Publication
A downscaled drive train with a 6.5 kW fuel cell and a 10 kW supercapacitor module was realized and tested. The voltage levels and the energy flow between fuel cell and supercapacitor were controlled by an electronic unit. The combined fuel-cell/supercapacitor drive train was tested with a modified New European Driving Cycle (NEDC). The 60 V, 60 F supercapacitor module consisted of 2 x 24 capacitors in series having a capacitance of 800 F each. The capacitors had a max. specific energy of 2.75 Wh/kg and a max. specific power of 6.5 kW/kg. An active electronic unit managed voltage balancing among the 24 capacitors in series. The capacitor module had a max. total energy of 30 Wh and a total max. power of 45 kW and could deliver 10 kW over a period of 6 seconds. It was demonstrated that a supercapacitor is an energy storage device that can be used efficiently in vehicle applications for recuperating braking energy and boosting peak power.
Jan Van Herle, Hossein Pourrahmani, Chengzhang Xu
Jan Van Herle, Hossein Pourrahmani