Visit to Charcroft / ClarityCap factory in Wrexham, Wales

Visit to Charcroft / ClarityCap factory in Wrexham, Wales

Dave Parkinson, Paul Newman, Nick Lucas and Tina Ford

We have worked closely with Charcroft Ltd for some years now, supplying us with their wonderful Z-Foil resistors and their Charcroft Silver Mica capacitor furnished with silver lead-outs. We have met up with them numerous times and enjoyed a visit to their HQ in Wales. When we heard of the news that they had recently acquired ICW ltd / ClarityCap from Borgwarner, we were keen to meet up again, now that we can.

ICW ltd / ClarityCap is located in Wrexham, Wales. They have been making capacitors since 1974, producing a mix of industrial capacitors and audio capacitors. Their audio market has grown significantly, and around 80% of their production is now for the audio sector.

We have been stocking their range of polypropylene capacitors for some time, and they have proven to be incredibly popular in speaker crossovers and audio signal electronics. 

To celebrate their recent acquisition, we met Charcroft's Paul Newman (CEO) and Tina Ford (Business development manager) at the ClarityCap facility for a full tour. Joined by Dave Parkinson (operations manager), a fountain of knowledge when it comes to making capacitors.

The ClarityCap 20+ workforce is spread out over an 8000 sq.ft single story unit in an industrial park on the edge of Wrexham. They make a brilliant team, all well versed in the numerous processes required to make capacitors. Some of the guys had been their 30+ years. There is dedication.

We had a sit down in the boardroom before the tour with a spot of lunch, where we got a brief history of ClarityCap. It would seem that when they were more involved in the industrial side of things, they were acquired speculatively a couple of times following predictions in the automotive industry capacitor requirement and laying the foundations to win big corporate contracts. So it is lovely to see Charcroft step in and give some stability to a merry bunch of men and women.

Dave gave us a brief synopsis of the numerous ways to make film capacitors today along with wavy line diagrams on the whiteboard, and then the tour began. Although we had to sign the official secrets act, we were able to take a few pictures to give you an insight into the processes.

You might like to cross-reference the various ranges they make. Click HERE to read more.

THE TOUR

Every batch manufactured starts with a batch travel card that lists details of the part being made with all the processes that are required. This card travels with the capacitors while they are being made. 

All capacitors made by ClarityCap use aluminium foil with a polypropylene dielectric, and these are wound, generally by machine.

Front view of the Pallas spindle wound capacitor in operation
Front view of the Pallas spindle wound capacitor in operation
A spindle wound capacitor in this case a CSA
A spindle wound capacitor, in this case, a CSA
Winding of a large capacitance CSA
Winding of a large capacitance CSA
State of the art core winding machine in operation
State of the art core winding machine in operation
Example of a larger capacitance CSA
Example of a larger capacitance CSA
view into the back of a Palace winding machine
view into the back of a Pallas winding machine
Old hand winding equipment, still in use for very small windings (non audio)
Old hand-winding equipment, still in use for very small windings (non-audio)
example of a pressed PX wound capacitor
example of a pressed PX Type wound capacitor
Hydrolyic presses to close centre spindle hole as used for the PWA and PX range
Hydraulic presses to close centre spindle hole as used for the PWA and PX range.
Masking operation whereby capacitor is wrapped in masking tape before spraying to prevent short circuits on the main body of the capacitor
Masking operation whereby capacitor is wrapped in masking tape before spraying to prevent short circuits on the main body of the capacitor
Spray booth and spray gun on an XY scanner, the capacitor sit on a rack inf ront of gun
Spray booth and spray gun on an XY scanner, the capacitor sits on a rack in-front of gun and is sprayed with zinc particles.
CMR capacitor after being sprayed with zinc particle paint
CMR capacitor after being sprayed with zinc particle paint
Pig tail pin lead out, as used in industrial capacitors
Pigtail pin lead out, as used in industrial capacitors
Neil applying spot welding big tail leadouts as used in industrial type capacitors.
Neil applying spot welding big tail leadouts as used in industrial type capacitors.
Terminal soldering of an ESA type
Terminal soldering of an ESA type of capacitor
PWA capacitors being under wrapped in yellow polyester tape
PWA capacitors being under wrapped in yellow polyester tape
The resin fill process whereby resin is poured into the tapped capacitor covering and allowed to dry solid, usually 24 hours.
The resin fill process whereby resin is poured into the tapped capacitor covering and allowed to dry solid, usually 24 hours.
insulation resistance test rig.
Insulation resistance test rig.
Final test capacitance / insulation resistance and power factor. Here they can test multiple capacitors at one time.
Final test capacitance / insulation resistance and power factor. Here they can test multiple capacitors at one time.
Flash over-voltage 2500Vdc if required. All capacitors are tested at 1.5 times specified voltage rating for 3 seconds each way.
Flash over-voltage 2500Vdc if required. All capacitors are tested at 1.5 times specified voltage rating for 3 seconds each way.
State of the art LCR bridge for final testing
State of the art LCR bridge for final testing

What impressed me was the attention to detail. Each stage was carried out with great care and precision, resulting in a supreme end product. We noticed that in the assembly line, special capacitors were being made, illustrating how flexible ClarityCap can be.

The ClarityCap team are working on some new and exciting capacitors, which we will be able to tell you about in the near future. Watch this space!

 

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