Implementation of supercapacitors in uninterruptible power supplies

Andrew Stepanov, Ilja Galkin, Lauris Bisenieks

RIGA TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY
Institute of Industrial Electronics and Electrical Engineering
Kronvalda boulevard 1-324
Riga, Latvia
Tel.: +371 67089918.
Fax: +371 67089941.
E-Mail: astepanov@eef.rtu.lv, gia@eef.rtu.lv, bisenieks@eef.rtu.lv

Keywords
Supercapacitor, Uninterruptible power supply, Switched-mode power supply

Abstract
The given paper deals with uninterruptible power supplies with supercapacitors. Parameters of the
supercapacitors and common lead-acid batteries are compared. Various opportunities of
supercapacitor implementation into the uninterruptible power supplies are discussed, pros and cons are
analyzed. Initial numerical comparison of energy capacity for these devices is done. Experimental
testing of the supercapacitors and batteries as energy sources for a boost converter has also been made.

Introduction
We live in the time when electricity is integral part of our life, but energy faults are still possible. That
is why important objects are connected to the supply grid via two independent transformers. Such
objects have also an emergency diesel-generator. It ensures reconnection of energy sources, but does
not protect against voltage drops during the switching. Besides that there are others energy problems,
like harmonics, overvoltage which cannot be overcome by just double feeding.
The solution is in feeding the critical equipment through an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). Its
safety depends on its type: off-line, line-interactive or on-line UPS, but the best of them is On-line
UPS. Operation time of UPS depends on the capacity of UPS energy storage, but the power of it
depends on capability of the energy storage to give high current. Therefore the choice of the storage is
an important part of the design procedure of UPS. This is the main topic of the paper.

Batteries
In the majority of cases, lead-acid batteries (LAB) are utilized in UPS as energy storages. Amount of
returned energy of LAB depends on its discharge current (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Discharge characteristics of a LAB

If discharge current is 0,05C the battery discharge time is 20 hours and battery gives back 100 percents
of the stored energy. At 2C the battery discharge time is 15 minutes and efficiency is about 50
percents. At bigger discharge currents this value is even less. In uninterruptible power supplies
discharge current is above 4-6 C and therefore batteries discharge time is often about 3-5 minutes, but
the efficiency is about 30 percents. The phenomenon takes place because of chemical processes in the
battery. The higher current leads to the higher crystallization of the electrodes that limits a contact
surface of the electrode and electrolyte.
Battery life is also affected by discharge depth (Fig. 2). The deeper discharge, the fewer chargedischarge cycles can be done.

Fig. 2. Lifetime versus depth of discharge

In order to let a battery accumulate maximum of its capacity, it is necessary to charge it correctly. One
possible method is shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3. Charging current of a LAB

There are many methods of charging the battery, but all of them prevents battery overheating at the
beginning and its overcharging at the end. A fast charging method lasting 4 - 6 hours is often used in
UPS, but this method is not good for battery. Taking into consideration battery characteristic it is
obvious that battery life in UPS is not long.

Supercapacitor
As soon as capacitors of super-value appeared on the market it became possible to use them not only
as conversion elements, but also as energy storages. Brief comparison of supercapacitors (SCs) and
batteries is given in the table I:

Table I: Comparison of supercapacitors and lead-acid batteries as energy sources

Supercapacitor
Lead-acid battery
High power density 1-14 kW/kg
++ Low power density 200-400 W/kg
Low energy density 2-10 W*h/kg (*)
High energy density 40-60 W*h/kg
+
High price
Low price
++
Long cycle life 10k 1000k cycles
++ Short cycle life 300-1200 cycles
Long shelf life more then 10 years
+
Shelf life 3-7 years
High efficiency of cycles
+
Low efficiency of cycles
Low internal resistance
+
Environment safety
+
Environment dangerous
Fast self-discharge
Low self-discharge
+
No maintenance
+
No maintenance if sealed lead-acid battery
Easy to control stored energy (E=0.5U2C) +
Easy to charge
+
Voltage depends on a degree of charge
-

Implementation of supercapacitors in UPS

There are few topologies of UPS that are different in prices and in quality of the output voltage. They
also affect utilization of SCs. High price of SCs makes unreasonable choice of low price UPS
topology. That is why on-line topology for SCs based UPS was chosen. It validates advantages of the
SCs.
On-line UPS topology is shown in Fig. 4. It shows that a SC can be built-in in two places. Directly to
the DC bus (position A in Fig. 4) and through the DC/DC converter (position C in Fig. 4). Combining
these methods gives several possible UPS topologies with various properties. We will consider some
of them.

Fig. 4. Topology of on-line UPS

1) Sole SC is directly connected to DC bus (position A in Fig. 4). Since DC bus has high voltage, but
voltage of SC is 1.5-3V, it is necessary to connect 200-300 SCs in series. It leads to unbalanced
voltage distribution and underutilization of energy density of some SCs. Also SC can source only a
small part of the stored energy, because low DC-link voltages do not ensure peak value on the output.
UPS with discharged SC is consumes huge starting current.
2) SC is directly connected to DC bus and battery connected through the DC/DC converter (A and B
in Fig. 4). Characteristics of such connection method are similar to those of the first configuration.
Advantage of the battery usage is its higher energy density. UPS with batteries delivers the same
energy, but is smaller in size and weight.
3) Replace battery with SC (C in Fig. 4). Advantages of this method are: high power of UPS, faster
charge and easy service. Comparing with the first circuit there is a possibility to limit the charge
current and, hence, the starting current. The SC battery of high voltage is not required and almost

complete energy utilization is possible. Power of such UPS can be about ten times higher than power
of battery UPS of the same weight (due to higher power density of SCs which is about 10 kW/kg,
whereas the same batteries is 200-400 W/kg). Lifetime of SC can be more then 10 years and SC can
perform over one million discharge-recharge cycles, whereas the batteries only 1000 cycles. Since the
charge time of SC is short, UPS can be ready for mains disconnection in about 10 minutes, whereas
UPS with batteries in 4-6 hours.
4) Connect SC parallel to battery (position B and 2B in Fig. 4). This is not good connection, because it
is not possible to use all the energy stored in SC. This energy depends on common voltage, but the
voltage cannot fall lower than the minimal value in order keep the battery undamaged. However, large
power in short-term can be supplied.
5) Connect SC and battery through different DC/DC converters (position B and C in Fig. 4). This type
of connection is similar to the fourth case, due to the, that the SC is connected through the second
DC/DC converter UPS disappears disadvantages that have fourth connection method. There is a
possibility to charge and discharge the battery and SC independently and accordingly to use SC more
efficiently.

Estimation of the energy capacity

Lets take a look at the emergency power system including UPS as well as a diesel-generator. UPS
must give power as long as diesel-generator starts operate (5-15 seconds). In such system 100kW UPS
is to use 250-500 kg lead-acid battery or 20-100 kg SC. Such mass allows 33 pieces of 55Ah-12V
lead-acid batteries. If they were series connected we would get 396V battery. Then its discharge
current:

I=

P 100000
=
= 252.52 A
396
U

(1)

Since it is 4,5C the time is about 4 -5 min. (Fig. 1). If 50 kg of SCs are used, we get 2 MJ (using
energy density from [4]). Since UPS electronics cannot take energy at low voltage (30% of rated) then
utilized energy is smaller:
E0 E f
E0

100% =

0.5CV02 0.5CV f2
0.5CV02

1002 302
= 91%
1002

(2)

Where Eo stored energy, Eo-Ef delivered energy, Vo initial voltage, Vf final voltage, C
capacity.
It means that discharge time will be:
t=

k E 0.91 2000000
=
= 18.2 s
100000
P

(3)

Where E stored energy, P power of UPS, k coefficient of used energy.

For diesel-generator it is enough to begin operating at nominal power.

Testing the batteries and supercapacitors in UPS

In order to compare their effect on the supplied energy the supercapacitors and batteries were installed
in an on-line UPS. In on-line UPS, with the half-bridge topology of rectifier and inverter, voltage of
DC-bus is 700-800V. In this case voltage of the energy storage must not be smaller than 70V.
However, due to the limited laboratory facilities of the research institution, experiments were made
with reduced system. The input voltage of the boost converter was reduced to 14V and it was ensured
by a 14V supercapacitor stack and 12V lead-acid battery. Besides that, only boost part of the whole

system was investigated this time, which is, however, enough for practical estimation of the supplied
energy.
Stored energy of 14V and 169F supercapacitor module is:

E=

V 2 C 142 169
=
= 16562 J = 4.6 W h
2
2

(4)

where: E - value of energy, C - capacity of supercapacitor, V - rated voltage of the

supercapacitor.
The task of this experiment was to compare the battery and the supercapacitor as energy storage.
For reasonable comparison the battery with similar to SCs parameters was chosen.
Battery with capacity 1.2 A*h and nominal voltage 12 volts is the nearest to a capacity of
supercapacitor. Stored energy in battery is:

E = V C = 12 1.2 = 51840 J = 14 .4 W h

(5)

In order to compare battery and supercapacitor in similar conditions, it was decided to remove all that
might influence the experiment and do conditions unequal. Only boost converter of UPS was used and
load was connected directly to the DC-bus. Task of experiment was to compare battery with
supercapacitor at different operating regimes, examine times that they can supply load and also
calculate energy which was taken from energy storages. Output voltages of boost converter were
constant (15V or 30V) and output currents were from 1A to 8A. Resistive load was used. The
corresponding results are shown in a table II.

Table II: Supercapacitor and battery given energy

Vout
15
15
15
15
15
15
15

Iout
(A)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Battery
E (J)
t (s)
31379 1831
24248
671
17763
316
13809
186
9633
101
7017
51
4166
39

Supercapacitor
E (J)
t (s)
13849 797
13154 324
12689 210
12991 162
10881 101
10296
87
9116
58

Vout
30
30
30
30
30
30

Iout
(A)
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5

Battery
E (J)
t (s)
20707 544
16710 301
12635 178
9001
99
5742
53
4996
49

Supercapacitor
E (J)
t (s)
13398
327
12701
212
11991
145
10926
110
10541
88
9479
68

A graphic view of table II is shown in Fig. 5. In Fig. 5.a given energy is shown depending on the
boost converter output current at output voltage 15V. In Fig. 5.b the same, but output voltage is 30V.

a)
b)
Fig. 5. Given energy of the energy storage versus the output current at different levels of the output
voltage: a) at 15 V, b) at 30V

As shown in Fig. 5 at higher currents (higher loadings) the energy given by battery was significantly
decreasing. As it has been described above it causes not only internal losses in battery, but also it
causes chemical processes on batterys electrodes. The supercapacitor electrodes are not subjected to
such processes and given energy is almost equal at any discharge currents. Given energy was smaller
because the boost converter operates at high currents and cannot enlarge voltage from low input
voltage. The higher current the higher is minimal input voltage and the lower energy is given by
supercapacitor. In Fig. 6 voltage and current of supercapacitor are shown at output voltage of boost
converter 15V and output current of it 8A. On the 60th second supercapacitor current stops to increase.
This is the moment when the boost converter cannot adjust output voltage any more. Input voltage is
about 8V. Fig. 7 shows the similar picture, but at 1A of the output current. In this case ability to
regulate voltage disappears only at input voltage about 5V. Therefore given energy by supercapacitor
is higher than in the case when output current is 8A. If the boost converter was optimized, or its input
voltage was higher, this effect would be less distinct.

Fig. 6. Supercapacitor voltage and current at output current 8A

Fig. 7. Supercapacitor voltage and current at output current 1A

This experiment shows that in cases when the discharge currents of battery are large (5C-10C), time of
discharge is so short, that supercapacitor with a capacity in 3 times smaller discharge time is longer.
Weight and price of this supercapacitor is higher. But as it is written above, supercapacitor has other
advantages such as:
Long life time
Large power density
Wide temperature range
No need maintenance
And etc.
It is also necessary to take into account that prices of the supercapacitors constantly falls and their
parameters getting better. The cost of 1F (December, 2006) is about 0.01 $. This means that 1kJ (if use
3000F supercapacitor with voltage 2.7V) costs 2.85$ [12]. It is 10-20 times more than 1kJ of battery.
But if take into account practically usable energy and long life of supercapacitor, that price of
supercapacitors become almost comparable with battery price. According to newsletters of Maxwell
technologies this price will fall down twice after a couple of years. That will make supercapacitor
more attractive for use in UPS or in other spheres.

Conclusion
In the given paper possibilities of utilization of supercapacitors in uninterruptible power supply were
discussed. Possible topologies were analyzed and it was found that the On-line topology with
separate converters for each energy storage is preferable. It was calculated that high power ratings are
more easy achievable with supercapacitors rather than with batteries. It was experimentally found that
at higher currents supercapacitors are comparable with batteries and getting better from the point of
view of energy utilization. However, from the economical point of view, at the present time, direct
substitution of batteries with SCs is not very effective. Nowadays it is better to combine traditional
battery for higher capacity and SCs - for higher power. It must be also be mentioned, that
ultracapacitors undergo intensive development and become more and more available in size and price.
Therefore the overall prospects of the supercapacitors in UPS are estimated as good.

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