Ceramic Capacitor Vibration

Singing capacitors piezoelectric effect abstract in some applications design engineers are finding a vibration or low audible hum coming from certain ceramic capacitors.

Ceramic capacitor vibration.

Among failure modes there are open circuit failures and short circuit failures. When a crack occurs on the element of an mlcc multilayer ceramic chip capacitor due to depaneling of the print circuit board screw fastening or shock from a vibration or a drop it may lead to a short circuit failure. Applications where vibration resistance is critical are becoming more common and manufacturer panasonic is responding with vibration proof components in their capacitor ranges. Ceramic capacitors faq.

This is sometimes described as a singing capacitor and is actually a piezoelectric effect. Since the body of a capacitor consists of ceramic if a mechanical shock is applied directly the capacitor may be damaged and a crack may be generated. Vibration resistance is also greatly enhanced by the panasonic anti vibration features along with the reduced height volume and weight. However when a capacitor is mounted on a board the vibration increases and when the cycle of the amplitude reaches the audible frequency range 20hz 20khz of humans it can be heard as a noise.

There is almost no noise generated by the capacitor itself. By the equipment manufacturer if necessary. Under the following status the vibration and or shock may be applied to a capacitor. Take the measures of fixing the capacitor etc.