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MODULAR INTEGRATED ENERGY STORAGE DEVICE AND POWER CONVERTER BASED ON SUPERCAPACITORS Background With the increasing energy demand and emergence of renewable energy, large amounts of energy must be stored and later very quickly restored, generating high power. A promising approach is to use supercapacitor banks which have a shorter reaction time and larger power output than batteries. To reach a high enough voltage, supercapacitors need to be connected in series. The problem is that since the supercapacitors all have a slightly different capacitance, they cannot be simultaneously fully charged and the available storage maximized, unless an equilibrating circuit is used (at the expense of additional losses). Special care must also be taken to avoid overvoltage on individual capacitors. Moreover, supercapacitor banks require a power converter to be used alongside, which increases the size of the system and causes electromagnetic interference (EMI) due to high frequency switching. Technology This new design integrates the storage unit and the power converter in the same compact modular device made of a number of basic cells connected in series comprising only low cost, low voltage components. The basic cell contains two supercapacitors as well as switches protecting against overvoltage by supplying an alternative current path and allowing to make use of the full storage capacity by controlling the voltage of each capacitor individually. The switches are controlled by a programmable microcontroller capable of performing any desired conversion (DC/DC, AC/DC, DC/AC, AC/AC) by putting a variable number of cells in series. The innovative integrated power converter hence does not rely on high frequency switching which eliminates the EMI problem. Application The device could be applied for braking energy recovery in trains, subways, cars, motorcycles, bicycles... In addition to providing energy storage, the device replaces standard standalone power converters with the advantage that the storing device provides short-term autonomy in case of power outage. For renewable energy, it could also be useful to level the power output of wind turbines and solar panels in which the energy production and consumption are quite irregular. Competitive Advantages One compact device for both energy storage and power conversion Maximized stored energy by controlling the voltage on each capacitor Low frequency operation thus no electromagnetic interference Suitable for any type of power conversion (AC/DC, AC/AC, DC/AC or DC/DC) Quick and easy to repair modular arrangement of low cost, low voltage components Patent US Provisional Patent Application – « MODULAR ENERGY STORAGE DEVICE » Next Steps As a proof of concept, a few cells have been assembled. The next step is to make the device more compact and devise a robust matrix controller. The technology is available for licensing. Contact Morgan Guitton, Jr. Eng. Project Manager, Business Development Sciences and Engineering Univalor +1 (514) 340-3243 ext. 4231 [email protected] Frédéric Sirois, Ph.D. Professor Department of Electrical Engineering Polytechnique Montreal +1 (514) 340-4711 ext. 3607 [email protected]