EXTENDED BATTERY LIFE-TIME USING

SUPERCAPACITOR
A
Minor project Submitted to
Gopal Krishna College of Engineering and Technology, Jeypore
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
in
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

By
BABLU MANDAL
(Regd. No.: 2221228007)

Under the guidance of

ER. DEBASHIS SAHU
(Department of Electrical Engineering)

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

GOPAL KRISHNA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, JEYPORE
BIJU PATTANAIK UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, ROURKELA, ODISHA
October 2024
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Dept. of Electrical Engineering

GOPAL KRISHNA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL

This is to certify that we have examined the dissertation entitled “Extended Battery Life-Time Using
Supercapacitor” submitted by BABLU MANDAL, Regd. No. 2221228007, in partial fulfillment for the
degree of Bachelor of Technology at the Department of Electrical Engineering of Gopal Krishna College
of Engineering and Technology, Jeypore, Odisha

We hereby accord our approval of it as a dissertation work carried out and presented in a manner
required for its acceptance for the partial fulfillment for the minor project for the degree of Bachelor of
Technology in Electrical Engineering for which it has been submitted. The approval does not necessarily
endorse or accept every statement made, opinion expressed, or conclusions drawn as recorded in this report.
It only signifies the acceptance of the report for the purpose it has been submitted.

__________________________ ____________________________
External Examiner Er. Debashis Sahu
Head of Department of Electrical
Engineering
GKCET, JEYPORE, Odisha.
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DECLARATION

I declare that this project report titled Extended Battery Life-Time Using

Supercapacitorsubmitted in partial fulfillment of the degree of B. Tech in (Electrical Engineering) is

a record of original work carried out by me under the supervision of Er. Debashis Sahu, and has not

formed the basis for the award of any other degree or diploma, in this or any other Institution or

University. In keeping with the ethical practice in reporting scientific information, due

acknowledgements have been made wherever the findings of others have been cited.

GKCET, Jeypore Bablu mandal

Date: Regd. No.: 2221228007
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I express my deepest gratitude to my project guide Er. Debashis Sahu whose encouragement,
guidance, and support from the initial to the final level enabled me to develop an understanding of the
subject also for providing his invaluable advice and for providing me with an environment to complete my
project successfully.
I am deeply indebted to all faculty members of Electrical Engineering Department, Gopal Krishna
College of Engineering and Technology, Jeypore, for their help in making the project a successful one.
Finally, I take this opportunity to extend my deep appreciation to my family and friends, for all that
they meant to me during the crucial times of the completion of my project.

BABLU MANDAL
Regd. No.- 2221228007
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TABLE OF CONTENT

SL CONTENT PAGE NO.

NO

1 INTRODUCTION 7

2 BACKGROUND 11

3 SYSTEM DESIGN 12

4 IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS 117

5 CONCLUSION 19

6 FUTURE SCOPE 19

7 REFERENCE 20
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ABSTRACT

Reduction in conventional resources led to a very high level of reliability in the generation of
renewable energy resources. For these power resources, batteries are a major storage source and battery
storage projects have been the primary investment in these projects. It is therefore important to preserve
them for the correct reasons. The batteries used in renewable energy systems suffer many partial or irregular
charging or discharging cycles, owing to the variable characteristics of renewable generation.Its effect is
detrimental to battery life, thereby increasing the costs of project maintenance. This research requires the use
of the battery supercapacitor hybrid energy storage system for an improvement in the battery life of the
small wind power system. The monitoring control unit with hysteresis comparator is explained and
simulation evaluates the projected long-term advantages of the proposed system. The analysis is presented
with a view to potentially improving the battery life through short-term loading / unloading cycles to a
super-capacitator energy storage system. This study introduces a method by which super capacitor-based
battery energy storage system and supervisory controller can be evaluated analysed for an application area to
be considered.

Keywords: Battery Storage, Super capacitors, Renewable Resources, Wind

Power, Supervisory Controller, Battery Lifetime
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CHAPTER 1
I. INTRODUCTION

Rapidly increasing population, energy consumption, and the need to reduce emissions through the
conventional vehicle have motivated researchers to study the electric hybrid vehicles (EHVs). In developing
countries like India, China, SE Asia, etc., two-wheels are an integral part of life. The two wheelers are
similar in use and function to cars in developed countries. Traffic and road conditions are the reasons for its
popularity in India for the two wheelers (motorcycles and scooters and motorcycles): the short traffic
distance, the weather, the high cost of fuel and the reduction in consumption spending power are also a
major factor. As illustrated in figure 1, two-wheel distribution worldwide.

Figure 1: Worldwide Distribution of Two-Wheelers

Figure 2a: Two-wheeler distribution in India

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Figure 2b: Distribution of Kick Start Vehicles

Figure 2a shows the distribution of two wheels in India. The Kickstart vehicle distribution between the
categories in India is shown in Figure 2b. Motorcycles represent 80 % of the market and 83% of both wheels
are of the Kick-Start model, indicating that lower cost is the customer's preference. With a typical two-wheel
kick, a battery has the function of fulfilling the charged charges as shown in Table 1:

All of the above charges are intermittent. If we try to directly put them on Magneto, the magneto will
increase in size and cost and its efficiency will decrease. This battery is therefore placed on these loads. If
safety-related loads are to be functional, the battery must be kept working, at all times.

Usually, the electric hybrid vehicles architecture includes two or more energy sources with their
associated energy converters as shown in Figure 3.
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Figure 3. Electric Vehicle System

The main source is a fuel cell, with high-energy storage capability; it is the electrochemical devices that
convert chemical energy of a reaction directly into electrical energy. This has slow dynamic to response
under load variation and does not allow the recuperation of energy from the load. The second source is the
storage system; it produces the lacking power in acceleration and absorbs excess power in braking function.
Batteries and ultracapacitors are employed as energy storage system in many hybrid applications. Recently,
ultracapacitors have been explored better than batteries in the electrical vehicles because they present
considerably higher power densities than those of batteries, and extremely higher energy densities than those
of conventional electrolytic capacitors.
Batteries have extreme difficulties in supplying power at low temperatures, whereas super capacitors
perform down to –20°C. Super capacitors are thin, light and to a certain extent can be conformal. These are
impressive features especially for mobile applications.
A traditional capacitor stores energy in the electric field created by charge separation. The charge
separation is created by the polarisation of bound charges in the dielectric. The capacitance is proportional to
the permittivity of the dielectric and the area of the plates and inversely proportional to the separation
distance of the plates.
Supercapacitors have a much higher capacitance than traditional capacitors because of the large
equivalent area of the plates and the small effective separation distance of the plates. One gram of the
electrode material can have an equivalent area of 2000m2. The separation distance between an electrode and
the layer of ions, the double layer, is in the nanometre range.
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Fig. 4. A carbon double layer super capacitor

Fig. 4 shows the typical construction for one cell of a carbon double layer super capacitor. The physical
construction is similar to that of a battery with two electrodes immersed in an electrolyte with a separator
between them. However, unlike a battery there is no chemical energy storage. There are effectively two
capacitors in series within each supercapacitor. Each has a set of plates consisting of a carbon electrode and
an adjacent electrolyte with a layer of ions. The main difference compared with a traditional dielectric is that
the charges are not bound, they are free to move anywhere within the electrolyte and into the pores of the
carbon particles. The separator insulates the two electrodes whilst allowing the ions to pass through it. The
typical maximum voltage permitted on one cell is 2.5V. This voltage determines the ESR rise rate and
lifetime of the cell. The supercapacitor in fig. 3 is symmetrical. However, supercapacitors are polarised
during manufacture where they are conditioned by an applied DC voltage. It is preferable not to reverse the
polarity or there may be some deterioration of the device, reduced capacitance and increased ESR, and the
device will have to be reconditioned.
The actual capacitance of a supercapacitor is a complicated function of voltage, current, frequency,
temperature and time. There are also parasitic inductances and resistances. An adequate first order model is
a series RLC. The typical impedance of a supercapacitor along with a series RLC fitted to the data. This
particular supercapacitor is used in notebooks. It is rated at 12.5V and is referred to as a 2.7F/25mΩ device.
The model parameters are R = 25mΩ, L = μH and C = 2.7F.
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2. Objective
The primary goal of this project is to investigate the effectiveness of integrating supercapacitors with
batteries to:
 Extend the battery life by reducing stress during high power demands.
 Improve the charge-discharge cycle life of the battery.
 Increase system efficiency in applications requiring frequent bursts of high power.

CHAPTER 2
BACKGROUND
Batteries are electrochemical devices that store energy and are widely used in various applications such
as electric vehicles, portable electronics, and renewable energy storage systems. However, their performance
is limited by:
 Energy Density vs. Power Density: Batteries have high energy density but lower power density,
meaning they are good at storing energy but struggle to supply large amounts of power quickly.
 Degradation: Continuous charge-discharge cycles, especially under high current loads, lead to the
degradation of battery capacity and life over time.
Supercapacitors are energy storage devices that store energy electrostatically rather than chemically.
They have:
 High Power Density: Supercapacitors can deliver or absorb high power in short bursts, making
them suitable for applications with high power demands.
 Fast Charge-Discharge Rates: They can charge and discharge rapidly without significant
degradation.
 Long Cycle Life: Unlike batteries, supercapacitors can undergo millions of charge-discharge cycles
with minimal wear.
By combining these two technologies in a hybrid energy storage system, the supercapacitor can handle
the high-power demands, reducing the strain on the battery and thereby extending its life.
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CHAPTER 3
SYSTEM DESIGN
The system design for extending battery life using a supercapacitor involves the integration of a
hybrid energy storage system (HESS) that combines the high energy density of a battery with the high-
power density of a supercapacitor. This design ensures that the battery handles long-term, stable energy
supply, while the supercapacitor deals with transient, high-power events, reducing stress on the battery. This
section details the key components and design considerations for such a system.

3.1 Hybrid Enery Storage System (HESS) Architecture

The Hybrid Energy Storage System (HESS) is designed to maximize the strengths of both the battery and
the supercapacitor. This architecture generally includes the following components:

1. Battery Pack

 Type: The battery used is typically a Lithium-Ion (Li-ion) battery, due to its high energy
density, efficiency, and widespread use in modern applications such as electric vehicles and
portable devices.
 Function: The battery provides a steady, sustained energy supply for long-duration loads. It is
responsible for maintaining a consistent power flow over long periods.
 Challenges: Batteries degrade when exposed to high power demands and frequent deep charge-
discharge cycles. Hence, the battery is used in combination with the supercapacitor to reduce
peak loads and limit the depth of discharge (DoD).

2. Supercapacitor Module

 Type: Supercapacitors are energy storage devices with high power density and the ability to
charge and discharge rapidly. They can handle high-current peaks without degradation over time.
 Function: The supercapacitor manages short, high-power demands, such as starting motors,
sudden load changes, or transient peaks in power. It supports the battery by absorbing power
surges and providing quick bursts of energy when needed.
 Advantages: Supercapacitors have an almost unlimited cycle life (millions of cycles) and can be
fully charged and discharged in seconds, making them suitable for applications requiring quick
response.
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3. DC-DC Converter

 Function: A DC-DC converter manages the energy flow between the battery, the
supercapacitor, and the load. It ensures that the supercapacitor handles high-power transients
while the battery maintains a stable energy supply for regular operation.
 Voltage Regulation: The converter steps up or down the voltage between the battery and the
supercapacitor, ensuring they both operate within safe voltage levels. It also prevents
overcharging of the supercapacitor and manages the flow of current during charging and
discharging.

4. Power Management System (PMS)

 Role: The Power Management System (PMS) is the control unit that oversees the entire energy
storage system. It determines when and how to use the supercapacitor and battery based on the
load profile.
 Algorithm: The PMS uses algorithms (such as proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control or
fuzzy logic) to balance the energy demands between the battery and the supercapacitor. It ensures
the supercapacitor delivers power during transient events, while the battery supports long-term
operation.
 Optimization: The PMS ensures optimal performance by maintaining the state of charge (SOC)
of both the battery and the supercapacitor. It also ensures that the battery operates within its ideal
range to avoid over-discharge or overcharge, extending its life.

4.2 Key Design Considerations

Several factors are taken into account when designing the system to ensure efficient energy management and
battery life extension.

1. Sizing of Battery and Supercapacitor

 Battery Sizing: The battery’s size is determined based on the overall energy requirements of the
application. The design must consider how much energy is needed for long-term, stable power
delivery.
 Supercapacitor Sizing: The supercapacitor’s sizing is based on the system's peak power
demands. Its energy storage capacity can be significantly smaller than the battery, as it only
supplies energy for short periods. However, it must have enough capacity to handle frequent
power bursts without depleting its charge too quickly.
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 Energy Balancing: The system should ensure an efficient energy balance between the battery
and the supercapacitor. The supercapacitor is designed to handle high-power events, while the
battery is protected from experiencing high current loads, extending its lifetime.

2. Charge-Discharge Control

 Supercapacitor Charging: The supercapacitor charges quickly during low load periods, and the
system is designed to manage this charging efficiently without draining too much power from the
battery.
 Battery Discharge Management: The battery provides energy over longer durations, but the
PMS ensures that the discharge rate is steady and that the battery is not exposed to large current
spikes, which would otherwise degrade its lifespan.

3. Voltage Matching

 The voltage across the battery and supercapacitor can vary. A DC-DC converter is used to step
up or down the voltage between these components to ensure that both can operate optimally
within their voltage ranges. Proper voltage matching is critical for efficient energy transfer and
system performance.

4. Thermal Management

 Both batteries and supercapacitors generate heat during charging and discharging cycles.
Effective thermal management must be incorporated into the design to ensure that temperature
remains within safe limits, particularly during high-power operations. This can be achieved
through passive cooling (such as heat sinks) or active cooling (such as fans or liquid cooling).

5. Protection and Safety Features

 Overvoltage Protection: To prevent overcharging of the supercapacitor and over-voltage

conditions in the battery, the system includes voltage monitoring and protection circuits.
 Current Limiting: Excessive currents can damage both the battery and the supercapacitor.
Current limiting features prevent the system from drawing too much current from the battery.
 State of Charge Monitoring: The SOC of both the battery and the supercapacitor is constantly
monitored to prevent overcharging or over-discharging, which can lead to degradation of the
energy storage systems.
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3.3 Working Modes

The hybrid energy system operates in different modes depending on the load conditions:

1. Low-Power Mode

 In low-power scenarios, the battery provides a steady energy supply, while the supercapacitor
remains idle or charges in preparation for high-power demands. The system ensures that the
battery operates efficiently without excessive drain.

2. High-Power Mode

 During sudden increases in power demand (such as motor startup, acceleration in electric
vehicles, or grid disturbances), the supercapacitor delivers high power. This prevents the battery
from experiencing high discharge currents and reduces the depth of discharge, thus extending
battery life.

3. Regenerative Mode

 In applications like electric vehicles, regenerative braking or power recovery during low load
periods can charge the supercapacitor quickly. The supercapacitor absorbs the regenerated energy
and stores it for future high-power needs, thus improving overall system efficiency.

3.4 Advantages of the Hybrid System Design

1. Extended Battery Life: By reducing high peak loads and limiting the depth of discharge, the
battery undergoes fewer charge-discharge cycles, reducing degradation and extending its
operational life.
2. Improved Power Quality: The supercapacitor smooths out power transients, providing high-
quality power to the load and preventing voltage dips or spikes.
3. High Efficiency: Supercapacitors are more efficient at handling short bursts of energy, reducing
the overall losses in the system.
4. Reduced Battery Size: Since the supercapacitor handles high-power transients, the battery can
be downsized, reducing system weight and cost.
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3.5 Challenges and Limitations

1. Cost: The inclusion of supercapacitors and DC-DC converters increases the initial system cost,
though the long-term benefits such as extended battery life and reduced maintenance can offset
this.
2. Complexity: The control system required to manage the energy flow between the supercapacitor
and battery adds complexity to the design.
3. Voltage Balancing: Maintaining optimal voltage levels between the battery and supercapacitor
requires careful design and regulation, as mismatches can lead to inefficiencies or damage.
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CHAPTER 4

IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS
The circuit schematic in Figure 5 represents the simple RC model for a ultra-capacitor. It is
comprised of three ideal circuit elements: a series resistor 𝑅𝑠: it is called the equivalent series resistor
(ESR) and contributes to the energy loss component of the ultracapacitor during charging or discharging; a
parallel resistor 𝑅𝑝: it is called the leakage resistance, and a capacitance 𝐶sc.

Figure 5: Classical model.

Figure 6: Evolution of voltage discharged with a

constant current.
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The dynamic can be described as

The ultracapacitor is discharged with a constant current and the result is presented in Figure 6.
The equivalent series resistor is obtained through the
following equation:

where Δ𝑈 and 𝐼dech denote, respectively, the voltage drops which is observed at the beginning of
the discharge and the discharge current. The capacitor can be expressed by

The parallel resistor is calculated using

where 𝑈1 and 𝐼𝐿 denote, respectively, the open circuit voltage and the leakage current.
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CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION
On the basis of the field experiments and tests, Ultra cap as a battery replacement meets all entry-level
'Start-Kick' two-wheel drive performance requirements, while eliminating all the battery shortcomings.
Without maintenance problems and the cost of periodic battery replacement, users benefit from the safety
features that operate constantly throughout the vehicle lifetime. This additional value and the safety aspect
justify the higher cost for the Ultra condenser over the Battery of Blei Acid. The product also contributes to
the environment without lead. We called on the competent authorities now that a solution is available, to
explore the possibility of law-making to ensure safety features function at all times. According to an
examination of electric systems across the various car brands, BSU can replace more than 80 percent of
existing Kick-Start vehicles directly without any modification.

FUTURE WORK
Future enhancements to the system could include:
 Advanced Control Algorithms: Implementing machine learning techniques to optimize power
distribution between the battery and supercapacitor dynamically.
 Hybrid Energy Systems with Multiple Storage Devices: Integrating other energy storage
technologies such as flywheels or fuel cells for more robust energy management.
 Real-world Application Testing: Applying the hybrid system in real-world applications like
electric vehicles or solar power systems to evaluate long-term performance improvements.
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REFERENCES
 Miller, J. M., Burke, A. F., & Gyselinck, J. (2017). Hybrid Energy Storage Systems for Electric
Vehicles: Supercapacitors and Batteries. IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.
 Conway, B. E. (2019). Electrochemical Supercapacitors: Scientific Fundamentals and
Technological Applications. Springer Science & Business Media.
 Pesaran, A. A., & Kim, G. H. (2018). Hybrid Energy Storage System for Electric Powertrains.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).