Ultracapacitors were first developed in the 1950s but at the time there were not any applications or Products that were able to utilize Ultracapacitors. It wasn’t until the 90’s that advances with Manufacturing and Material Science that made Ultracapacitors perform well enough and lowered the cost of manufacturing them.
Current Technologies
Current Technologies include Fuel Cell, Batteries, Ultracapacitors and Conventional Capacitors. These technologies cannot be interchangeable with each other as they all have their own advantages and disadvantages. With each technology having their own advantages, often they are used simultaneously with each other. It is very common to find a Traditional Battery working as the main power supply and a Ultracapacitor being used a form of Peak Power or as a Voltage Stabilizer. Power System Designers must take all these factors into consideration when creating Power Supplies Designs.
How Batteries Work vs How Ultracapacitors Work
Both Ultracapacitors and Batteries contain positive and negative Electrodes that are separated. Ultracapacitors are more environmentally friendly and do have their advantages on how the work over batteries and has its major disadvantages over batteries.
How Batteries Work
Batteries form a chemical reaction when it is connected and completes a circuit. A chemical reaction then happens within the battery which produces electricity. Over time batteries will lose a significant amount of power and tend to only recharge 2000 to 5000 times.
How Ultracapacitors work
Ultracapacitors stores energy electrostatically.
Ultracapacitors have a Dielectric Separator to divide the electrolytes which is what allows Ultracapacitors to have a very High Energy Density when compared to normal capacitors.
Another advantage to Ultracapacitors is that they can recharge between 500,000 to 1 Million times. Having no chemical or physical reactions is how the Ultracapacitor can maintain little or no deterioration.
Power Density vs Energy Density
Power Density is the amount of power released or stored at one time. For example, Ultracapacitors have a High-Power Density but on the other hand it cannot store a lot of energy at once. It will give you a large amount of power for a little amount of time.
Energy Density is the amount of Energy it can store and discharge. Look at this as the amount of energy it can disperse over a long period of time.
A Ultracapacitor has a higher power Density so it will release a lot of power in a shorter amount of time. Batteries are the opposite; they have a high energy density so it will disperse less energy over a much longer period.
Longevity of Ultracapacitors vs Longevity of Batteries
Ultracapacitors win the longevity game. Over a span of ten years, a Ultracapacitor will only lose 20% of its energy.
Ultracapacitors can go up to one million charge before it starts to deteriorate while batteries charge about one thousand times before you start to see it deteriorate.
Conditions
Ultracapacitors can operate in extreme conditions ranging in between -40 to +85 Degrees making them extremely reliable in colder climates for applications like UPS, Smart Meters and Jump Starters.
Popular Applications
Ultracapacitors are used in a variety of different products. Ultracapacitors are expected to accelerate in its technology significantly over the next 3-10 years.
Audio Amplifiers using Ultracapacitors.
Audio Amplifiers have been using Ultracapacitors as a form of voltage stabilization and when in need of a burst of energy to deliver kilowatts of peak power.
Jump Starters using Ultracapacitors.
Ultracapacitors have started to become increasingly popular in Jump Starters because of its ability to operate in very rough conditions. Supercapacitors can operate in temperatures between -40 and +85 Degrees Celsius.
Another Advantage for that Ultracapacitors have with Jump Starters is it can use the charge from the minimal amount of power you have in your Car battery. It charges using that energy and can turn around and jump start your vehicle.
Shanghai Bus System operating on Ultracapacitors.
A bus transit in Shanghai has adopted Ultracapacitors for charging their fleet of buses. Ultracapacitors charge the buses at every stop in a very short amount of time giving the bus enough power to get to the next stop and charge again.
Three Main Advantages of using Ultracapacitors.
Maintenance is greatly reduced. With Ultracapacitors being able to discharge and recharge between 500,000 to an excess of a million times. This eliminates having to change out the batteries significantly.
Minimal Charging time with Ultracapacitors allows for non-stop buses.
Ultracapacitors are environmentally friendly and do not need a chemical reaction to work.
Smart Meters using Ultracapacitors.
Ultracapacitors can give peak power when transmitting stored data. Smart Meters have been utilizing low power and data area wireless protocol to transfer Meter information back to the utility company. LoRa is an optimal Protocol for tasks like this.
Conclusion
- Ultracapacitors will increasingly get integrated more and more in the way we power our everything from Electric cars to Smart Meters and Uninterruptible Power Supplies. Ultracapacitors are great to use side by side with regular battery technology. There is a great uptick in Ultracapacitor technology. Ultracapacitors will start being in a lot more applications in one way or another. Whether that is the as the main power source or used simultaneously with another power source. Either way, Ultracapacitor technology is only increasing and becoming more relevant.