounting and encapsulating options to meet a range of design requirements. For space and satellite, CEI designs and supplies various high-voltage, high-temperature mica capacitors and subcomponents.

Since 1964, CEI has successfully designed and manufactured the highest-quality custom reconstituted mica paper capacitors available. Its capacitors (with over 15,000 unique designs) are used in many of the most demanding applications imaginable. Historically, every capacitor design has been tailor-made to meet a specific customer’s needs.  Various applications include power supplies for communications and weather satellites, pulsed power applications, radar transmitters, guidance system transmitters, airborne or surface radar systems, high voltage transmitters, High Voltage Travelling Wave Tube (TWT) power supplies, ignition systems, laser devices and transmitter power supplies for electronic countermeasures (ECM).

CEI uses “Grade A” mica paper in its capacitors because it is an excellent dielectric. A dielectric is a material that does not conduct electricity, but one that can sustain an electric field in high-voltage capacitors. Mica paper consists of flexible, continuous and uniform layers of mica that are reconstituted or reformed into paper-like electrical insulating material composed of small, thin overlapping platelets. 

CEI’s mica paper passes the most intensive series of quality checks in the industry. The result is high-voltage reconstituted mica paper capacitors that are used by leading high-tech companies for space-age radar, missile, satellite, ignition, detonation, cryogenic, transmission, laser, medical and oil-and-gas exploration systems.

In addition to its mica capacities, CEI offers a range of electronic assemblies and modules. Its module units typically consist of capacitors, resistors, diodes, coils, spark gaps and voltage dividers. After assembly, the components are encapsulated with CEI’s unique epoxies in molds or housings. 

Modules are suitable for high-altitude applications and a variety of environments. Terminations can include wire leads, threaded studs, turret terminals, high-voltage connectors and high-voltage cable assemblies. Modules can have a variety of operating temperatures, depending on internal components, epoxy selection and type of use.

​Its products provide a range of benefits for the space and satellite industry, including radiation resistance; high-temperature operation; corona resistance; capacitance stability with respect to temperature, voltage, frequency and mechanical stresses; shock and vibrational resistance; and fractional voltage or charge loss.