Modeling of the Thermal Behavior of an Ultracapacitor

Ultracapacitors, also known as supercapacitors, have the potential to meet the increasing power requirements of energy-storage systems for automotive applications. 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 an ultracapacitor for the efficient and reliable systems integration in automotive applications.

In this work, modeling is performed to study the thermal behavior of 2.7V/650F ultracapacitor from LS Mtron Ltd. The validation of the modeling approach is provided through the comparison of the modeling results with the experimental measurements.

In Fig. 1, the variation of surface temperature with time from the experiment during the charge-discharge cycles with constant current of 180 A is compared with that from modeling. Fig. 2 shows the comparison between the surface temperature distributions based on the experimental IR image and the modeling after 30 min during cycles. Model predictions reasonably reproduce the experimental data.