10th International Symposium Topical Problems in the Field of Electrical and Power Engineering Prnu, Estonia, January 10-15,

2011

Capacitance balancing for supercapacitive energy storage system

Ugis Sirmelis, Linards Grigans Riga Technical University; Institute of Physical Energetics usirmelis@inbox.lv, linardsgrigans@gmail.com

Abstract
In this paper capacitance balancing is proposed as an efficient method to decrease cell voltage disbalance and increase effective energy capacity of supercapacitor bank. Efficiency of the method is demonstrated theoretically and verified experimentally using 8 supercapacitor cells.

In this work it is proposed to eliminate voltage difference by capacitance balancing. By measuring SCs capacitances, modules of two capacitors connected in parallel are matched in a way to minimize capacitance dispersion of these modules. Connection of these modules in series reduces voltage disbalance significantly. The capacitance balancing method is theoretically analyzed for onboard ESS application example. Also efficiency of the method is verified experimentally using 8 SC cells.

Keywords
Energy storage, supercapacitor, voltage balancing, capacitance measurement

1 Theoretical analysis
To study voltage disbalance an example for tram onboard ESS with 2x180 3000 F SCs proposed in [2] is chosen. For theoretical analysis it is necessary to know SCs capacitance distribution. Maxwell for their BCAP3000 capacitors gives only capacitance tolerance -0%/+20%, however, distribution function is not provided. According to manufacturer research [5], SC capacitances for BCAP0008 (1800 F, 20%) are normally distributed with standard deviation = 1% of mean ( = 1920 F) value. Therefore, we assume that capacitances of BCAP3000 are also normally distributed ( = 2%, = 3300 F). For analysis of voltage disbalance effect on ESS energy capacity, 360 capacitance values shown in Fig. 1 are generated using Matlab randn function. The actual distribution mean value = 3304 F and standard deviation = 2.05 % is obtained.
7 6 Number of supercapacitors 5 4 3 2 1 0 3000 3100 3200 3300 3400 Capacitance, F 3500 3600 A B

Introduction
Application of supercapacitors (SC) in recent years has become widespread. Due to excellent power capability and extremely high cycle life SCs are used in variety of industries, e.g., in consumer electronics, in uninterruptible power supply devices, in electric transport to store braking energy and battery assist, in solar and wind stations as energy storage component etc. [1]. SCs are low voltage devices with the typical maximum voltage 2.7 V. Therefore, to meet the requirements of higher voltage applications, SCs must be connected in series. For example, an onboard energy storage system (ESS) in tram T3A may contain a supercapacitor bank of two parallel branches, each consisting of 180 series connected SCs [2]. However, charging and discharging SCs connected in series leads to unequal voltages across individual cells due to different SCs capacitance values. According to manufacturer product datasheet SC charge until 2.5 V ensures prolonged lifetime in comparison to 2.7 V. Charging SC series connection, the smallest capacitor will reach first the 2.5 V threshold. If then charging is terminated, the energy capacity of other cells is not effectively utilized [1, 3]. For entire utilization of ESS energy capacity it is necessary to eliminate voltage disbalance by applying measures, which allow all SCs to be charged to 2.5 V. In literature and in practice this problem is solved using passive or active voltage balancing methods, however, the main disadvantage of these methods are cost and additional energy losses [4]. 38

Fig. 1. A theoretical capacitance dispersion curve, B randomly generated 360 capacitance values

Theoretical energy capacity of all these SCs can be calculated using Eq. (1) and is 1.03 kWh.

Cn Vmax 2 , 2 n =1 where Cn capacitance value of n-th SC; WESS =

360

(1)

Cmin 2C1 < 1 , effective energy capacity of 1st and Cmin1C2 2nd branch is calculated as: C V 2 180 C W2 = min 2 max min 2 , (6) 2 n =1 Cn
If

Vmax maximum SC voltage (2.5 V).

To match application power and energy requirements, SC bank can be arranged either in series/parallel (Fig. 2, a) or parallel/series (Fig. 2, b).

W1 =

W2 C2 . C1

(7)

To evaluate SCs arrangement influence on effective energy capacity of SC bank, 360 SCs of Fig. 1 were randomly arranged in two branches 100,000 times. Results show that energy capacity varies from 0.905 kWh to 0.925 kWh.
2.5 x 10
4

2 Number of occurences

Fig. 2. Supercapacitor bank arrangement in series/parallel (a), parallel/series (b) 1.1 Series/parallel supercapacitor arrangement Previously generated 360 capacitances are randomly arranged into two parallel strings of 180 SCs in each as in Fig. 2, a. Resulting capacitances of these capacitor strings are 18.346 F and 18.348 F, which means that currents in both strings will be practically equal. Thus, effective energy capacity of SC bank can be calculated as:

1.5

0.5

0 0.88

0.9

0.92 0.94 Energy capacity, kWh

0.96

0.98

WESS =
where

CminVmax 2 360 Cmin , 2 n =1 Cn

Fig. 3. SCs arrangement influence on effective energy capacity of SC bank in series/parallel connection 1.2 Parallel/series supercapacitor arrangement Arranging SCs in parallel/series connection as shown in Fig. 2, b, reduces series connected capacitance dispersion [3]. Theoretically standard deviation of these capacitances in comparison to standard deviation of individual cell capacitances is reduced by 2 . Randomly pairing individual SC capacitances, we obtained capacitance values as shown in Fig. 4.
4.5 4 3.5 Number of supercapacitors 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 -0.5 6000 6200 6400 6600 6800 Capacitance, F 7000 7200 A B

(2)

Cmin smallest capacitance connected in series.

In this case the energy capacity is 0.92 kWh, which is 89% of theoretical maximum. If capacitances of both branches are not equal, then we have to calculate energy capacity of each branch, to obtain total effective energy capacity of SC bank. That in which branch smallest capacitance will first reach 2.5 V results from: C C Vmax1 = Vmax 2 min 2 1 , (3) Cmin1C2 where,

Cmin1 , Cmin 2 smallest capacitances of each branch; C1 , C2 total capacitances of each branch.

C C If min 2 1 > 1 , effective energy capacity of 1st and Cmin1C2 nd 2 branch is calculated as: C V 2 180 C W1 = min1 max min1 , (4) 2 n =1 Cn WC W2 = 1 2 . C1
(5)

Fig. 4. A theoretical capacitance dispersion, B random realization of capacitance pairing The actual = 6608 F and = 1.5% is obtained. Energy capacity for such capacitance distribution is 0.94 kWh. 39

For 100,000 random parallel/series arrangements effective energy capacity of SC bank is as shown in Fig. 5. The energy capacity varies from 0.915 kWh to 0.985 kWh.
6000

2 Experimental results
For practical application of capacitance balancing method it is important to know capacitance of each SC. Therefore, capacitance measurement of 8 SCs is performed and obtained results are used for capacitance balancing demonstration. 2.1 Capacitance measurement Capacitance measurement was performed using constant current 100 A charge-discharge test bench (Fig. 7).

5000 Number of occurences

4000

3000

2000

1000

0 0.9

0.92

0.94 0.96 Energy capacity, kWh

0.98

Fig. 5. SCs arrangement influence on energy capacity of SC bank in parallel/seriesl connection 1.3 Capacitance balancing Parallel/series connection on average gives larger effective energy capacity if compared to series/parallel connection. However, lower energy capacity may also occur. Therefore, to maximize effective energy capacity it is necessary to find optimal combination of SCs arrangement. According to Eq. (2), larger energy capacity is obtained if series connected capacitances are equal. Simple way to achieve best arrangement in most cases is by pairing largest SC with smallest, second largest with second smallest and so on. If SCs capacitances in SC bank were symmetrically distributed, then it would be possible to pair SCs in a way that series connected modules capacitances were equal and the total effective energy capacity would be 100%. In Fig. 6 series/parallel, parallel/series and capacitance balancing method is compared. It is obvious that capacitance balancing method gives significantly better results. If series/parallel average effective energy capacity is 89% and 92% for parallel/series connection then capacitance balancing method gives 99%.
2.5 x 10
4

Fig. 7. 100A constant current SC charge/discharge test bench (1. 100A current source;2. SCs; 3. SC voltage indicator; 4. current indicator;5. constant current discharger power circuit and controller; 6. load resistor; 7. USB-4716 16-bit ADC; 8. laptop with WaveScan 2.0 data logging software). We charged SCs from approx. 1.25 V to 2.5 V with 100 A 4 times (Fig. 8).
2.8 2.6 2.4 2.2 Voltage, V 2 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0 100 200 300 Time, s 400 500 600

Fig. 8. SC cycling with 100 A

series/parallel parallel/series balanced capacitances theoretical maximum

2 Number of occurences

1.5

0.5

0 0.9

0.92

0.94

0.96 0.98 1 Energy capacity, kWh

1.02

1.04

Fig. 6. Comparison of series/parallel, parallel/series and capacitance balancing method 40

As we can see voltage is not rising linearly, which shows that SC capacitance is voltage dependent. Using Eq. (9), SC dynamic capacitance can be calculated at different voltages. I t C= (9) V In Fig. 9 changes in dynamic capacitance of one SC during four charge/discharge cycles are shown. We can see that dynamic capacitance curves for charging and discharging are not the same. These curves cross at about 2.1 V. Capacitance at this voltage is chosen for capacitance balancing, because at this point charging and discharging dynamic capacitance values are equal.

3400 3300 3200 Capacitance, F 3100 3000 2900 2800 2700 2600 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 Voltage, V 2.2 2.4

The arrangements that give the best effective energy capacity are shown in Table 2. Table 1. Balanced capacitances Arrangement 1.+8. 1.+8. 2.+5. 2.+6. 3.+6. 3.+5. 4.+7. 4.+7. Capacitance (F) 6150 6200 6150 6170

After pairing, the maximum capacitance difference is reduced to 50 F.

Fig. 9. Dynamic capacitance of one SC cell The measured capacitances at 2.1 V are summarized in Table 1. We can see that maximum capacitance difference is 210 F. Table 1. SCs capacitance measured at 2.1 V SC number 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Capacitance (F) 3075 3000 3000 2990 3200 3150 3180 3075

Conclusions
Theoretical and experimental results show that capacitance balancing in parallel/series connection significantly improves effective energy capacity of SC bank. Capacitance balancing method requires capacitance measurement. As SC capacitance depends on various factors, measurement must be performed at identical conditions. Due to the degradation of SCs capacitance in operation life, to evaluate the efficiency of the capacitance balancing method, long-term experience with large number of SCs is needed.

Acknowledgement
The paper is supported by the European Social Fund Project Scientific Group Supporting Latvian Activities of the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan No. 1DP/1.1.1.2.0/09/APIA/VIAA/027

2.2 Capacitance pairing Eight SCs can be arranged into 4 pairs according to Eq. (10) in 105 different ways. n! , (10) N= n n 2 2 ! 2 where n number of SCs (n=8). Calculation results of energy capacity of all 105 arrangements are shown in Fig. 10.
100 Energy capacity of total SC capacity, %

References
1. Product Guide BOOSTCAP Ultracapacitors Doc. No. 1014627.1, Maxwell Technologies, Inc., 2009, pp. 54. 2. L. Latkovskis and V. Brais, Simulation of the regenerative energy storage with supercapacitors in tatra T3A type trams, Computer Modeling and Simulation, UKSIM 2008, pp. 398403. 3. P. Barrade, Series Connection of Supercapacitors: Comparative Study of Solutions for the Active equalization of the Voltages, Electrimacs 2002, 7th International Conference on Modeling and Simulation of Electric Machines, Converters and Systems, vol. 2, Aug. 2002, p. 4. 4. D. Linzen, S. Buller, E. Karden, and R.W. De Doncker, Analysis and evaluation of charge-balancing circuits on performance, reliability, and lifetime of supercapacitor systems, Industry Applications, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 41, 2005, pp. 11351141. 5. A. Schneuwly et. al. Boostcap Double-Layer Capacitors for Peak Power Automotive Applications, Procedings of the 2nd AABC Conference, Las Vegas (USA), 2002.

99

98

97

96

95

94 0

20

40 60 Combination number

80

100

Fig. 10. Eight SCs effective energy capacity in different parallel/series arrangements

41