The shift toward industrial electrification is rapidly accelerating. Driven by efficiency improvements, sustainability goals, and advances in technology, electrification is transforming how energy is generated, stored, and delivered. While electrically powered technology is often associated with renewable energy and electric vehicles (EVs), its impact extends much further. Across manufacturing, transportation, energy infrastructure, and automation, organizations are increasingly redefining power system designs, driving a systemic shift from fossil-fuel to electric-powered industrial processes.

Today, approximately 50 percent of industrial fuel used can be replaced with electricity using current technologies. But industrial electrification is not a single technology or market. Instead, it is a broad transformation occurring across the entire power chain. Examples we are seeing today in the industrial electrification chain include the following:

• Renewable generation (solar photovoltaic inverters)
• Battery energy storage systems (BESS)
• EV charging infrastructure
• Motor drives & variable frequency drives (VFDs)
• Robotics and servo drives
• Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs)

These applications serve many different functions, yet they share a common goal: moving electricity efficiently from its source to where it is needed. While each application introduces unique requirements, all depend on reliable energy delivery and control. To do this, capacitors are becoming increasingly important to power system designs. Whether converting DC power from a solar array into AC power for the grid, regulating energy flow in a BESS, or controlling motor speed through a VFD, capacitors are key to enabling the electrification of these systems. 

Capacitors in Industrial Electrification

In industrial electrification, capacitors serve a variety of roles including energy storage, filtering, controlling resonance, and shaping signals. Two types of capacitors frequently used in industrial applications include aluminum electrolytics and supercapacitors.  

Aluminum electrolytics, which is a well-established technology, offers the highest capacitance per dollar, making this a very efficient capacitor to use for bulk energy storage. Knowles offers aluminum electrolytic designed to provide capacitance from 1 microfarad up to 2.7 farads and withstand voltages ranging from 6.3V all the way up to 550V. Aluminum electrolytic capacitors can also be used in capacitor banks to support larger applications that have greater energy or power needs.

Some industrial applications where aluminum electrolytic capacitors are commonly used include:

• EV charging
• Robotics
• Motor drives
• Uninterruptable power supplies (UPS)

Supercapacitors are ideal for short bursts of power, making these capacitors a good fit for ultra-fast charging and discharging. With the reliability to operate for hundreds of thousands of cycles, supercapacitors can extend a typical battery’s life, or in processes that don’t require a lot of energy, supercapacitors can completely replace the battery.

Some places to find electric double-layer capacitors (EDLC) and hybrid supercapacitors in industrial applications include:

• AGVs
• Actuators
• AI server power shelves
  

As industries continue the transition from fossil fuels to electricity, redefining power system designs will play an increasingly important role in determining efficiency, reliability, and overall performance. 

Explore Knowles’ high-reliability aluminum electrolytic capacitor and supercapacitor options.