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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).
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.
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:
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.
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)
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)
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.
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.
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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