Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost I would like to thank God almighty for guiding me throughout this seminar. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to respected Principal Prof. Jyothi John for allowing me to conduct the seminar. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the Head Of Department, Electronics and Communication, Prof. T.K.Mani, and Seminar coordinator Mrs. Laila D for their never ending support. I would also give a huge thanks to my Project guide Mrs.Leena for all the valuable tips without which this seminar wouldnt have seen daylight. Last, but not the least, I would like to thank all my well wishers and friends for their moral support and co-operation.

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

INDEX 1. Abstract03 2. Introduction.04 3. Capacitors05 3.1 Origin 05 3.2 What is a Capacitor 06 3.3 Basic working of a Capacitor 07 3.4 Improvements in the field of Capacitor 09 4. Battery. 09 4.1 Origin 09 4.2 What is a battery 10 4.3 Basic working of a battery 11 5. Ultracapacitor. 13 5.1 Origin 13 5.2 What is an Ultracapacitor 13 5.3 Need for an Ultracapacitor 14 5.4 How do Ultracapacitors store charge 15 6. Electric Double Layer.18 7. Structure of Electrodes...21 8. Ultracapacitors v/s Batteries..22 9. Ultracapacitors v/s Capacitors...24 10.Applications. 26 11.Disadvantages and hurdles.29 12.Conclusion31 13.References32

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

ABSTRACT

As we go further and further in the future the size of all things are getting smaller and smaller. Our current source of energy is mainly the batteries, which are very bulky and heavy. In this age of miniaturization, there is an urgent requirement for an alternative to the bulky batteries, an energy source that can provide more power and more energy per kg than a conventional battery. Ultracapacitors, also known as Electric Double Layer capacitors are such devices having capacitances in the order of kilofarads. The seminar aims to give a broad idea about what Ultracapacitors are, why exactly Ultracapacitors are used and where exactly they are used.

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

INTRODUCTION

Electrical energy storage is required in many applications telecommunication devices, such as cell phones and pagers, stand-by power systems, and electric hybrid vehicles. The specifications for the various energy storage devices are given in terms of energy stored (Who) .and maximum power as well as size and weight, initial cost and life. A storage device to be suitable for a particular application must meet all the requirements. As power requirements for many applications become more demanding, the battery was found wanting. It is often reasonable to consider separating the energy and power requirements by providing for the peak power by using a pulse power device battery. For applications in which significant energy is needed in pulse form, traditional capacitors as used in electronic circuits cannot store enough energy in the volume and weight available. For these applications, the development of high energy density capacitors gained importance and which eventually lead to the development of Ultracapacitors. Ultracapacitors are basically capacitors having capacitance in the order of kilofarads and can store much larger energy as compared to ordinary capacitors, but lesser than batteries.

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

3. CAPACITORS: 3.1 ORIGIN

The First capacitor was developed in the year 1745 at the University of Leyden at Netherlands. It was hence known as the Leyden Jar. The Leyden jar consisted of glass jar filled with liquid and wrapped in a foil. Since then there has been vast developments in the field of capacitor manufacturing. An early and important technical improvement involved replacing the fluid electrode with a layer of foil lining the jar. Other important developments included replacing the jar's enclosing glass wall with a glass plate, which in turn was replaced by thinner and more pliable insulating materials. On a parallel path, electrode materials became thinner.

These developments opened the way for the spiral-wound capacitor invented in 1926 by Robert Sprague. To make it, Sprague simply rolled together a pair of thin conducting foils (the electrodes) separated by a paper insulating sheet, or dielectric. During the early 1980s, ITW Paktron of Lynchburg, Virginia, and Siemens (now Epcos) of Munich developed stacked film capacitors for use in consumer electronics, automobiles, and appliances. Called polymer multilayer capacitors, such units are simply stacks of several thousand pairs of conducting plates, each separated by an insulator. Both spiral-wound and polymer multilayer capacitors are examples of electrostatic capacitors, which are based on the original concept of two physically distinct electrodes separated by a number of distinct insulating layers.

Electrostatic capacitors are widely used today in virtually every electronic item, from consumer appliances and toys to electronic boards in computers for PCs and spacecraft. In most of these applications, capacitors are tiny ceramic bricks attached directly to the

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

electronic circuit boards. The ability to store small amounts of electricity and release them quickly makes capacitors essential components, along with transistors and resistors, of most electrical circuits.

3.2WHAT IS A CAPACITOR?

A capacitor is a much simpler device, and it cannot produce new electrons like a battery-it only stores them. A simple capacitor consists of two metal plates separated by an insulating material called a dielectric, as illustrated in figure 3-2. Note that one plate is connected to the positive terminal of a battery; the other plate is connected through a closed switch (S1) to the negative terminal of the battery. Remember, an insulator is a material whose electrons cannot easily escape their orbits. Due to the battery voltage, plate A is charged positively and plate B is charged negatively. (How this happens is explained later in this chapter.) Thus an electrostatic field is set up between the positive and negative plates. The electrons on the negative plate (plate B) are attracted to the positive charges on the positive plate (plate A).

Fig 3.1: Distortion of electron orbits in a dielectric.

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

Notice that the orbits of the electrons in the dielectric material are distorted by the electrostatic field. The distortion occurs because the electrons in the dielectric are attracted to the top plate while being repelled from the bottom plate. When switch S1 is opened, the battery is removed from the circuit and the charge is retained by the capacitor. This occurs because the dielectric material is an insulator, and the electrons in the bottom plate (negative charge) have no path to reach the top plate (positive charge). The distorted orbits of the atoms of the dielectric plus the electrostatic force of attraction between the two plates hold the positive and negative charges in their original position. Thus, the energy which came from the battery is now stored in the electrostatic field of the capacitor.

3.3 BASIC WORKING OF A CAPACITOR:

A capacitor can be seen as a temporary storage of charge. Positive and negative charges attract each other and, if they are separated by a thin non-conducting membrane inbetween two metal electrodes (such as in a capacitor), they "stick" to it similar to two magnets across a piece of paper. If you connect the two electrodes with a wire, the charges will flow through it and annihilate. If you apply a voltage across the electrodes, new charge will flow into the capacitor and remain there until you empty it again through the wire.

A fully discharged capacitor fills up (charges) at a fast rate at the beginning of its chargecycle and and fills-up at a slower and slower rate. It's to do with the voltage of the supply that is charging the capacitor. Another name for voltage is "pressure." When a capacitor is uncharged, it has zero voltage across it and the pressure of the supply voltage will allow a high current to flow and this will begin to charge the capacitor very quickly. As it gets charged, a voltage builds up across the capacitor and this opposes the voltage

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

of the supply. The result is the supply voltage sees and opposing voltage and thus it does not have as much "pressure" as before to deliver the current into the capacitor and the "rate of charge" decreases. The "time-lapse graph below shows how the capacitor fills up quickly at the beginning and the filling process slows down. The graph shows the voltage across the capacitor does not rise in a linear (straight line). All you have to remember is the fact that a capacitor does not charge in a linear fashion but if you consider the first part of the charging curve, the rise is fairly linear.

Figure 3.2: Charging characteristics of a capacitor

Three main factors determine how much electrical energy a capacitor can store: The electrode surface area; the electrode separation distance; and the properties of the insulating layer separating the electrodes.

The history of capacitors has been written by numerous scientists, who have discovered the principles of capacitor operation and improved their storage capacity by increasing the electrode surface area, decreasing the electrode separation distance, and improving the insulating layer.

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

3.4 Improvements in capacitors:

The electrolytic capacitor was developed in the 1930s by the Cornell-Dubilier Electric Corporation in New Jersey. Thinking out of the box, the company's scientists and engineers introduced a new way of designing capacitors featuring three major enhancements: - Expanded surface area: The surface of one aluminum electrode was etched with acid, leaving it roughened and pockmarked and offering more surface area on which to accumulate charge.

- Shrunken insulator thickness: After the electrode surface was etched, it was oxidized to cover it with an insulating layer of aluminum oxide that separates two layers of charges. - A liquid (actually paste like) electrolyte electrode: The roughened and oxidized surface of the aluminum electrode was immersed in an electrolyte, a solution whose dissolved molecules are readily ionized. The electrolyte in effect becomes an extension of the second electrode, the enclosing wall of the capacitor.

4. BATTERIES: 4.1 ORIGIN:

The Leyden jar's property of releasing all of its stored electrical energy in a sudden spurt no doubt inspired scientists to seek a technology that could release a sustained 9

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

current and in 1800, the battery was invented by Alessandro Volta, an Italian physicist. As Volta and numerous other scientists improved its performance, the battery quickly supplanted the Leyden jar's descendants The battery doesn't store separated charged particles; instead, it stores charge through chemical changes at the electrodes. Thanks to the chemical changes, the battery can save large amounts of electrical energy and release them as a sustained current. On the downside, just as the battery is slow to release the charge, it is also slow to take on charge. Because of the ability of the battery to store huge amounts of energy, and its ability to give it out in a sustained manner has made the battery a preferred technology for storing electricity for the past 200 years.

4.2 WHAT IS A BATTERY?

Electrons collect on the negative terminal of the battery. If you connect a wire between the negative and positive terminals, the electrons will flow from the negative to the positive terminal as fast as they can (and wear out the battery very quickly -- this also tends to be dangerous, especially with large batteries, so it is not something you want to be doing). Normally, you connect some type of load to the battery using the wire. The load might be something like a light bulb, a motor or an electronic circuit like a radio. Inside the battery itself, a chemical reaction produces the electrons. The speed of electron production by this chemical reaction (the battery's internal resistance) controls how many electrons can flow between the terminals. Electrons flow from the battery into a wire, and must travel from the negative to the positive terminal for the chemical reaction to take place. That is why a battery can sit on a shelf for a year and still have plenty of power -unless electrons are flowing from the negative to the positive terminal, the chemical reaction does not take place. Once you connect a wire, the reaction starts. 10

Ultracapacitors .

Electronics and Communication

4.3 BASIC WORKING OF A BATTERY:

The basis of any battery is the production of new electrons by chemical reactions. Batteries use powerful micro technology to deliver electricity. They can do this because they contain chemicals that cause a chemical reaction. The chemical reaction generates electricity, which means that the battery becomes an energy source.

Batteries can usually only supply energy for a specific period of time. After this period the chemical reaction comes to an end and the batteries can no longer be used. In the case of rechargeable batteries, the chemical components are returned to their original state during the recharging process, so that the discharge can start again from the beginning .The power of a battery is expressed in amperes and the voltage is expressed in volts. The chemical composition of a battery determines its voltage and the quantity of material (the size of the battery) determines its power (expressed in Amperes). The power of a battery is important when it comes to making an appliance work. This is because a sophisticated radio uses more energy than a simple travel alarm clock. The more demanding the appliance, the more power it needs to work. This also explains why some appliances make more space for batteries than others. Several batteries working together can deliver more power.

It will be easier to understand the working of a battery if we take the example of a particular battery, for example let us take a battery with anode as zinc and cathode as manganese dioxide. When you switch on a device like a flashlight, which is the load connected between the two terminals of the battery, the electric circuit completes and electric currents in the form of electrons power the bulb. That happens because the anode

11

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

material, zinc (Zn) gives up two electrons (e-) per atom in a process called oxidation. This process leaves unstable zinc ions (Zn2+) behind. (An ion is an atom that has gained or lost electron(s) so it has a positive or negative charge.) After the electrons do their stuff and power the light bulb, they re-enter the battery at the cathode. There they combine with the active material, manganese dioxide (MnO2), in a process called reduction. Oxidation and reduction could not occur in a battery without a way to carry electrons back to the anode after they enter the cathode. Here's where the electrolyte comes in. After each electron enters the cathode, it reacts with the manganese dioxide to form MnOO-. Then the MnOO- reacts with water in the electrolyte solution. The water splits to hydroxide ions (OH-) and hydrogen ions (H+) that combine with MnOO- to form MnOOH. The hydroxide ions flow to the anode in the form of an ionic current. There, they combine with unstable zinc ions which had given up their electrons to power the light bulb. The reaction produces zinc oxide (ZnO) and water (H2O). This completes the circuit (which is necessary to have a constant flow of electricity) and powers the flashlight.

12

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

5. ULTRACAPACITORS: 5.1 ORIGIN:

The developmental path leading to today's Ultracapacitors originated in the work of Standard Oil of Ohio Research Center (SOHIO) in the early 1960s. SOHIO researchers discovered that two pieces of activated carbon immersed in an aqueous electrolyte solution and connected across the terminals of a battery acted as a capacitor. Later, SOHIO's scientists explored the use of organic electrolytes, but at the time (early 1970s) there was really no market for such devices and little understanding of what was happening in them. Nonetheless, this new type of capacitor worked very well. SOHIO licensed its double-layer capacitor technology, as it came to be known, to NEC in 1971. During the 1980s Matsushita Electric Company patented a method of manufacturing Ultracapacitors having improved electrodes. As designers became more familiar with the technology, applications proliferated, Since Sohio's initial experiments 40 years ago, the basic concept has not changed much. Coat two metal-foil electrodes with activated carbon and put a paper separator between them. Immerse the whole thing in a liquid electrolyte.

5.2 WHAT IS AN ULTRACAPACITOR?

Known for storing a short-lived jolt of electricity essential to the successful operation of electrical circuits in devices and appliances ranging from PCs to microwave ovens, cell phones, and televisions, the capacitor is in the midst of a major, ongoing upgrade of its energy storage capabilities. After nearly two centuries in which batteries have been the obvious choice for storing usable amounts of energy, high-end capacitors, known as Ultracapacitors, are poised to challenge them in a growing range of applications.

13

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

It basically exploits the three requirements for increasing the capacitance of a capacitor which are: The electrode surface area; the electrode separation distance; and the properties of the insulating layer separating the electrodes.

Now, the question is how does it do it? It is pretty simple. In order to improve the capacitance, the manufacturers have not only increased the area of the electrode but also decreased the electrode separation distance.

5.3 NEED FOR ULTRACAPACITORS:

The most common electrical energy storage device is the battery. Batteries have been the technology of choice for most applications, because they can store large amounts of energy in a relatively small volume and weight and provide suitable levels of power for many applications. Shelf and cycle life has been a problem with most types of batteries, but people have learned to tolerate this shortcoming due to the lack of an alternative. In recent times, the power requirements in a number of applications have increased markedly and have exceeded the capability of batteries of standard design. This has led to the design of special high power, pulse batteries often with the sacrifice of energy density and cycle life. Ultracapacitors are being developed as an alternative to pulse batteries. To be an attractive alternative, Ultracapacitors must have much higher power and much longer shelf and cycle life than batteries. By much we mean at least one order of magnitude higher. Ultracapacitors have much lower energy density than batteries and their low energy density is in most cases the factor that determines the feasibility of their use in a particular high power application. For Ultracapacitors, the trade-off between the energy density and the RC time constant of the device is an important design

14

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

consideration. In addition to high power capability, the other reason for considering Ultracapacitors for a particular application is their long shelf and cycle life. This is especially true of Ultracapacitors using carbon electrodes. Most secondary rechargeable batteries, if left on the shelf unused for many months will degrade markedly and be essentially useless after this time due to self-discharge and corrosion effects. Ultracapacitors will self-discharge over a period of time to low voltage, but they will retain their capacitance and thus be capable of recharge to their original condition. Experience has shown that Ultracapacitors can be unused for several years and remain in nearly their original condition.Ultracapacitors can be deep cycled at high rates discharge times of seconds for 500,0001,000,000 cycles with a relatively small change in characteristics 1020% . degradation in capacitance and resistance . This is not possible with batteries even if the depth of discharge is kept small 1020%. Hence, relative to batteries, the advantages of Ultracapacitors as pulse power devices are high power density, high efficiency, and long shelf and cycle life.

5.4 How do Ultracapacitors store energy?

The most common electrical energy storage devices are capacitors and batteries. Capacitors store energy by charge separation. The simplest capacitors store the energy in a thin layer of dielectric material that is supported by metal plates that act as the terminals for the device. The energy stored in a capacitor is given by U = CV2/2 Where C is its capacitance Farads and V is the voltage between the terminal plates. The maximum voltage of the capacitor is dependent on the breakdown characteristics of the dielectric material. The charge Q coulombs stored in the capacitor is given by CV. The capacitance of the dielectric capacitor depends on the dielectric constant K and the thickness th of the dielectric material and its geometric area A .

15

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

In a battery, energy is stored in chemical form as active material in its electrodes. Energy is released in electrical form by connecting a load across the terminals of the battery permitting the electrode materials to react electrochemically with the ions required in the reactions to be transferred through the electrolyte in which the electrodes are immersed. The useable energy stored in the battery is given as VQ, where V is the voltage of the cell and Q is the electrical charge It transferred to the load during the chemical reaction. The voltage is dependent on the active materials chemical couple of the battery and is close to the open-circuit voltage V for those materials. An Ultracapacitor, sometimes referred to as an electrochemical capacitor, is an electrical energy storage device that is constructed much like a battery see Fig. 1 in that it as two electrodes immersed in an electrolyte with a separator between the electrodes. The electrodes are fabricated from high surface area, porous material having pores of diameter in the nanometer nm range. The surface area of the electrode materials used in Ultracapacitors is much greater than that used in battery electrodes being 5002000 m2/g.

Attach wires from the terminals of a battery to the two metal foils, and electrons immediately start accumulating in the carbon coated on the foil attached to the battery's negative terminal .Those electrons, in turn, attract positive ions from the electrolyte into the pores of the carbon on that foil. In the other electrode, meanwhile, positive charges accumulate, attracting negative ions from the electrolyte into the pores of the carbon. Both kinds of ions migrate freely through the paper separator that prevents the electrodes from touching each other and conducting current. Notice that this so-called capacitor is actually a pair of capacitors in series with each other. At each electrode, there is a separation of chargeselectrons and positive ions at the negative electrode, and positive charges and negative ions at the positive electrode. So at each electrode there are two layers of charge, which is why Ultracapacitors are also known as electric double-layer capacitors. The activated carbon's huge surface area comes from the great porosity of its microscopic nodules. It enables the positive and the negative ions migrating through the electrolyte to

16

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

find plenty of nooks and crannies to occupy as they insinuate themselves as closely as possible into the oppositely charged carriers inside the carbon. Basically, as an electrode material, the activated carbon provides exactly the characteristics you want for high capacitance: vast surface area and the opportunity for the oppositely charged carriers to get atomically close to each other. The surface area of the carbon varies, but 1500 square meters per gram is not unusual. So for typical electrodes weighing 250 grams, the total area would be 375 000 square meters or roughly 50 soccer fields.

Figure 5.1: The internal architecture of an Ultra capacitor

An ultra capacitor depends on highly porous carbon. The carbon becomes electrically charged when connected to a battery. The carbon then attracts oppositely charged ions from the electrolyte solution. The ions move through the paper separator if necessary to get to the appropriately charged carbon, and they insinuate themselves into the porous material's many nooks and crannies. The arrangement provides the two features needed for high capacitance: electrodes with huge surface areas, and charges separated by very small distances

17

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

Charge is stored in the micro pores at or near the interface between the solid electrode material and the electrolyte. The charge and energy stored are given by the same expressions as cited previously for the simple dielectric capacitor. However, calculation of the capacitance of the ultra capacitor is much more difficult as it depends on complex phenomena occurring in the micro pores of the electrode. It is convenient to discuss the mechanisms for energy storage in Ultracapacitors in terms of double-layer and pseudocapacitance separately. 6. ELECTRIC DOUBLE LAYER: When two carbon rods are immersed in a thin sulfuric acid solution, separated each other and applied a slowly raising voltage from zero toward 1.5 volts, almost nothing happens up to 1 V, then at a little over 1.2 V, small bubbles would appear on the surface of the both electrodes. By raising voltage more, you should get vigorous generation of bubbles. Those bubbles at the voltage above 1 V indicate electrical decomposition of water.

18

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

FIGURE 6.1: Principle of electric double layer capacitor

Below the decomposition voltage, while the current does not flow, there an "electric double layer" does occur at the boundary of electrode and electrolyte. The electrons are charged across the double layer and form a capacitor. When bubbles are coming up at voltages above 1 V, this indicates the capacitor is breaking down by over-voltage causing decomposition of the electrolyte. EDLCs using water-soluble or aqueous electrolytes can be used at a withstanding voltage of about 1 V.

Why is this called a "double layer"? Every morning at rush hour, at the doors of commuting trains in Tokyo, one layer of passengers who can't move at all is pushed against the glass of the train doors. You can see this by watching from outside. Behind them is a second layer where people can move around a little, and can move more easily to get off the train. Similar to this analogy of door glass and passengers, one layer of electrolyte molecules and second layer of diffusion were detected and named electric double layer by Helmhortz in 1879.

Electrical double layer works as an insulator only below the decomposing voltage. When the usable voltage is V and the capacity C then the stored energy U will be U = CV2/2 Hence, the higher rated voltage V is desirable for larger energy density capacitors. Up to now, capacitor rated voltage with an aqueous electrolyte is about 0.9V per cell and with non-aqueous electrolyte is 2.3 to 3.3 V for each cell. Figure 1 illustrates the structure of a typical EDLC. Energy is stored in the double-layer capacitor as charge separation in the double-layer formed at the interface between the solid electrode material surface and the liquid electrolyte in the micro pores of the electrodes. A schematic of an Ultracapacitor is

19

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

shown in Fig. 6.2. The ions displaced in forming the double-layers in the pores are transferred between the electrodes by diffusion through the electrolyte. The energy and charge stored in the electrochemical capacitor are CV2 and CV, respectively. The capacitance is dependent primarily on the characteristics of the electrode material surface area and pore size distribution.

Figure 6.2: Schematic of a double layer ultra capacitor

20

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

7. Structure of electrode:
Activated carbons are famous for their surface areas of 1000 to 3000m 2/g. How could it be possible to accommodate such a large area within one gram of carbon? Figure 7.1 shows an observation with a TEM (Transmission Electron Microscope) magnified to 2,000,000 times using phase-contrast method. In the upper photo, each black line identifies a graphite layer with the space between two adjacent lines measuring 0.34 nano-meters. After activation as shown in the lower picture, the space has swollen to make the surface area for double layer.

Figure 7.1: Pores before and after activation with carbon black

To those surface, ions are "adsorbed" and results; (uF stands for micro-farad) 1000m2/g * 5F/cm2 * 10000 = 50F/g

21

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

Assuming the same weight of electrolyte is added, 25F/g is a quite a large capacity density. However, by covering 1000m2 with an insulator, or equivalently setting 10,000,000 cells of 5F capacitors in parallel, are they safe and reliable enough against ruptures or pinholes? It would be impossible if it were a man-made insulation layer, but an electric double layer is generated inherently and completely uncontrollably. The double layer will never break as long as the voltage stays within the rated value.

8. ULTRACAPACITORS V/S BATTERY: Ultracapacitors store energy in electrostatic form, unlike batteries, which use electrochemical processes. Ultracapacitors have ratings that can reach thousands of farads. They don't approach the volumetric energy density of batteries, but they can deliver much more instantaneous power than a battery can provide. What's more, you can charge an Ultracapacitor much faster than you can charge a battery, and the capacitor is amenable to many more charge/discharge cycles than a battery can accommodate without degradation. An Ultracapacitor is environmentally safe; it uses no toxic materials, such as the lead and sulphuric acid you find in a lead-acid.

In general, for a particular set of materials, a sacrifice in energy density is required to get a large reduction in the time constant and thus a large increase in power capability. Efficiency power density for the Ultracapacitors with the matched impedance power density for the batteries as is often done. The power capability of both types of device is primarily dependent on their resistance and knowledge of the resistance is key to determining the peak useable power capability. Hence, measurement of the resistance of

22

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

a device in the pulsed mode of operation is critical to an evaluation of its high power capability.

Voltage(v) Ultracapacitor device Maxwell Ultracapacitors 2700 f 1000 f Panasonic 800 f 2000 f Batteries Panasonic NiHD Ovonic NiHD 3 3 12 13.2 3 3

Ah

Resistance

Wh/Kg Power

2.25 .5 .83 1.5

4 3.1

5294 3846

.67

2.0

3.1 4.4 46 46

3505 1128 240 245

1.67 3.5 98 88 8.7 10.6

Table 8.1: Comparison between Ultracapacitors and batteries

An Ultracapacitor is different than a battery, and depending on the application, may be a better solution. Often, a combination of the two is the best approach, combining the excellent power performance of the Ultracapacitor with the greater energy storage of a

23

Ultracapacitors battery.

Electronics and Communication

An Ultracapacitor can be charged to any voltage within its voltage rating, and can be stored totally discharged. Proper system sizing includes accounting for a capacitor's voltage change as it is charged and discharged. A battery operates within a very narrow voltage range, determined by its chemical reactions, and can be permanently damaged if over-discharged. State of charge of an Ultracapacitor is simply a function of voltage. State of charge of a battery involves multiple dynamic calculations. An Ultracapacitor stores much more energy than a conventional capacitor of similar size. A battery will store much more energy than the same size Ultracapacitor. In applications where power determines the size of the energy storage device, an Ultracapacitor may be a better solution. The Ultracapacitor is able to deliver frequent pulses of energy without any detrimental effects. Many batteries experience reduced life if exposed to frequent high power pulses. An Ultracapacitor can be charged extremely quickly. Many batteries are damaged by fast charging. An Ultracapacitor can be cycled hundreds of thousands of times. Batteries are capable of only a few hundred cycles.

9. Ultracapacitors v/s Capacitors

Capacitors store energy in the form of separated electrical charge. The greater the area for storing charge, and the closer the separated charges, the greater the capacitance. A conventional capacitor gets its area from plates of a flat, conductive material. To achieve high capacitance, this material can be wound in great lengths, and can sometimes have a texture imprinted on it to increase its surface area. A conventional capacitor separates its charged plates with a dielectric material, sometimes a plastic or paper film, or a ceramic. These dielectrics can be made only as thin as the available films or applied materials. 24

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

An Ultracapacitor gets its area from a porous carbon-based electrode material. The porous structure of this material allows its surface area to approach 2000 square meters per gram, much greater than can be accomplished using flat or textured films and plates. An ultra capacitors charge separation distance is determined by the size of the ions in the electrolyte, which are attracted to the charged electrode. This charge separation (less than 10 angstroms) is much smaller than can be accomplished using conventional dielectric materials. The combination of enormous surface area and extremely small charge separation gives the Ultracapacitor its outstanding capacitance relative to conventional Parameters Discharge time Charge time Energy density Wh/kg Power density Electrostatic Capacitor 106-103 sec 106-103 sec <.1 >10,000 Ultra Capacitor 1-30 sec 1-30 sec 1-10 1000-2000 .9-.95 >500,000 Battery .3-3 hrs 1-5 hrs 20-100 50-200 .7-.85 500-2000

W/kg Charge/discharge efficiency 1 Cycle life Infinite

Table 9.1: Comparison of various parameters of the three energy sources

25

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

Figure 9.1: Energy storage system comparisons

10. APPLICATION OF ULTRACAPACITORS:

Many applications can benefit from the use of Ultracapacitors, from those requiring short power pulses, to those requiring low-power support of critical memory systems.Ultracapacitors are excellent solutions in a number of system configurations when used alone, or combined with other energy sources. Examples of applications include: - Quick-charge applications which can be charged in seconds and then discharged over a few minutes. (Power tools and toys are two examples) - Short-term support for un-interruptible power systems, where the Ultracapacitor provides the power for short outages or as a bridge to a generator set or other continuous backup power supply. Ultracapacitors are now establishing themselves in niches demanding a power source that can recharge quickly, be sealed into a system that has to last for years, or put out prodigious amounts of power in short bursts. Tokyo-based Ricoh Co. is using them in

26

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

copier machines to store the energy needed to warm up the machines quickly, minimizing time spent in the energy-wasting standby mode. Makers of high-end car stereo amplifiers are using Ultracapacitors to deliver the surges of power demanded by musical crescendos, without straining the vehicle's battery. Another use is in solar tiles; a new twist in landscape architecture, they're used to guide pedestrians at night, by storing solar-generated electricity during the day and using it to power a small light-emitting diode panel after dark .Sealed into a walkway, wall, or staircase, these clear, rugged tiles have to last for a decade or more, working without fail night after night, withstanding subfreezing and sweltering temperatures alikecriteria only Ultracapacitors can fulfill. And then there are cars. The hybrid-electric vehicle, in its various forms, is poised for an increasing share of the automotive market in several parts of the world, including the United States. And Ultracapacitors have already found their way into hybrids, albeit in a minor role: hardly noticed among the Toyota Prius's many celebrated technical breakthroughs is the fact that it uses Ultracapacitors, from Panasonic, to power an electric-hydraulic pump in the mechanical braking system. It's just the start of what some experts say ultra-capacitors will do for hybrids. For example, with their lightning-fast charge and discharge capability, Ultracapacitors could handle the power surges needed for accelerating, allowing engineers to use a smaller battery pack in the vehicle (and eventually, perhaps, no battery pack at all). Shielded from high-current pulses, the batteries would last longer, too. There are other intriguing possibilities, such as using the devices to give more or less ordinary cars "stop-and-go" operation, in which the gasoline engine is extinguished at stops and started instantly when the brake pedal is released. Ultracapacitors and a powerful starter motor would instantly jolt the engine back to life. Such vehicles would also make use of regenerative braking, converting into electricity the kinetic energy otherwise thrown off as heat in the brakes and storing that electricity in the Ultracapacitors. 27

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

Regenerative Braking:
When you hit the brakes, the car's kinetic energy is converted to heat through friction throwing away the energy that was previously used to accelerate the car. In city driving, about 30 percent of a typical car's engine output is lost to braking. This proportion drops to almost zero in highway driving, where braking is much less frequent. Have you ever followed a large truck down a long hill and smelled the acrid smoke from overheated brakes? The heat that causes parts of a truck's brake system to melt and create smoke comes from friction. Traditional brake systems grip metal disks or drums, using friction to slow or stop the rotating wheels of a vehicle. The friction of the brakes resists the forward momentum of the whole vehicle, and that friction creates heat. In order for something to heat up it takes energy. The energy that heats up a truck's brake system comes from its momentum, speed, and mass. Where does a truck's momentum come from? It comes from fuel. Traditional brake systems, like those on large trucks, waste energy by converting forward momentum into heat. One of the energy efficiency advantages of hybrid-electric technology over traditional drivetrains is regenerative braking. A hybrid-electric vehicle uses an electric motor to create torque to drive its wheels. Interestingly, electric motors can be designed to be virtually identical to electric generators. This means an electric motor can either use electricity to create torque, or reverse the process to use torque to create electricity. This "reversibility" of electric motors is very different from the internal combustion motors in most cars. Can you imagine turning the wheels of a typical car backwards and having gasoline pour into the tank? Essentially this is what happens when you put your

28

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

foot on the brake of a Toyota Prius or Honda Insight hybrid-electric vehicle. When a hybrid-electric vehicle is approaching a stop light, it does not create friction and useless heat in order to slow down. Instead it reverses its electric motor turning it into an electric generator, creating electricity which is fed back into a battery and stored for when the light turns green. In fact any time a hybrid-electric vehicle slows down, lifting the accelerator or application of the "brake" causes the system to use the vehicle's momentum to generate electricity.

11. DISADVANTAGES AND HURDLES:

Ultracapacitor researchers are mainly interested in two things: electrolytes and carbon. In virtually all high-performance Ultracapacitors, the electrolyte is acetonitrile. It's great stuff, in the one way that really matters: it has terrifically low ionic resistance, roughly 15 ohm-centimeters, and that means high power density. But when acetonitrile burns, it can release cyanide, a fact that makes automakers unhappy. "Everybody's looking for a replacement for acetonitrile," says Burke at UC Davis. Several organic compounds, notably propylene carbonate, show promise, but none at the moment has ionic resistance as low as acetonitrile. (Honda used propylene carbonate in its own Ultracapacitors, in the FCX fuel-cell cars.) Still, it is the carbon challenge that most consumes Ultracapacitor researchers now, because it is the key to the two main goals: getting costs down and improving the energy (as opposed to power) density. In a typical Ultracapacitor, the electrode materialsthe carbons, essentiallyaccount for more than half the cost of the device. It all comes down to pores. You want pores that are all about 20 to 30 angstroms in diameter. Pores that are smaller than that aren't big enough to allow the ions to move in

29

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

and out freely, which hurts performance. Lots of big pores, on the other hand, mean that the overall surface area is less than it should be which also limits performance. Ultracapacitor makers are working with two main types of carbon, phenyl-resin based and pitch based. Phenyl-resin carbons perform better and are the standard now. But the attraction of pitch-based carbons, which are derived from coke and are used in asphalt, is their low costabout one-fifth to one-tenth that of phenyl-resin carbons. The problem is that it's harder to control the pore-size distributions in the pitch-based carbons, so they wind up with poorer characteristics. Their capacitance is usually about 30 percent less than that of the phenyl-resin-carbon devices, he explains. That means that 30 percent more material must be used, which, of course, detracts from the cost savings and makes the finished devices larger. Meanwhile there has been a lot of research done on the nanotubes front. At MIT's electromagnetic laboratory, Schindall and lab director John Kassakian, with Ph.D. student Riccardo Signorelli, are leading a project to investigate the use of carbon nano-tubes, the latest miracle material, in electrodes. They are creating materials in which the nanotubes grow out perpendicularly from a substrate, like hair on a piece of scalp. The nanotubes would become electrically charged, just as the activated carbon does, so they would attract oppositely charged ions in the electrolyte. The nanotubes would also be spaced so as to hold these ions, much as a sea anemone grips small sea creatures in its tentacles. The advantage is that this arrangement can in theory trap many more ions than even the pores of activated carbonenough perhaps to raise the energy density of an Ultracapacitor 100-fold, Schindall estimates. So far, he and Signorelli have demonstrated technology that can grow the right kind of nanotubes and space them appropriately. By next summer, they hope to grow a patch of electrode big enough to test in an electrolyte, in order to assess its capacitance characteristics. If it works as well as their studies suggest, and if it can be easily manufacturedtwo big ifsthe dream of a near-ideal energy storage device will be that much closer to realization.

30

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

12. CONCLUSION:

31

Ultracapacitors

Electronics and Communication

13. REFERENCES:

1. DATELINE LOSALAMOS, U S Department Of Energy, University Of California, June/July Issue 1999. 2. Ultra capacitors: Why,How,and Where is the Technology, by Andrew Burke, Year 2000,University of California, Davis 3. Super Charged by Glenn Zorpette, January 2005 issue, Spectrum, IEEE Publication. 4. www.maxwell.com/ultracapacitors/index.html 5. www.nesscap.com/prod/prod.html 6. www.worldandi.com

32