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

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.