Measuring operating life of capacitor - using programmable unit receiving charging data and contg. theoretical lifetime data

摘要

An arrangement measuring the already used part of the theoretically expected total life of a capacitor is esp. for the capacitor bank of a defibrillator. This enables the capacitors to be replaced before reaching the end of their useful life as normally experienced by a failure. A variably programmable unit contains the characteristic data for the theoretically anticipated capacitor lifetime. The unit receives a signal proportional to a variable related to the capacitor life. The output of the programmable unit provides the input to an electrolytic counting and display device. The latter shows the used part of the capacitor life on a non-volatile indicator. The life indicating variable may be the capacitor charge voltage or the number of charging cycles.