Modelling of Supercapacitors Based on Simplified Equivalent Circuit

Abstract

The need for energy storage devices especially in renewable energy applications has increased the use of supercapacitors. Accordingly, several supercapacitor models have been proposed in previous researches. Nevertheless, most of them require an intensive test to obtain the model parameters. These may not be suitable for an initial simulation study, where a simple model based on the datasheet is required to evaluate the system performance before building the hardware prototype. A simplified electrical circuit model for a supercapacitor (SC) based on the voltage-current equation is proposed in this paper to address this issue. This model doesn’t need an intensive test for accuracy. The structural simplicity and decent modelling accuracy make the equivalent electrical circuit model very suitable for power electronic applications and real-time energy management simulations. The parameters of the proposed model can be obtained from the datasheets value with a minimum test requirement. The experimental method to provide the parameters of the supercapacitor equivalent circuit is described. Based on the proposed method, the supercapacitor model is built in Matlab/Simulink, and the characteristics of equivalent series resistance (ESR) measurement and cycle life are compared with datasheets. The simulation results have verified that the proposed model can be applied to simulate the behaviour of the supercapacitor in most energy and power applications for a short time of energy storage. A supercapacitor test circuit is given to test the charge and discharge of supercapacitor modules. The experimental results are suitable for simulation results.