Energy management of ultracapacitors with power electronics converters

Ultracapacitors (UC) are capacitors with high capacitance, low equivalent series resistance (ESR), and low rated voltage values. Energy density of UCs is higher than conventional capacitors, whereas their power density is higher than batteries. When UC applications are investigated, it is seen that energy management in the charging and discharging processes is the basic operation, and power electronics converters (PEC) could be utilized for energy management in these processes of UCs. In this study, basic properties of UCs and PEC topologies for managing the charging and discharging processes of UCs are reviewed. A PEC structure that could be utilized for managing the charging and discharging processes of UCs with predetermined current profiles is implemented. With the implemented PEC structure, a UC module is put in a constant current charging and discharging process. The performance of the converter is demonstrated by means of experimental results.