Electric Doublelayer Caps
Electric Double Layer Capacitors (EDLC) also known as Ultracapacitors, Goldcaps or Supercapacitors are proven rechargeable alternative energy storage devices. They are mainly used in tandem with a battery but in some cases the real option is to replace the battery. The EDLC´s are an ideal source of back-up and peak-power.
The charge in an Ultracapacitor is stored electrostatically by separating positive and negative charges. This means they do not use a chemical reaction to store energy. That´s the reason why an Electric Double Layer Capacitor can be charged and discharged up to 1,000,000 times and much faster than a Battery.
Basically, there are two different types of constructions: Stacked and wound construction forms. The construction of the wound types is similar to the construction of ordinary radial electrolytic capacitors. Available with a maximum cell voltage between 2.1 and 2.7 V, capacities of up to 3000F can be reached with these cells. The stacked types called “Coin”, however, generally offer a capacitor voltage of 5.5V (integrating cells in series). Available with capacities of up to 1.5 F, these cells are used especially in RTC applications.
Benefits
- Fast charge-/discharge cycles (only a few seconds)
- High charge-/discharge currents (up to hundreds of A)
- Long lifetime (up to over 1 billion cycles)
- Very long operating lifetime (up to 10 years and even more)
- Wide operating temperature range
- Higher energy vs. electrolytic
- Higher power vs. batteries
- No problems due to over-charging (only voltage-limitation)
- No charge control circuit necessary (only voltage-limitation)
- Series- and parallel-connection possible
