Capacitor plague (nonfiction): Difference between revisions

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High failure rates occurred in many well-known brands of electronics, and was particularly evident in motherboards, video cards, and power supplies of personal computers, leading to premature failure of these devices.
High failure rates occurred in many well-known brands of electronics, and was particularly evident in motherboards, video cards, and power supplies of personal computers, leading to premature failure of these devices.
== Industrial espionage ==
A 2003 article in ''The Independent'' claimed that the cause of the faulty capacitors was in fact due to a mis-copied formula. In 2001, a scientist working in the Rubycon Corporation in Japan stole a mis-copied formula for capacitors' electrolytes. He had first worked for the Luminous Town Electric company in China. In the same year, the scientist's staff left China, stealing again the mis-copied formula and moving to Taiwan, where they would have created their own company, producing capacitors and propagating even more of this faulty formula of capacitor electrolytes.


== In the News ==
== In the News ==


<gallery mode="traditional">
<gallery>
File:Portable_Envy.jpg|link=Portable Envy|'''[[Portable Envy]]''' is a provisionally licensed transdimensional corporation which manufactures and distributes envy offloading and restoration devices.
 
File:Fugitive Rubies and hand x-ray.jpg|link=Evil bit release|New study links [[Evil bit release]] with Capacitor plague.
File:Fugitive Rubies and hand x-ray.jpg|link=Evil bit release|New study links [[Evil bit release]] with Capacitor plague.
File:Portable envy clock generator.jpg|link=Portable envy|[[Portable envy]] components at risk of capacitor plague.
File:Portable envy clock generator.jpg|link=Portable envy|[[Portable envy]] components at risk of capacitor plague.
</gallery>
</gallery>
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== Fiction cross-reference ==
== Fiction cross-reference ==


* [[Gnomon algorithm]]
* [[Gnomon Chronicles]]
* [[Portable envy]]
* [[Portable envy]]


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* [[Electricity (nonfiction)]]
* [[Electricity (nonfiction)]]


External links:
== External links ==


* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague Capacitor plague] @ Wikipedia
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague Capacitor plague] @ Wikipedia


[[Category:Nonfiction (nonfiction)]]
[[Category:Nonfiction (nonfiction)]]

Latest revision as of 07:10, 31 July 2021

Exploded electrolytic capacitor: victim of capacitor plague.

The capacitor plague was a problem related to a higher-than-expected failure rate of non-solid aluminum electrolytic capacitors, between 1999 and 2007, especially those from some Taiwanese manufacturers, due to faulty electrolyte composition that caused corrosion accompanied by gas generation, often rupturing the case of the capacitor from the build-up of pressure.

High failure rates occurred in many well-known brands of electronics, and was particularly evident in motherboards, video cards, and power supplies of personal computers, leading to premature failure of these devices.

Industrial espionage

A 2003 article in The Independent claimed that the cause of the faulty capacitors was in fact due to a mis-copied formula. In 2001, a scientist working in the Rubycon Corporation in Japan stole a mis-copied formula for capacitors' electrolytes. He had first worked for the Luminous Town Electric company in China. In the same year, the scientist's staff left China, stealing again the mis-copied formula and moving to Taiwan, where they would have created their own company, producing capacitors and propagating even more of this faulty formula of capacitor electrolytes.

In the News

Fiction cross-reference

Nonfiction cross-reference

External links