A Renewable Energy Monitoring Systems Company

Challenge
A renewable energy monitoring systems company serving schools, universities, state agencies and system installers needed a unique assembly to meet stringent listing requirements. The company sought a component with a high dielectric breakdown with high thermal conductivity and manufacturing reliability. The project required hand assembly and soldering, as well as a special encapsulation process and customized testing. The specifications were critical to the company's goal of expanding its performance parameters and meeting UL certification standards.

Solution
The company faced challenging requirements, but quickly found a manufacturing partner who could meet them – CEI.

The custom job required vacuum encapsulation with a thermally conductive epoxy system, just one of the many different options CEI offers. For this company and others that require epoxy potting compounds and encapsulation materials, CEI retains technicians experienced in assembling and potting a variety of designs from simple wrap and fill style capacitors to complex molded assemblies.

Results
The company found that CEI, in addition to showing great care for its customers, offered a unique strategic advantage. As a New York-based company conducting business with the state, the customer gained favorable government reaction to its partnership with locally based CEI. In addition, CEI and the company partnered successfully to create custom-engineered assemblies to meet the specific needs of this customer. The end result is equipment that helps users save money and reduce their carbon footprints.

A Firesets Manufacturer

Challenge
A manufacturer of firesets for exploding foil initiators (EFI) and exploding bridgewire (EBW) detonators sought a high-voltage, high-temperature pulse output capacitor. The company, which primarily serves the oil industry in the United States and abroad, required a component that could deliver premium quality at a reasonable price. In addition, the resulting product had to fit within a limited, uniquely shaped space and support a zero-failure standard in the field.

Solution
The manufacturer was aware of CEI's capacitors as being frequently used in other oil industry hardware. Nevertheless, the customer evaluated several other vendors before ultimately selecting CEI for its ability to solve the original need economically.

CEI custom designed a dual-dielectric system for the company. In order to ensure the results fulfilled the customer's need, CEI started with prototype and small production runs before going to full production. The resulting 200-degree Celsius application ensures reliable fireset performance below budget.

The company is considering expanding its CEI deployment with a next-generation version for higher-temperature devices.

Results
When asked to describe CEI succinctly, the customer does so in three words: "responsive, flexible and affordable."

CEI produced thousands of parts for the company to use in downhole, high-temperature detonation applications, and the customer experienced zero field failures. Because of the high reliability and cost-effectiveness CEI delivered, the customer secured a significant amount of new business for its product.