A High-Efficiency Voltage Equalization Scheme for Supercapacitor Energy Storage System in Renewable Generation Applications

Liran Li, Zhiwu Huang, Heng Li and Honghai Lu
Additional contact information
Liran Li: School of Information Science and Engineering, Central South University, 22 South Shaoshan Road, Changsha 410000, China
Zhiwu Huang: School of Information Science and Engineering, Central South University, 22 South Shaoshan Road, Changsha 410000, China
Heng Li: School of Information Science and Engineering, Central South University, 22 South Shaoshan Road, Changsha 410000, China
Honghai Lu: School of Information Science and Engineering, Central South University, 22 South Shaoshan Road, Changsha 410000, China

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 8, issue 6, 1-19

Abstract: Due to its fast charge and discharge rate, a supercapacitor-based energy storage system is especially suitable for power smoothing in renewable energy generation applications. Voltage equalization is essential for series-connected supercapacitors in an energy storage system, because it supports the system’s sustainability and maximizes the available cell energy. In this paper, we present a high-efficiency voltage equalization scheme for supercapacitor energy storage systems in renewable generation applications. We propose an improved isolated converter topology that uses a multi-winding transformer. An improved push-pull forward circuit is applied on the primary side of the transformer. A coupling inductor is added on the primary side to allow the switches to operate under the zero-voltage switching (ZVS) condition, which reduces switching losses. The diodes in the rectifier are replaced with metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) to reduce the power dissipation of the secondary side. In order to simplify the control, we designed a controllable rectifying circuit to achieve synchronous rectifying on the secondary side of the transformer. The experimental results verified the effectiveness of the proposed design.

Keywords: voltage equalization; supercapacitor; energy storage systems; renewable generation applications (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/6/548/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/6/548/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:6:p:548-:d:71849

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().