Surge Capability Testing of Supercapacitor Families Using a Lightning Surge Simulator

Supercapacitors (SCs) are capable of storing energy in the range of fractional joules to several thousands of joules despite their lower dc voltage ratings. Farad-order capacitances combined with milliohm-order equivalent series resistances provide time constants ranging from fractional seconds to seconds. Given these time constants, compared to the time durations of power line transients in the range of a few microseconds to several hundreds of microseconds, these devices may be able to withstand short-duration surges with energy values specified in IEEE C62-XX series, IEC 61400-4-5, and similar standards. However, there is little or no manufacturer datasheet information on these aspects. This paper provides details of an automatic tester interfaced with a lightning surge simulator, a test procedure, and summarized test data on three different families of SCs. The test data set provides some valuable insight in estimating the capabilities of these new SC families to withstand surges and transients, which, in turn, could lead to nontraditional applications.