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SupercapaciTorS: Will They replace BaTTerieS?

a supercapacitor along with conventional battery can be a better electrical energy storage device than the battery alone
focus on energy storage devices, particularly pulse power devices such as supercapacitors.

Types of smart eeS

The various smart EES systems can be categorised based on their function and form. High-power, low-energy devices can be categorised by function, whereas high-energy, low-power systems can be categorised by form. Although electricity is not easy to store cheaply, it can be easily stored in other forms and converted back into electricity when needed. Storage technologies for electricity can also be classified by the form of storage: Electrical energy storage. Electrostatic energy storage includes capacitors and supercapacitors, and magnetic/current energy storage includes superconducting magnetic energy storage. Mechanical energy storage. Kinetic energy storage includes flywheel-pumped hydroelectric storage, compressed-air energy storage and potential energy storage systems. Chemical energy storage. Chemical energy is stored in batteries such as lead-acid batteries, nickel-cadmium (NiCd) batteries, sodium sulfur (NaS) batteries, sodium nickel chloride batteries, lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells. Thermal energy storage. Low- or high-temperature energy is stored through devices like solar fuels. Of these, chemical energy storage devices are the most suitable for DC power storage. Supercapacitors make

Dr D.B. Talange

elivery of electrical power is becoming an increasingly complex task for engineers and policy makers alike. The electricity systems are poised to change in order to accommodate increasing levels of distributed storage and utilisation. These complexities are being recognised internationally for alternatingcurrent systems. But there is need to look beyond it as most consumer applications use direct-current supply and hence the smart energy delivery system concept is required to be extended to low- and medium-power direct-current systems. Electrical energy storage (EES) refers to the process of converting electrical energy from a power source
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into an electrical or non-electrical form that can be stored for converting back into electrical energy as per requirement. This process enables electricity to be produced at times of either low demand, low generation cost or from intermittent energy sources, and used at times of high demand, high generation cost or unavailability of other generation means. Smart EES has numerous applications in portable devices, transport vehicles, stationary energy resources, etc. EES becomes more important in situations where we produce large amount of electricity from timedependant energy sources like wind and solar. Smart EES has to consider generation, transmission/distribution, energy management system and renewable energy. Research should

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Supercapacitors: Advantages & disadvantages
Advantages 1. High power and moderate energy density 2. Very fast charging and discharging 3. Very high capacitance 4. Linear charging and discharging (up to 0V) 5. State of charge present is a direct function of the output voltage 6. Very long shelf and working life (theoretically no limit!) 7. Direct short circuit is not fatal 8. Small over-charging is not a problem 9. Today, it is available up to 5000F, 220V 10. Series current-limiting resistor is not required as it accept charges as much as you supply Disadvantages 1. Each cell can give 1V to 2.5V (limit due to electrolyte stability) 2. High cost 3. Very fast discharging 4. Low energy density 5. Peak power is limited by equivalent series resistance (ESR) 6. Time constant is small (1-2 second only) 7. Rapid discharge at severe rate increases the temparature 8. Complete discharge takes a few hours 9. Operating temperature is up to 65 degrees 10. It loses 2 per cent energy per day in self-discharge ment of high starting current, thereby reducing the load on the battery, increasing its life and reducing the battery size. Leading car manufacturers such as Volvo, Opel, Rover, Renaults, Volkswagen and Daimler-Chysler are using supercapacitors in their electric vehicles and electric hybrid vehicles. Regons plot in Fig. 1 shows how supercapacitors (Boostcap by Maxwell) and lithium-ion batteries are approaching top right of the graph. If this combination achieves power and energy density of the internal combustion engine, your dependency on the IC engine and hence fossil fuels will reduce. Various electrical energy
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Fig. 1: Regons plot showing energy density vs power density of various energy storage devices

nected electrochemical cells with very high surface-area electrodes which are generally made up of NEC, Japan (for memory backups) activated carbon, and low equiva Panasonic, Japan (for memory backups) lent series resistors (ESRs). These Maxwell Technologies, USA devices can be manufactured EPCOS, Germany with capacitance values of several Evans Capacitor, USA (for automobiles) hundred farads and even several ELNA, USA (for automobiles) thousand farads. Such values can Cooperet, USA (for automobiles) Kold Ban International, Australia not be imagined in conventional CAP-XX, Australia capacitors. This translates into a Ness Capacitor, Korea new paradigm in energy storage, Tavrima, Canada especially for short-duration, high ESMA, Russia (for power quality applications) power applications. Depending on their design and construction, the specific power of supercapacitors use of chemical energy for charge storcan be ten to 100 times higher than of age based on electrostatic principle, a battery. which makes them complex to develop Supercapacitors are mainly used and use. for pulse power supply requirements. Supercapacitors: ideal for When you start the engine of an autoshort-duration high-power matic-start vehicle, the starter motor applications draws a very large current from the lead-acid battery, which reduces the Supercapacitors, also called ultralife of the battery. This high current capacitors or electrochemical doublerequirement is due to high starting layer capacitors, have been the subject current of the starter motor. Such a of focused R&D efforts for the past two high current is not required except decades. This has been facilitated by for starting, which unnecessarily inremarkable advances in material scicreases the battery size requirement. ence and nanotechnology that allow A supercapaitor can fulfil the requireconstruction of stacks of thin intercon-

Some leading manufacturers of supercapacitors

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Fig. 4: Construction of a supercapacitor

4. Use of different electrolyte and self-discharge

application areas
1. Quick-charge applications charging in seconds and discharging in minutes (required for power tools and toys) 2. Electric vehicles (starting/regenerative braking) 3. At sharp turns on electric traction 4. Short-term support for uninterrupted power system with generator backup 5. Solar array (energy-rich, poor power source) 6. Supporting power buses while switching 7. Computer memory backups low-current, long-duration requirements

Fig. 2: Power flow in a typical electric vehicle with supercapacitor

Fig. 3: Concept car using Li-ion battery pack with ultracapacitor module

Li-ion Battery vs Electrochemical or Supercapacitor

Characteristic Charge time Discharge time Cycle life Specific energy (Wh/kg) Specific power (kW/kg) Cycle efficiency (per cent) Cost/Wh Cost/kW State-of-the-art Lithium-ion battery 3-5 minutes 3-5 minutes <5000 @ 1C rate 50-100 1-2 <50% to >90% $0.5-1/Wh $50-150/kW Electrochemical capacitor 1 second 1 second >500,000 5 5-10 <75% to >95% $10-20/Wh $15-30/kW

power flow in typical electrical vehicles. The combination of a primary energy source and an ultracapacitor takes care of the average power and peak power demand, respectively. Fig. 3 shows the concept car having the Li-ion battery pack with ultracapacitor. The Li-ion battery will replace the conventional lead-acid battery in the near future. Considering various parameters of the supercapacitor, it will be the nextgeneration EES device.

Summing up
Energy storage is a persistent problem in electrical systems. There are many energy storage systems, but electrical energy can be stored only in two fundamentally different ways: battery and capacitor. Scientists and engineers are looking for devices beyond these. It has been found that a supercapacitor along with conventional battery can be a better electrical energy storage device than the battery alone. Though the supercapacitor technology is at present in infancy, it stands a bright chance of becoming the nextgeneration electrical energy storage device.
The author is a professor in Electrical Engineering Department of Government College of Engineering, Pune

Design parameters

storage devices are shown in Regons plot of power density versus energy density. Fig. 2 shows the block diagram of
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1. Trade-off between energy and power 2. Time constant (ESR and capacitance value) 3. Output voltage and output current

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