Experimental Evaluation of a Switching Matrix Applied in a Bank of Supercapacitors

Maria Guadalupe Reveles-Miranda, Manuel Israel Flota-Bañuelos, Freddy Chan-Puc and Daniella Pacheco-Catalán
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Maria Guadalupe Reveles-Miranda: Renewable Energy Unit, Yucatan Center for Scientific Research, Merida 97205, Yucatan, Mexico
Manuel Israel Flota-Bañuelos: Engineering Department, University of Yucatan, Merida 97000, Yucatan, Mexico
Freddy Chan-Puc: Engineering Department, University of Quintana Roo, Chetumal 77019, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Daniella Pacheco-Catalán: Renewable Energy Unit, Yucatan Center for Scientific Research, Merida 97205, Yucatan, Mexico

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 12, 1-12

Abstract: Distributed power generation systems (DPGSs) integrate power sources that tend to be smaller than the typical utility scale, such as for renewable energy sources and other applications. Storage systems that incorporate supercapacitors (SCs) have been proposed to extend the life of batteries and to increase the power capacity of the DPGSs, guaranteeing maximum efficiency. The extraction of energy in SCs is more demanding than in the case of batteries; when SCs have delivered only 75% of their energy, their voltage has already decreased to 50%. Beyond this value, the banks fail to meet the requirements demanded by loads that require a minimum voltage to operate correctly, leaving 25% of the energy unused, thereby limiting the deep charge/discharge cycles that occur. This paper presents a model of a switching matrix applied in a bank of SCs. The model allows the use of a simpler circuit to achieve a large number of serial/parallel-configuration connections (levels), improving the utilization of energy to obtain deep discharge cycles in each SC; therefore, by increasing the average energy extracted from each SC, it extends the power delivery time in the storage bank. The efficiency was verified by experimental results obtained using a bank of six SCs.

Keywords: supercapacitor; reconfigurable bank; energy extraction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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