Evolution of Supercapacitors | Hardware Design Articles | EEWeb

Evolution of Supercapacitors | Hardware Design Articles | EEWeb

When Technologies Collide:

Have you ever wondered why certain markets seem to burgeon almost overnight. Tablets were virtually non-existent a couple years ago. The iPhone has only been around a few years and it has re-shaped the cell phone industry. The iPod redefined music delivery in a few short years. Hybrid and electric cars have gone from fringe markets to rapidly growing. And then, there is solar power....

Solar cells have been around for decades. Electric powered vehicles have been around for a long time in special vehicles like golf carts. GM introduced and then squashed (literally) an electric car long before the Prius. Oh, and tablets...the Apple Newton was around last century and was one of Apple's few product flops. But, today the iPad is a sensation.

It is not that people wouldn't have wanted these products earlier but, they were not practical to make. Sometimes technology has to catch up to aspiration. More specifically it is the intersection of several technologies. Broadband, USB, touch screen technology, battery life, flat screen technology, lighter construction materials, nano-technology providing stronger and lighter materials, new lighting technologies - both for illumination e.g. LEDs and CFL and luminance e.g. back lighting for displays, high density data storage technology, and of course content...lot's of content. It is the intersection of the breakthroughs in many of these categories (to name only a few) that have enabled products that provide value performance and meet mass market price points.

In alternative energy, such as solar powered grids or hybrid / electric cars, one of the key hurdles has been not just the generation of the power but the storage and recapture of the power. When the sun goes down electricity is still in demand. This means that solar farms cannot provide primary sources of energy unless they can store it. When the wind isn't blowing the turbine blades the energy demand is still there. These technologies can provide a valuable supplementary supply of energy on top of traditional carbon based energy sources. But, if the electricity generated can be stored then these technologies can step up to a source of primary power.

One of the enabling technologies for this will be super capacitors, also known as ultra capacitors. Batteries have one big draw back, they take a while to charge. Super capacitors can be charged in seconds. One application will be in transportation. When a car, train, or bus comes to a halt, energy is expended and dissipated in the form of heat. Regenerative technologies can capture this energy and store it relatively quickly in a bank of super capacitors. They can then be used as a source of burst energy when the vehicle goes in motion. Even a crane expends energy when its boom drops. A significant percentage of this energy can be recaptured, stored and used to lift the boom again.

We have not reached the day of the perfect closed loop generator. But, developing means to recapture kinetic energy will be a key to increasing our ability to keep pace with our growing need for energy without increasing our carbon footprint. Maybe some day we will be able to ween our selves off of relying upon fossilized dinosaurs to power our society. Then those forms of power generation will be next to become extinct...possibly.