CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION
Supercapacitor
(SC), or ultracapacitors,
is
the
generic
term
for
a
family
of electrochemical capacitors. Supercapacitors, sometimes also called ultracapacitors, don't have
a conventional solid dielectric. The capacitance value of an electrochemical capacitor is
determined by two storage principles, which both contribute indivisible to the total capacitance.
Supercapacitors bridge the gap between conventional capacitors and rechargeable batteries. They
support up to 10,000 farads/1.2 volt, up to 10,000 times that of electrolytic capacitors. By
contrast, while supercapacitors have energy densities that are approximately 10% of
conventional batteries, their power density is generally 10 to 100 times greater. This results in
much shorter charge/discharge cycles than batteries. Additionally, they will tolerate many more
charge and discharge cycles than batteries. In these electrochemical capacitors, the electrolyte is
the conductive connection between the two electrodes. This distinguishes them from electrolytic
capacitors, in which the electrolyte is the cathode and thus forms the second electrode.
Super capacitors are new form of energy storage which stores energy by means of static charge.
When compared to batteries, super capacitors posses high power density in the range of 10000
W/kg and high life cycle of around 500,000 cycle. Thus, it can charge/discharge at a much faster
rate in the range of few seconds. Hence, super capacitors can be used to satisfy the quick load
fluctuations.

CHAPTER-2
HISTORY OF SUPERCAPACITOR
General Electric engineers experimenting with devices using porous carbon electrodes first
observed the EDLC effect in 1957. They believed that the energy was stored in the carbon pores
and the device exhibited "exceptionally high capacitance", although the mechanism was
unknown at that time. General Electric did not immediately follow up on this work. In 1966
researchers at Standard Oil of Ohio developed the modern version of the devices, after they
accidentally re-discovered the effect while working on experimental fuel cell designs. Their cell
design used two layers of activated charcoal separated by a thin porous insulator, and this basic
mechanical design remains the basis of most electric double-layer capacitors. Standard Oil also
failed to commercialize their invention, licensing the technology to NEC, who finally marketed
the results as supercapacitors in 1978, to provide backup power for maintaining computer
memory. The market expanded slowly for a time, but starting around the mid-1990s various
advances in materials science and refinement of the existing systems led to rapidly improving
performance and an equally rapid reduction in cost. The first trials of supercapacitors in
industrial applications were carried out for supporting the energy supply to robots. In 2005
aerospace systems and controls company, Diehl Luftfahrt GmbH chose supercapacitors to power
emergency actuation systems for doors and evacuation slides in airliners, including the new
Airbus 380 jumbo jet. In 2005, the ultracapacitor market was between US $272 million and $400
million, depending on the source. As of 2007 all solid state micrometer-scale electric doublelayer capacitors based on advanced superionic conductors had been for low-voltage electronics
such as deep-sub-voltage nanoelectronics and related technologies (the 22 nm technological node
of CMOS and beyond).
The electrochemical ultracapacitor is an emerging technology that promises to play an important
role in meeting the demands of electronic devices and systems both now and in the future. This
newly available technology of ultracapacitors is making it easier for engineers to balance their
use of both energy and power. Energy storage devices like ultracapacitors are normally used
along with batteries to compensate for the limited battery power capability.

CHAPTER-3
STRUCTURE OF SUPERCAPACITOR

Fig.3.1
.

Schematic construction of a wound supercapacitors

1.Terminals, 2.Safety vent, 3.Sealing disc, 4.Aluminum can, 5.Positive
pole 6.Separator, 7. Carbon electrode, 8.Collector, 9.Carbon electrode,
10. Negative pole

Supercapacitors are constructed with two metal foils (current collectors), each coated with an
electrode material e.g. activated carbon. The collectors serves as the power connection between
the electrode material and the external terminals of the capacitor. The electrodes have large
surface area to obtain the large capacitance, e. g. activated carbon is electrochemically etched, so
that the surface of the material is about a factor 100,000 larger than the smooth surface. The both
electrodes are separated by an ion permeable membrane (separator) used as insulator to protect
the electrodes against direct contact forcing short circuits. This construction is subsequently
rolled or folded into a cylindrical or rectangular shape and can be stacked in an aluminum can or
an adaptable rectangular housing. Then the cell is impregnated with a liquid or viscous
electrolyte organic or aqueous type, or may be of solid state. The electrolyte, an ionic conductor
enters the pores of the electrodes and serves as conductive connection between the electrodes
across the separator. The housing of the supercapacitor is hermetically closed to ensure stable
behavior over the specified life time.

Material
Supercapacitors storage density can be improved through the use of a nano porous material,
typically activated charcoal, in place of the conventional insulating barrier. Activated charcoal is
a powder made up of extremely small and very "rough" particles, which, in bulk, form a lowdensity heap with many holes that resembles a sponge. The overall surface area of even a thin
layer of such a material is many times greater than a traditional material like aluminum, allowing
many more charge carriers (ions or radicals from the electrolyte) to be stored in any given
volume. The charcoal, which is not a good insulator, replaces the excellent insulators used in
conventional devices, so in general supercapacitors can only use low potentials on the order of 2
to 3 V.
Activated charcoal is not the "perfect" material for this application. The charge carriers are
actually (in effect) quite largeespecially when surrounded by solvent moleculesand are often
larger than the holes left in the charcoal, which are too small to accept them, limiting the storage.

CHAPTER-4
STORAGE PRINCIPLE
Electrochemical capacitors use the double-layer effect to store electric energy. This double-layer
has no conventional solid dielectric which separates the charges. The capacitance values of
electrochemical capacitors are determined by two different high-capacity storage principles in
the electric double-layer on their electrodes:

Double layer capacitance, electrostatic storage of the electrical energy achieved by

separation of charge in a Helmholtz double layer.
Pseudocapacitance, electrochemical storage of the electrical energy achieved by
faradiac redox reactions with charge-transfer.

The amount of charge stored per unit voltage in an electrochemical capacitor is primarily a
function of the electrode size but the amount of capacitance of each storage principle can vary
extremely. Double-layer capacitance and pseudocapacitance both contribute to the total
capacitance value of an electrochemical capacitor. Both capacitances are only separable by
measurement techniques.
Electrostatic double-layer capacitance:

Fig.4.1 Schemetic diagram of supercapacitor showing EDLC

At each of the two electrodes surfaces originates an area in which the liquid electrolyte contacts
the conductive metallic surface of the electrode. This interface forming a common boundary

among two different phases of matter, such as an insoluble solid electrode surface and an
adjacent liquid electrolyte. In this interface occurs a very special phenomenon of the double layer
effect.
Applying a voltage to an electro-chemical capacitor both electrodes in the capacitor
generates electrical double-layers. These double layers consist out of two layers of ions. One
layer is in the surface lattice structure of the electrode. The other layer, with opposite polarity,
emerges from dissolved and solvated ions in the electrolyte. The two layers are separated by a
monolayer of solvent molecules, e. g. for water as solvent by water molecules. The monolayer
forms the Inner Helmholtz Plane (IHP). It adheres by physical adsorption on the surface of the
electrode and separates the oppositely polarized ions from each other, becoming a molecular
dielectric.
The amount of charge in the electrode is matched by the magnitude of counter-charges in outer
Helmholtz plane (OHP). This double-layer phenomena store electrical charges as in a
conventional capacitor. The double-layer charge forms a static electric field in the molecular
layer of the solvent molecules in the IHP that corresponds to the strength of the applied voltage.
The amount of charge stored per unit voltage in an electrochemical capacitor is primarily a
function of the electrode size. The electrostatic storage of energy in the double-layers is linear
with respect to the stored charge.
Electrochemical Pseudocapacitance
Pseudocapacitance stores electrical energy electrochemically by means of reversible faradic
redox reactions on the surface of suitable electrodes in an electrochemical capacitor with a
electric double-layer. Pseudocapacitance is accompanied with an electron charge transfer
between electrolyte and electrode coming from a de-solvated and adsorbed ion whereby only
one electron per charge unit is participating. The adsorbed ion has no chemical reaction with
the atoms of the electrode. No chemical bonds arise, only a charge-transfer take place.
A faradic pseudocapacitance only occurs together with a static double-layer capacitance.
Pseudocapacitance and double-layer capacitance both contribute indivisible to the total
capacitance value of the chemical capacitor. The amount of pseudocapacitance depends on the
surface area, material and structure of the electrodes.

Fig.4.2 Schemetic diagram of supercapacitor showing Electrochemical Pseudocapacitance

CHAPTER-5
APPLICATION OF SUPERCAPACITOR IN MICROGRID
MICROGRID
As the demand of the quality, security and reliability of the energy and power supply has become
increasingly higher and higher, the traditional bulk grid can no longer meet it because of its own
flaws. Microgrid, a new type of power grid which integrates distributed generators, comes into
being. It can save investment, lower energy consumption and improve security and flexibility,
and therefore it will be the direction of future development. In the remote or isolated areas, it
would costlier to install transmission lines, and even if transmission lines are installed, the
operation cost would be so high that there are certain difficulties to achieve electrification of
these areas. It will be very economical and of no damage to the environment if using PV or wind
power to build a microgrid.
The energy flow between source and the load of micro grid must be balanced to have a constant
dc grid voltage. Due to intermittency in the natural sources and the variations in load, energy
balance operation demands storage. The commonly preferred choice of energy storage in micro
grid is valve regulated lead acid batteries. Batteries have high energy density in the order of
10100 Wh/kg and it can supply average load demand for a longer time. But, the batteries cycle
time and power density is around 1000 cycles and 1000 W/kg respectively, which results in high
charging/discharging time of 0.3 3 hours in micro grid applications. When batteries are used as
energy storage, due to its low power density, the charge and discharge rate is low. It causes
severe stress on the battery under quick load fluctuations and results in increase in the number of
charge/discharge cycles. Hence, the lifetime of the battery reduces. The super capacitors have
high power density and it can react speedily to quick load fluctuations. However, super
capacitors alone cannot be used as energy storage as it cannot supply load for a longer time. So,
in microgrids combination of batteries and supercapacitors are used for better operation.

MICROGRID SPECIFICATIONS USED FOR EXPERIMENT

Solar PV cell is used for the generation of electricity in microgrid. Values of parameters are
taken as: irradiance is 0.8 kW/m2, temperature input to the solar array is 300K, operating voltage
per cell is 0.53V, total output voltage generated is 48V, maximum power output of solar array is
193W. The load resistance during 0 1 s is chosen as 15 to account for energy surplus and
during 1 2 s as 9 , 2 4s as 7 to account for energy deficit conditions. Thus, the load
power during 0 1 s is 153.6 W and during 1 2 s is 256 W respectively. Inductor and capacitor
are used as filters and diode is used for preventing the reverse flow of current.

MICROGRID OPERATION WITHOUT ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM

Here, no energy storage element is used. The energy flow balance between source and the load in
micro grid becomes difficult without any energy storage. The circuit diagram for this is shown
below:

Fig.5.1: Micro Grid Circuit Without Energy Storage

Waveforms

Fig.5.2: Micro Grid Operation Waveforms without Energy Storage

During 0-1 sec, there is surplus power of 39.4W, the current generated is less than the maximum
PV current. Converter draws only required amount of current to maintain the dc grid voltage.
The efficiency of solar cell is reduced during surplus power period. During 1-2 sec, the power
required is more than the maximum capacity of solar PV array, the converter reference current
exceeds the maximum current produced by PV. As no extra storage medium is available to
supply the 63 W deficit power, the dc grid voltage gets reduced to 40 V below the reference
voltage of 48V.
Due to the absence of energy storage system in this case, during 0-1 sec, efficiency of solar cell
is reduced and during 1-2 sec, solar array is unable to supply extra power required by the load
and grid voltage get reduced to 40V. During energy deficit conditions, the other option to
maintain the dc grid voltage without storage is load shedding.

MICROGRID OPERATION WITH BATTERY AS STORAGE SYSTEM

Here, battery is used to control the imbalance of power between source and load. During energy
surplus conditions, the imbalance power is given to battery and during energy deficit conditions;
the already stored energy is drawn. For 0-2s, the load requirement is 150W and for 2-4s, the load
requirement is 230W and the maximum capacity of solar array is 193W. The typical batteries
applied in micro grids are Lead acid batteries. The circuit diagram is shown below:

Fig.5.3: Micro Grid Operation with Battery Energy Storage

Due to varying load conditions, the source power and the load power is not balanced. This
imbalance power influence the dc grid voltage. The increase or decrease in the dc grid voltage

according to the load conditions is maintained constant by bidirectional buckboost converter

connected between the battery and the dc grid. The control logic circuit associated with
buckboost converter is

Fig.5.4: Control Logic of Bidirectional Buckboost Converters for Battery

The difference between the reference voltage and the actual dc grid voltage is given to PI control
to produce the current reference ifluct for battery. This current ifluct is compared with the battery
current and error signal is given to PI controller whose output is used to adjust the battery current
or charging and discharging of the battery. The bidirectional converter control logic works until
the error between the reference and actual current to settle to zero.

WAVEFORMS
During 0-2sec, the extra surplus energy of 43W is supplied to battery and stored in it. During 24sec, the load requirement is 230W which is greater than the maximum capacity of solar cell.
This extra 47W of power is supplied by battery to the load. Thus, with the presence of
bidirectional converter, the dc grid voltage can be maintained at the reference level even during
energy deficit conditions.

Fig.5.5: Micro Grid Operation Waveforms with Battery Energy Storage

MICROGRID OPERATION WITH COMBINED BATTERY AND SUPERCAPACITOR
AS STORAGE SYSTEM
The electricity produced by PV array continuously varies according to the temperature and
irradiance, depends on climatic conditions. The load also varies continuously and has severe
fluctuations. Thus, the imbalance power over a period changes severely. When this highly
varying and fluctuant imbalance power is given to the battery, the battery undergoes frequent
charging and discharging operations. It increases stress on the battery and it may have
detrimental effect on the lifetime and performance of the battery. To avoid this, super capacitors
are connected as an additional energy storage element to the grid using bidirectional buckboost
converter. Since the super capacitor can react faster to quick fluctuations, the stress on the
battery can be reduced. In this case, both battery and supercapacitor are used as energy storage
system. The circuit diagram for this is

Fig.5.6: Micro Grid Circuit with Battery - Super Capacitor Combined Storage
The control logic diagram associated with the bidirectional convertor is shown as

Fig.5.7: Control Logic of Bidirectional Buckboost Converters for Battery

and Super Capacitor

During energy deficit conditions, the steady dc current is drawn from battery and the quick load
fluctuations are met by the supercapacitor due to its capacity to deliver large power in very short
period of time.
Control logic steps:

Grid voltage is compared with the reference voltage to generate the current reference
signal ifluct.

From this current reference signal ifluct, dc component ibattery is extracted by using filter
circuit. This dc component ibattery is compared with the battery current iL2 and error signal
is given to PI controller whose output is used to adjust the battery current.

Dc component ibattery is subtracted from current reference signal ifluct to obtain the iSC
reference current for the supercapacitor. This iSC is used to adjust the current of the
supercapacitor.

WAVEFORMS

Fig.5.8: Operation of Super Capacitors in Combined Energy Storage Mode

Fig.5.9: Comparison of Current and SOC of the Battery for Two Modes of
Operation
Let assume the 50% be the State Of Charge (SOC) of supercapacitor and battery initially. The
terminal voltage and SOC of the supercapacitor and battery varies according to the power
imbalance. Battery supplies the constant load whereas supercapacitor absorbs the quick
fluctuations in load. During 2-4 s, supercapacitor discharges at the faster rate when compared to
the period of 1 2 s, as the fluctuations are severe in that zone.
In battery alone case, the current through battery has severe fluctuations which affect the
performance and life of the battery but with the use of supercapacitor alongwith battery, the
battery current is smoothened. Further, the current rating also reduced considerably. The SOC of
battery is also improved in this case. In battery alone, the SOC of battery at the end of 4 s
operation is 49.95% and in combined energy storage case, the SOC is 50.05%.
As Depth Of Discharge (DOD) is

DOD = 1 SOC
DOD decreases when SOC increases, with reduced DOD, the charging and discharging cycles
reduces and the lifetime of the battery can be increased proportionately.

CHAPTER-6

MERITS AND DEMERITS

MERITS

Long life, with little degradation over hundreds of thousands of charge cycles. Due to the
capacitor's high number of charge-discharge cycles, it will last for the entire lifetime of
most devices, which makes the device environmentally friendly. Battery lifetime can be
optimised by charging only under favorable conditions, at an ideal rate. EDLCs can help
in conjunction with batteries by acting as a charge conditioner, storing energy from other
sources for load balancing purposes and then using any excess energy to charge the
batteries at a suitable time.
Low cost per cycle
Good reversibility
Very high rates of charge and discharge.
Extremely low internal resistance (ESR) and consequent high cycle efficiency (95% or
more) and extremely low heating levels
High output power.
Improved safety, no corrosive electrolyte and low toxicity of materials.

DEMRITS

The amount of energy stored per unit weight is generally lower than that of an
electrochemical battery.
Typical of any capacitor, the voltage varies with the energy stored. Effective storage and
recovery of energy requires complex electronic control and switching equipment, with
consequent energy loss.
High self-discharge, the rate is considerably higher than that of an electrochemical
battery.
Cells hold low voltages, series connections are needed to obtain higher voltages. Voltage
balancing is required if more than three capacitors are connected in series.
Linear discharge voltage prevents use of the full energy spectrum.

CHAPTER-7

OTHER APPLICATIONS OF SUPERCAPACITOR

Some of the earliest uses of supercapacitor were motor startup capacitors for large engines in
tanks and submarines, and as the cost has fallen they have started to appear on diesel trucks and
railroad locomotives. In the starting of 21st century, they attracted attention in the green energy
world, where their ability to charge much faster than batteries makes them particularly suitable
for regenerative braking applications. New technology in development could potentially make
supercapacitors with high enough energy density to be an attractive replacement for batteries in
all-electric cars and plug-in hybrids, as supercapacitors charge quickly and are stable with
respect to temperature.
Automobiles
China is experimenting with a new form of electric bus that runs without power lines using large
onboard supercapacitors, which quickly recharge whenever the bus is at any bus stop (under socalled electric umbrellas), and fully charge in the terminals. A few prototypes were being tested
in Shanghai in early 2005. In 2006, two commercial bus routes began to use electric double-layer
capacitor buses; one of them is route 11 in Shanghai.
In 2001 and 2002 VAG, the public transport operator in Nuremberg, Germany tested an hybrid
bus that uses a diesel-electric battery drive system with electric double-layer supercapacitors.
Since 2003 Mannheim Stadtbahn in Mannheim, Germany has operated a light-rail vehicle (LRV)
that uses supercapacitors to store braking energy.
A triple hybrid forklift truck uses fuel cells and batteries as primary energy storage
Supercapacitors are used in some concept prototype vehicles, in order to keep batteries within
resistive heating limits and extend battery life. The ultra battery combines a supercapacitor and a
battery in one unit, creating an electric vehicle battery that lasts longer, costs less and is more
powerful than current plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).
Motor racing
The FIA, the governing body for many motor racing events, proposed in the Power-Train
Regulation Framework for Formula 1 version 1.3 of 23 May 2007 that a new set of power train
regulations be issued that includes a hybrid drive of up to 200 kW input and output power using
"superbatteries" made with both batteries and supercapacitors.

Consumer electronics
Supercapacitors can be used in PC Cards, flash photography devices in digital cameras,
flashlights, portable media players, and in automated meter reading, particularly where extremely
fast charging is desirable.
In 2007, a cordless electric screwdriver that uses an supercapacitor for energy storage was
produced. It charges in 90 seconds, retains 85% of the charge after 3 months, and holds enough
charge for about half the screws (22) a comparable screwdriver with a rechargeable battery will
handle (37). Two LED flashlights using supercapacitors were released in 2009. They charge in
90 seconds.
Alternative energy
The idea of replacing batteries with capacitors in conjunction with novel energy sources became
a conceptual umbrella of the Green Electricity (GEL) Initiative, introduced by Dr. Alexander
Bell. One successful GEL Initiative concept was a muscle-driven autonomous solution that
employs a multi-farad supercapacitor as energy storage to power a variety of portable electrical
and electronic devices such as MP3 players, AM/FM radios, flashlights, cell phones, and
emergency kits.

CHAPTER-8

CONCLUSION
As the concept of micro-grid is developing, solar power as well as wind power and other
renewable energy sources are widely used; energy storage becomes one of hot topics of the
research. In order to maintain micro-grid internal instantaneous power balance, improve power
quality, and ensure user load power supply reliability, energy storage device with charging and
discharging frequently needs be equipped in micro-grid to suppress the power fluctuation and
provide backup power supply for sensitive load when micro-grid is islanded. Supercapacitor
along with batteries gives good option for the energy storage system. In this report, structure of
supercapacitor, storage principle in supercapacitor, results of experiment taking different cases:
mcrogrid without storage system, battery alone system and use of supercapacitor along with
battery as storage system, merits and demerits of supercapacitor are given.

CHAPTER-9

REFERENCES
[1]. Sathish kumar R, Sathish Kumar Kollimalla, Mahesh K. Mishra, Dynamic Energy
Management of Micro Grids Using Battery Super Capacitor Combined Storage, India
Conference (INDICON), 2012 Annual IEEE, page no. 1078 1083, 7-9 Dec. 2012 (base paper).
[2]. Zhang Li, Song Jin-yan, Zou Ji-yan, and Wang Ning, High Voltage Super-Capacitors for
Energy Storage Devices Applications, Electromagnetic Launch Technology, 2008 14th
Symposium, page.no. 1 4, 10-13 June 2008.
[3]. Huang Wei, Wang Xin, Guo Jiahuan, Zhang Jianhua, Yang Jingyan, Discussion on
Application of Super capacitor Energy Storage System in Microgrid, Sustainable Power
Generation and Supply, 2009. SUPERGEN '09. International Conference, page no. 1 4, 6-7
April 2009.
[4]. Wu Bingbing, Yin Zhongdong, Xiao Xiangning, Super-capacitors Energy Storage System
Applied in the Microgrid, Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA), 2010 the 5th IEEE
Conference, page no. 1002 1005, 15-17 June 2010.
[5]. Chukwuka, c,; Folly, K.A., Batteries and Super-capacitors , IEEE PES PowerAfrica 2012
Conference and Exposition Johannesburg, South Africa, 9-13 July 2012.
[6]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercapacitor.