Comparison of Supercapacitor Performance with Various Charging Voltages

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Abstract

This project aimed to compare the energy storage and discharge characteristics of supercapacitors and find the efficiency of supercapacitors by charging with various voltages. This would help to solve the problem of charging supercapacitors to achieve maximum efficiency. The experimental method was to charge a 200 F 2.5 V supercapacitor using a function generator to feed a signal to the circuit at the same frequency of 1 kHz. When the supercapacitor needed to be discharged, it would be charged to a 1 ohm 5 Watt resistance and find the efficiency of the supercapacitor from charging and discharging. The experimental results of charging by feeding a voltage signal from charging with a triangle wave, sawtooth wave, square wave and sine wave voltage source showed that the charging time was 9,455 seconds. The supercapacitor voltages (VSC) fed by each waveform were 0.924678 V, 1.282828 V, 1.057508 V and 0.041566 V respectively. The results of the discharge experiment (discharging) to a 1 ohm 5 Watt resistance load, the discharge time was 30 seconds. The supercapacitor voltage (VSC) supplied to the resistance that starts to discharge are 0.062287 V, 0.083918 V, 0.051667 V and 0.069476 V respectively. A supercapacitor's highest efficiency was 98.45% when fed with a triangle signal, while its lowest efficiency was 94.17% when fed with a square signal.