Super capacitor energy bank MEDCOM UCER-01

in Gdynia trolleybus system

Mikołaj Bartłomiejczyk
Gdańsk University of Technology,
Faculty of Electrical and Control Engineering
G. Narutowicza 11/12, 80-233 Gdańsk, Poland
mikolaj.bartlomiejczyk@pg.gda.pl

Abstract—Since 2001, trolleybus system in Gdynia has been
involved in many activities related to the reduction of power
consumption, both in terms of implementation and research and
development. The installation of the supercapacity energy bank
on substation Wielkopolska in 2014 year was one of them. It is
the first such big stationary supercapacitor storage system
installed in trolleybus supply system in the Middle - Eastern
Europe. The results gained during more than one year
exploitation are presented in the paper.
Keywords—Trolleybuses, supercapacitors, Energy storage,
Energy recuperation
I. INTRODUCTION
The possibility to work in reverse mode, as generators of
electric energy, is a characteristic feature of electric motors [1,
2]. This feature is applied in electric vehicles and used during
braking, when kinetic energy of a vehicle is changed into
electric energy, which can then be returned to the traction
supply system and consumed by other vehicles. However,
when there is no possibility to receive recuperation energy, it
is dissipated in braking resistors. In this situation we lose the
energy which could potentially be recovered. In order to
prevent it, it is possible to use super-capacitor energy storage
systems, which collect recuperation energy and allow for its
subsequent utilisation.
The city of Gdynia, Poland, exploits an extensive, 50-km-
long trolleybus network, which is serviced by 85 vehicles.
This network is supplied from 10 traction substations with 600
V DC. The trolleybus system is operated by Przedsiębiorstwo
Komunikacji Trolejbusowej Sp. z o.o. (PKT) which, for a
number of years, has been working towards limiting energy
consumption. Vehicles with power electronic drive system are
gradually introduced and, consequently, energy consumption
has decreased by more than 20% over the past 10 years. In the
years 2009-2012 PKT conducted comprehensive
modernisation of the supply system, which resulted in the
increase of its reliability and in the decrease of transmission
losses [2]. PKT also carries out scientific and research
activities connected with reducing energy consumption. In the
years 2010-2012 a super-capacitor storage system was being
tested by PKT in cooperation with the Electrotechnical
Institute in Warsaw [3]. The storage system was installed in
the Północna traction substation. The test results allowed for
making the decision on constructing the target installation of a
super-capacitor storage system UCER-01 in the Wielkopolska
traction substation. This task was realised in the year 2014,
within the Civitas Dyn@mo project.
The storage system UCER-01 was projected, developed
and installed by MEDCOM company. MEDCOM is the one of
the biggest producer of energy converters for electric traction
vehicles. Since 2009 MEDCOM delivers traction power
systems for trolleybuses in Gdynia. Moreover, MEDCOM is
the biggest world supplier of tramway propulsion systems.
II. SUPER-CAPACITOR STORAGE SYSTEM MEDCOM
UCER-01 IN THE WIELKOPOLSKA TRACTION SUBSTATION
The Wielkopolska traction substation was built in 2010 and
supplies a 1.5-km-long section of contact line, located in the
hilly part of Gdynia. This substation is equipped with one
rectifier unit, with the power of 1 MW. The hilly terrain in the
supply area causes generation of substantial amounts of
recuperation energy. However, due to the fact that the supply
area is rather small, there is often an insufficient number of
vehicles which might receive the recuperation energy, and it is
subsequently lost in braking resistors. This was the reason for
making the decision on building a stationary energy storage
system located in the Wielkopolska substation.
Fig. 1. Basic electric diagram of Supercapacitor energy bank MEDCOM
UCER-01. ZAS – traction network, EMC – filter, DC/DC – converter for SC
charging and discharging, DC/AC – converter for auxiliary needs, SG3, SG4,
SG5 – fast discharging disconnectors
The storage system UCER-01 MEDCOM consists of two
parts (Fig. 1 - 4). Super-capacitor modules were placed in a
container located outside the substation, while the DC/DC
converter, together with the control system, are inside.

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 value is close to zero (range from 0 A to 69 A), which is
supposed to prevent charging the storage system with energy
from the rectifier unit. The energy oan CO2 savings are
presented on the display installed at the substation (fig. 5).

Fig. 2. Supercapacitor energy bank MEDCOM UCER-01 installed in

trolleybus substation Wielkopolska in Gdynia, supercap modules outside of
the substation in container

The main elements are the set of super-capacitor modules

and the DC/DC converter, which regulates the flow of energy
between the super-capacitor storage system and the contact
line. Moreover, the system is equipped with an anti-
disturbance filter and a discharge resistor, the latter to be used
in emergency discharge of the storage system. The basic Fig. 4. Supercapacitor energy bank MEDCOM UCER-01 installed in
trolleybus substation Wielkopolska in Gdynia, DC/DC converter inside of the
technical data of the storage system have been presented in substation.
Table 1.

Fig. 5. The display at the Wielkopolska power substation presenting

Fig. 3. Supercapacitor modules in container outside of the substation. information about amount of energy saved ("energia odzyskana, in kWh) and
CO2 emission reduction ("ograniczenie emisji CO2, in kg) [7]
At the time when regenerative braking occurs, there is an
increase of voltage in the contact line, hence the voltage level TABLE I. THE BASIC TECHNICAL DATA OF THE STORAGE SYSTEM
can be used as an indicator which confirms the existence of MEDCOM UCER-01
surplus recuperation energy. This is why the algorithm of the
General data
storage system operation is mainly based on measurements of
voltage in bus-bars of a traction substation. The current of the Nominal input voltage 600 V DC
rectifier unit is an additional control signal. When the bus-bar Max. input current 500 A
voltage rises to the value more than 735 V, it denotes the Max. input power 400 kW/20 s.
occurrence of regenerative braking and that the super- Data of SC bank
capacitor is being charged with recuperation energy. The Max. voltage 388,8 V
decrease of bus-bar voltage to the level lower than 700 V The range of voltage 187 - 375 V
means that the substation has been loaded and that there is a Max. current 1000 A
possibility to return the accumulated energy to the contact Capacitance 104.15 F
line, i.e. to discharge the storage system. The value of the Energy capacitance 1.56 kWh
rectifier unit load current is also controlled, as the charging
Number of modules 15: 5 branches x 3 modules
process can take place only when the rectifier unit current

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 III. RESEARCH OF THE STORAGE SYSTEM OPERATION
The super-capacitor storage system was introduced into
service in June 2014. Since then the parameters of its
operation have been registered regularly. Moreover, on-board
systems in vehicles registering the driving parameters in
trolleybuses have been used for research purposes. They allow
for registration of operational-energy parameters in vehicles
(including velocity, vehicle current values, drive current
values), as well as of the GPS location. As a result, it is
possible to determine precisely how much energy is consumed
within the supply area of the Wielkopolska substation and to
assess the energy balance of the operation of a supply system
with a super-capacitor energy storage system.
Fig. 6 presents the energy savings through the
accumulation of energy recovery in the SC bank as a function
of time, the average one-month values are shown. The average
energy savings in the range of 5 to 14% of the total energy
consumption. It is a size relatively low, but it should be
consider that in Gdynia 30% of the vehicles is equipped with a
control contactor - resistor, which significantly affect energy
consumption braking by the other vehicle and reduces the
relatively energy saving of supercapacitor energy system [4,
5]. A more meaningful indicator of energy saving is to analyze
the size of recuperation only in vehicles equipped with a
regenerative braking system. It is possible with the on-board
recording of energy consumption in vehicles. Fig. 7 shows a
comparison of the relative value of energy recovery in
vehicles equipped with a regenerative braking system before
and after installation supercapacitor energy storage system.
Fig. 6. Reducing of the energy consumption caused by accumulation of
recovered energy in supercapacitor installed on Wielkopolska substation,
average one-month values.
The energy from braking may be consumed by several
different loads. Part of recovered energy Erecuperation generated
during regenerative braking is used to satisfy internal demand
of the trolleybus (lighting, auxiliary drives, heating etc.) – and
is marked as Eauxiliary. The remainder of recovered energy is
fed back to the contact system, in which it is partly absorbed
by other vehicles in the supply area (Enetwork), with the
remainder (Estorage) stored in an energy storage system.
Recuperation energy balance may be described by an
equation [4]:
Erecuperation  Eauxiliary  Enetwork  Estorage
Fig.7. Energy recuperation of trolleybuses in supply area of Wielkopolska
substation before and after of installation of SC energy bank, average one-
month values
Fig. 8 shows the elements of recuperation energy balance.
On the diagrams presented one should pay attention to the
weekly volatility of recuperation energy balance. At weekdays
when trolleybus traffic intensity, which is expressed by the
average number of trolleybuses on the power supply area, is at
the level of two vehicles, 70% of the energy recovery is
absorbed by other vehicles in traffic, and only 20% of this
energy is stored in the tank (Fig. 8). Thus, reduction of energy
consumption associated with the work of the supercapacitor is
is little as it is only 10%. In contrast, during days off work,
when the frequency of trolleybus runs is decreased by a half
and there is an average of one vehicle on the power supply
section, the exploitation of a supercapacitor rises significantly
since it accumulates from 50% to 70% of recovery energy.
What is also noticeable is a variation on an annual basis,
which is associated with a variable value of energy
consumption for non traction vehicles needs [6].
Fig. 8. Recuperation energy balance in Wielkopolska substation power supply
area, measurements of average one-day values from February to May. The
proportions of load flow of recovered energy between auxiliaries, other
vehicles and supercapacitor bank is showed.
Fig. 9 shows the histogram of values of the energy
accumulated in the super-capacitor battery. The above-
mentioned histograms show a decrease of probability together
with an increase of voltage and energy accumulated in the
(1) super-capacitor battery. This means that mainly the lower
range of capacity is used in the storage system. Therefore it
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seems justified to examine how limiting the capacity of the T
super-capacitor battery in the storage system would affect E P0    PCh P0 , t dt (4)
reduction in saving regenerative braking energy, which is 0
useful in performing the financial analysis concerning viability
PCh(P0, t) expresses the power of charging the super-
of installing the storage system
capacitor battery:

I SC  0  PSC  P0  PCh  U SC  I SC

PCh   I SC  0  PSC  P0  PCh  P0 (5)
 I SC  0  PCh  0

where USC(t) and ISC(t) are respectively the voltage and
current of charging the super-capacitor battery in t time, while
PSC is the power of charging the storage system, equal to the
product of the charging voltage and current. The values USC(t)
and ISC(t) have been assumed on the basis of measurements of
the storage system operation performed with one-second
resolution. The T time is 13 hours (7 a.m. to 8 p.m.). The E
value was related to the maximum value of the amount of
energy accumulated in the storage system, i.e. 1.56 kWh. The
E(P0) dependence has been shown in Fig. 12.
Fig. 9. Histogram of energy accumulated in supercapacitor

For this purpose the function E(E0), which expresses the

amount of energy transferred to an energy storage system
when capacity is reduced to E0 within time T has been defined:
T
E E0    PCh E0 , t dt (2)
0

PCh(E0, t) expresses the power of charging the super-

capacitor battery:

I SC  0  ESC  E0  PCh  U SC  I SC
 (3)
PCh   I SC  0  ESC  E0  PCh  0
 I SC  0  PCh  0


where USC(t) and ISC(t) are respectively the voltage and Fig. 10. The dependence of the relative total energy recuperation transferred
current values of charging the super-capacitor battery in time to the storage tank as a function of capacitance.
t. The values USC(t) and ISC(t) have been assumed based on
measurements of the storage system operation performed with
one-second resolution. The T time is 13 hours (between 7 a.m.
and 8 p.m.). The E value was related to the maximum value of
the amount of energy accumulated in the storage system, i.e.
1.56 kWh. The diagram of the E(E0) dependence has been
presented in Fig. 10.
Fig. 11 shows the histogram of power of charging the
storage system with recuperation energy. Just like in the case
of the amount of energy accumulated in the storage system, it
may be stated that the maximum charging power is used
relatively rarely. Hence it has been examined to what degree
the reduction of maximum charging power would influence
the reduction of the amount of energy accumulated in the
storage system.
For this purpose the function E(P0), which expresses the
amount of recuperation energy transferred to the energy Fig. 11. Histogram of charging power of SC system.
storage system, when the maximum power is reduced to P0 in
time T has been defined.

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 The capacity of the storage system has been designed in
such a way as to allow for storing all the braking energy of a
vehicle going downhill in Wielkopolska street, which was
assessed at the level of 1.5 kWh. This requirement has been
fulfilled; up till now the storage system has rarely been fully
charged during its exploitation. However, from the economic
point of view, it would be possible, in a comparable situation,
it would be possible to install a super-capacitor battery with
smaller capacity. In such case, some of the recuperation
energy would not be used, but the cost of the storage system
would be considerably lower. If the capacity of the storage
system were to be reduced by half, i.e. from 1.6 kWh to 0.8
kWh, the energy savings would decrease by only 15% (Fig.
11). Reducing the capacity of the storage system five times (to
0.3 kWh), the energy savings would decrease by half. This is
Fig. 12. The dependence of the relative total energy recuperation transferred why it would be justified, with regard to subsequent
to the storage tank as a function of maximal charging power. investments, to perform an economic analysis of the storage
IV. CONCLUSIONS system capacity. In such case the payback investment time
will decrease to 8 years. Please note that presented costs refers
Introducing a super-capacitor storage system into service to prototype construction. In case of series production the
in the Wielkopolska substation resulted in a decrease in energy prices of SC energy storage systems will decrease, which will
consumption. Taking into consideration the entire amount of reduce the payback time approximately to 5 years. PKT
energy consumed by the substation, this decrease is relatively Gdynia is already considering installation of several small SC
small, i.e. about 12% (Fig. 6). However, this is due to the fact energy storage systems with capacitance 0,3 kWh.
that the exploited vehicles are the ones with classic resistive
control systems and without regenerative braking. While The MEDCOM UCER-01 storage system is the first
analysing the effectiveness of functioning only in vehicles device with such high power installed in Central-Eastern
equipped with recuperation systems, it is possible to observe a Europe and constitutes a valuable source of information for
substantial, nearly double increase in using regenerative research on stationary systems for energy accumulation in
braking (Fig. 7). Hence it should be expected that, in the urban traction network.
situation where all the exploited vehicles would have
regenerative braking, energy savings resulting from ACKNOWLEDGMENT
accumulation in the storage system would reach the level of This paper has been elaborated in the framework of the
25%, which has been proved in technical analyses preceding project Civitas Dyn@mo realised by PKT Gdynia, co-financed
the modernisation of the supply system [7]. by the European Union, grant agreement No
Table 2 shows the comparison of financial benefits. Cost MOVE/FP7/296057/DYN@MO.
of MEDCOM UCER-01 storage system equals 82 000 euro. REFERENCES
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