Search

JP-7854949-B2 - System and method for balancing ultracapacitors

JP7854949B2JP 7854949 B2JP7854949 B2JP 7854949B2JP-7854949-B2

Inventors

  • ホック，ジョセフ・エム

Assignees

  • キョーセラ・エイブイエックス・コンポーネンツ・コーポレーション

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20210520
Priority Date
20200630

Claims (9)

  1. A system for balancing an ultracapacitor, wherein the system is Multiple switching devices, Equilibrium capacitor and, A control circuit is communicatively coupled to each of the plurality of switching devices, and the control circuit is The operation of the first pair of the switching device is controlled to couple the equilibrium capacitor to the first ultracapacitor in order to transfer the charge necessary to make the voltage across the first ultracapacitor and the voltage across the second ultracapacitor substantially the same, from the first ultracapacitor to the equilibrium capacitor, After the charge has been transferred from the first ultracapacitor to the equilibrium capacitor, the operation of the first pair of switching devices is controlled to disconnect the equilibrium capacitor from the first ultracapacitor. Control the operation of a second pair of switching devices, different from the first pair, such that the balance capacitor is coupled to the second ultracapacitor in order to transfer the charge necessary to make the voltage across the first ultracapacitor and the voltage across the second ultracapacitor substantially the same from the balance capacitor to the second ultracapacitor among the plurality of ultracapacitors, The switching device is configured to control the operation of the second pair of switches to disconnect the equilibrium capacitor from the second ultracapacitor after the charge has been transferred from the equilibrium capacitor to the second ultracapacitor, wherein the first ultracapacitor has a larger charge than the second ultracapacitor before the charge is transferred from the equilibrium capacitor to the second ultracapacitor. The balanced capacitor includes an ultracapacitor separate from the plurality of ultracapacitors connected in series with each other, and the capacitance of the balanced capacitor is the same as the capacitance of at least one of the plurality of ultracapacitors. A system including a control circuit.
  2. The system according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of switching devices includes a transistor.
  3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the total number of switching devices in the plurality of switching devices is greater than the total number of ultracapacitors in the plurality of ultracapacitors.
  4. A method for equipping an ultracapacitor, wherein the method is A step of controlling the operation of a first pair of switching devices so as to couple a balance capacitor across the first ultracapacitor among a plurality of ultracapacitors, When the balanced capacitor is coupled to the first ultracapacitor via the first pair of switching devices, the first ultracapacitor is discharged to transfer charge from the first ultracapacitor to the balanced capacitor to make the voltage across the first ultracapacitor substantially the same as the voltage across the second ultracapacitor. A step of controlling the operation of a first pair of switching devices to disconnect the equilibrium capacitor from the first ultracapacitor in response to discharging the first ultracapacitor in order to transfer the charge from the first ultracapacitor to the equilibrium capacitor, The steps include: discharging the first ultracapacitor to transfer the charge to the equilibrium capacitor, and then controlling the operation of a second pair of switching devices different from the first pair of switching devices so as to couple the equilibrium capacitor to both ends of the second ultracapacitor among the plurality of ultracapacitors; When the balanced capacitor is coupled to both ends of the second ultracapacitor via the second pair of the switching device, the balanced capacitor is discharged to transfer the charge to the second ultracapacitor. A method comprising the steps of controlling the operation of a second pair of switching devices to disconnect the equilibrium capacitor from the second ultracapacitor in response to discharging the equilibrium capacitor to transfer the charge from the equilibrium capacitor to the second ultracapacitor, wherein the equilibrium capacitor includes an ultracapacitor separate from the plurality of ultracapacitors coupled in series with each other, and the capacitance of the equilibrium capacitor is the same as the capacitance of at least one of the plurality of ultracapacitors .
  5. The method according to claim 4, wherein, in response to the determination that a first voltage across the first ultracapacitor is different from a second voltage across the second ultracapacitor, the operation of the first pair of switching devices is controlled to couple the balanced capacitor to the first ultracapacitor.
  6. The first voltage across the first ultracapacitor corresponds to the highest voltage among the plurality of ultracapacitors. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the second voltage across the second ultracapacitor corresponds to the lowest voltage among the plurality of ultracapacitors.
  7. The step of controlling the operation of the first pair of switching devices to couple the balanced capacitor across the first ultracapacitor includes the step of providing, via a control circuit, one or more control signals to each switching device in the first pair of switching devices, wherein the one or more control signals are related to coupling the balanced capacitor across the first ultracapacitor. The method according to claim 4, comprising the step of controlling the operation of a second pair of switching devices to couple the balanced capacitors across the second ultracapacitor, the step of providing one or more control signals to each switching device in the second pair of switching devices via the control circuit, wherein the one or more control signals are related to coupling the balanced capacitors across the second ultracapacitor.
  8. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the plurality of ultracapacitors are connected in series with respect to each other.
  9. The method according to claim 4 , wherein each switching device in the first pair of switching devices and the second pair of switching devices includes a transistor.

Description

Priority Claim This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/045,887, filed on 30 June 2020, entitled "System and Method for Balancing Ultracapacitors," which is incorporated herein by reference. Electrical energy storage cells are widely used to power electronic, electromechanical, electrochemical, and other useful devices. For example, a double-layer ultracapacitor can utilize a pair of polarizing electrodes containing carbon particles (e.g., activated carbon) impregnated with a liquid electrolyte. Due to the effective surface area of the particles and the small spacing between the electrodes, high capacitance values can be achieved. Individual double-layer capacitors can be combined to form modules with increased output voltage or increased energy capacity. This is a block diagram of the components of a system for equipping an ultracapacitor according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.This figure shows the equilibrium capacitors of a system for equilibriumizing ultracapacitors, separated from each of the ultracapacitors according to the exemplary embodiments of this disclosure.This figure shows a balancing capacitor for a system to balance an ultracapacitor, coupled to both ends of a first ultracapacitor via a first pair of switching devices of the system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.This figure shows a balancing capacitor for a system to balance an ultracapacitor, coupled to both ends of a second ultracapacitor via a second pair of switching devices of the system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.This is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method for equipping an ultracapacitor according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The repeated use of reference numerals in this specification and drawings is intended to represent the same or similar forms or elements of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art will understand that this discussion is merely a description of exemplary embodiments and is not intended to limit broader embodiments of the disclosure, and that broader embodiments are embodied in the exemplary configurations. Exemplary aspects of this disclosure relate to a system for balancing ultracapacitors. The system may include a balancing capacitor and a plurality of switching devices. The balancing capacitor can be selectively coupled to each of the plurality of ultracapacitors via different pairs of switching devices (e.g., a first pair, a second pair, etc.). For example, the balancing capacitor can be coupled to the ends of a first ultracapacitor among the plurality of ultracapacitors via a first pair of switching devices. Alternatively, the balancing capacitor can be coupled to the ends of a second ultracapacitor among the plurality of ultracapacitors via a second pair of switching devices, different from the first pair. In some embodiments, the equilibrium capacitor may be a supercapacitor separate from the multiple ultracapacitors. More specifically, the multiple ultracapacitors may be coupled in series with each other, and the equilibrium capacitor may be a supercapacitor selectively coupled in parallel with each of the multiple ultracapacitors. Alternatively or additionally, the capacitance of the equilibrium capacitor may be smaller than the capacitance of at least one of the multiple ultracapacitors. In an alternative embodiment, the capacitance of the equilibrium capacitor may be the same as the capacitance of at least one of the multiple ultracapacitors. For example, in some embodiments, the capacitance of the equilibrium capacitor may be the same as the capacitance of each of the multiple ultracapacitors. The system may include a control circuit. The control circuit can be configured to acquire data indicating the voltage across each of a plurality of ultracapacitors. For example, in some embodiments, the control circuit can acquire a plurality of signals. In such embodiments, each of the plurality of signals may indicate the voltage across the corresponding ultracapacitor. For example, a first signal among the plurality of signals may indicate a first voltage across the first ultracapacitor. In addition, a second signal among the plurality of signals may indicate a second voltage across the second ultracapacitor. In some embodiments, the control circuit can determine that the first voltage across the first ultracapacitor and the second voltage across the second ultracapacitor correspond to the highest voltage and the lowest voltage among the plurality of ultracapacitors, respectively. Furthermore, in such embodiments, the control circuit can be configured to determine that the first voltage across the first ultracapacitor (e.g., the highest voltage) and the second voltage across the second ultracapacitor (e.g., the lowest voltage) are not substantially the same (e.g., not within 10% of each other). The control circuit can be configured to cont