(63av) Modeling the Thermal Behaviors of an Ultracapacitor Module

Ultracapacitors, also known as supercapacitors, have the potential to meet the increasing power requirements of the sustainable energy systems for the grid-scale energy storage systems and electrified vehicles. As compared to batteries, ultracapacitors offer a higher power density, higher efficiency, and longer shelf and cycle life. Because the performance of an ultracapacitor depends on temperature, it is important to calculate accurately the thermal behavior of a single ultracapacitor cell and the module composed of multiple ultracapacitor cells for the efficient and reliable systems integration of an ultracapacitor in grid and transport applications.

In this work, modeling is performed to study the effect of the layout configugation of the ultracapacitor cells on the thermal behaviors of an ultracapacitor module. The ultracapacitor module is subject to the charge/discharge cycling with constant-current between the nominal voltage of the ultracapacitor module and the half of this voltage. The charge/discharge current values examined are 50, 100, 150, and 200 A. The validation of the modeling approach is provided through the comparison of the modeling results with the experimental measurements.