ELECTRIC MACHINERY

Field Computation for an Axial Flux Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Generator . . . . . . . T. F. Chan, L. L. Lai, and S. Xie 1
Efficiency Optimization of Two-Asymmetrical-Winding Induction Motor Based on Swarm Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A. M. A. Amin, M. I. El Korfally, A. A. Sayed, and O. T. M. Hegazy 12
Analysis and Real-Time Testing of a Controlled Single-Phase Wavelet-Modulated Inverter for Capacitor-Run Induction
Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S. A. Saleh and M.A. Rahman 21
Development of a Switched-Reluctance Motor Drive with PFC Front-End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J. Y. Chai and C. M. Liaw 30
Online Synchronous Machine Parameter Extraction From Small-Signal Injection Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J. Huang, K. A. Corzine, and M. Belkhayat 43
Improved Resolution of the MCSA Method Via Hilbert Transform, Enabling the Diagnosis of Rotor Asymmetries at Very
Low Slip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . R. Puche-Panadero, M. Pineda-Sanchez, M. Riera-Guasp, J. Roger-Folch, E. Hurtado-Perez, and J. Perez-Cruz 52
Sensorless Slowdown Detection Method for Single-Phase Induction Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F. Ferreyre, R. Goyet, G. Clerc, and T. Bouscasse 60
Behavior of the Three-Phase Induction Motor With Spiral Sheet Rotor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R. Rosas, O. Boix Aragonès, X. Colom Fajula, and A. Rolán Blanco 68
Analysis of Flux Leakage in a Segmented Core Brushless Permanent Magnet Motor . . . . . . . . . M. F. Momen and S. Datta 77
Optimization of Multibrid Permanent-Magnet Wind Generator Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H. Li, Z. Chen, and H. Polinder 82

ENERGY DEVELOPMENT & POWER GENERATION

A Single-Stage Single-Phase Transformer-Less Doubly Grounded Grid-Connected PV Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H. Patel and V. Agarwal 93
The Impact of Tower Shadow, Yaw Error, and Wind Shears on Power Quality in a Wind–Diesel System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R. Fadaeinedjad, G. Moschopoulos, and M. Moallem 102
Numerical Modeling of Thermoelectric Generators With Varing Material Properties in a Circuit Simulator . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M. Chen, L. A. Rosendahl, T. J. Condra, and J. K. Pedersen 112
Short-Term Prediction of Wind Farm Power: A Data Mining Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A. Kusiak, H. Zheng, and Z. Song 125

(Contents Continued on Back Cover)

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(Contents Continued from Front Cover)

Microgrid Dynamic Performance Improvement Using a Doubly Fed Induction Wind Generator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M. Shahabi, M. R. Haghifam, M. Mohamadian, and S. A. Nabavi-Niaki 137
Laboratory Studies of a New Stator Slot Wedge Tester for HV Generators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X. Peng, Z. Jia, S. Gao, L. Wang, Z. Guan, J. Yang, and T. Wang 146
A Coordinated Control Method for Leveling PV Output Power Fluctuations of PV–Diesel Hybrid Systems Connected to
Isolated Power Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M. Datta, T. Senjyu, A. Yona, T. Funabashi, and C.-H. Kim 153
Multicriteria Design of Hybrid Power Generation Systems Based on a Modified Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L. Wang and C. Singh 163
Modulation and control of three phase paralleled Z-source inverters for distributed generation applications . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D. M. Vilathgamuwa, C. J. Gajanayake, and P. C. Loh 173
A Synchronous Generator Internal Fault Model Based on the Voltage-Behind-Reactance Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D. S. Vilchis-Rodriguez and E. Acha 184
Development of a MATLAB/Simulink Model of a Single-Phase Grid-Connected Photovoltaic System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M. E. Ropp and S. Gonzalez 195
Novel Half-Bridge Inductive DC–DC Isolated Converters for Fuel Cell Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Y. Lembeye, V. Dang Bang, G. Lefèvre, and J. Ferrieux 203
Extending the Modeling Framework for Wind Generation Systems: RLS-Based Paradigm for Performance Under High
Turbulence Inflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E. B. Muhando, T. Senjyu, H. Kinjo, and T. Funabashi 211
A Developed Off-line Model for Optimal Operation of Combined Heating and Cooling and Power Systems . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reza Hashemi 222
Analysis of a Commercial Biogas Generation System Using a Gas Engine–Induction Generator Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L. Wang and P.-Y. Lin 230
Operation of Grid-Connected DFIG Under Unbalanced Grid Voltage Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yi Zhou, P. Bauer, Jan A. Ferreira, and Jan Pier 240
Analysis of Supercapacitor as Second Source Based on Fuel Cell Power Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. Thounthong, S. Raël, and B. Davat 247
MPPT Scheme for a PV-Fed Single-Phase Single-Stage Grid-Connected Inverter Operating in CCM With Only One
Current Sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H. Patel and V. Agarwal 256
Optimal Control of Matrix-Converter-Based WECS for Performance Enhancement and Efficiency Optimization . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . V. Kumar, R. R. Joshi, and R. C. Bansal 264
Guidelines for Protection Against Electric Shock in PV Generators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J. C. Hernández and P. G. Vidal 274
Modeling and Dynamic Characteristic Simulation of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J. Jia, Q. Li, Y. Wang, Y. T. Cham, and M. Han 283
On Load–Frequency Regulation With Time Delays: Design and Real-Time Implementation . . . H. Bevrani and T. Hiyama 292

POWER ENGINEERING LETTERS

Control of the Reactive Power Supplied by a Matrix Converter . . . . . . . . . . R. Cárdenas, R. Peña, J. Clare, and P. Wheeler 301

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION, VOL. 24, NO. 1, MARCH 2009
Analysis of Supercapacitor as Second Source Based
on Fuel Cell Power Generation
Phatiphat Thounthong, Member, IEEE, Stéphane Raël, and Bernard Davat, Member, IEEE
Abstract—This paper presents the utilization of a supercapaci-
tor as an auxiliary power source in a distributed generation system,
composed of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC)
as the main energy source. The main weak point of fuel cells (FCs)
is slow dynamics because one must limit the FC current slope in or-
der to prevent fuel starvation problems, to improve its performance
and lifetime. The very fast power response and high specific power
of a supercapacitor can complement the slower power output of the
main source to produce the compatibility and performance char-
acteristics needed in a load. The FC and supercapacitor character-
istics are clearly presented. Experimental results with small-scale
devices (supercapacitor bank: 292-F, 30-V, 400-A; PEMFC: 500-W,
40-A) illustrate excellent performance during a motor drive cycle.
Index Terms—Converters, current control, electric vehicles, en-
ergy storage, fuel cells (FCs), supercapacitor.
I. INTRODUCTION
LECTRICAL energy storage is compulsory in numer-
E ous applications: telecommunication devices (such as cell
phones), stand-by power systems, hybrid vehicles, and new elec-
tric hybrid vehicles [1], [2].
Electrochemical capacitors are presently called by a number
of names: supercapacitor, ultracapacitor, or double-layer capac-
itor; these terms are used interchangeably. The first high-power
supercapacitors were developed by the Pinnacle Research In-
stitute (PRI) for the U.S. military applications such as laser
weaponry and missile guidance systems. However, only in the
19th century did supercapacitors become well known in the con-
text of hybrid electric vehicles promoted by the Department of
Energy (DOE) [3].
Fuel cell (FC) power sources are expected to be used in a
growing number of applications: in portable applications, in
transportation applications [4]–[6], and in stationary power ap-
plications [7], [8]. In recent works, an FC/supercapacitor hybrid
Manuscript received September 8, 2006; revised April 22, 2008. First
published January 9, 2009; current version published February 19, 2009. This
work was supported in part by a research program in cooperation with the
Thai-French Innovation Institute, King Mongkut’s University of Technology
North Bangkok with the Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine under the
“Franco-Thai on higher education and research joint project” and in part by
the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the Nancy
Research Group in Electrical Engineering (GREEN: UMR 7037). Paper no.
TEC-00428-2006.
P. Thounthong is with the Department of Teacher Training in Electrical En-
gineering (TE), King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok
(KMUTNB), Bangkok 10800, Thailand (e-mail: phtt@kmutnb.ac.th).
S. Raël and B. Davat are with the Groupe de Recherche en Electrotechnique et
Electronique de Nancy (GREEN), Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine
(INPL), Nancy 54510, France (e-mail: stephane.rael@ensem.inplnancy.fr;
bernard.davat@ensem.inpl-nancy.fr).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TEC.2008.2003216
0885-8969/$25.00 © 2009 IEEE
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247
source [9], [10] and an FC/battery hybrid source [11], [12]
have already been reported. Nonetheless, some research has
only shown the simulation results in which the FC is consid-
ered as an ideal source; some have operated with a small-scale
FC in which FC weak points cannot be observed such as the
fuel starvation problem, especially to utilize the FC in dynamic
applications.
Reliability and lifetime are the most essential considerations
in such power sources. Taniguchi et al. [13] clearly demon-
strated that hydrogen and oxygen starvation caused severe and
permanent damage to the electrocatalyst of the FC. They have
recommended that fuel starvation must absolutely be avoided,
even if the operation under fuel starvation is momentary, in just
1 s [13], [14].
For these reasons, the use of the supercapacitor as an auxil-
iary source is expected that the very fast power response and
high specific power can complement the slower power output of
the main source (particularly the FC generator). Various recent
researches [15]–[17] have documented the subject of superca-
pacitor technology, but without its applications, particularly FC
applications.
Presented here is a hybridization of the supercapacitor as
an energy storage device with an FC as a main source. The
next section contains a description of the FC characteristics,
especially the fuel starvation problem. In Section III, the su-
percapacitor is presented in detail: a state of the art, a model,
a converter, and current regulation. The hybrid control algo-
rithm will be explained in Section IV. In the final section, ex-
perimental results will show the supercapacitor characteristics
during operation with a high switching frequency, a constant dis-
charging current and an FC hybrid source during a motor drive
cycle.
II. FUEL CELL CHARACTERISTICS
A. Fuel Cell Principle
FCs are electrochemical devices that directly convert the
chemical energy of a fuel into electricity. Energy is released
whenever a fuel (hydrogen) reacts chemically with the oxygen
in air. In the case of hydrogen/oxygen FCs, which are the focus
of most research activities today, the only by-product is water
and heat [18]–[20]. Polymer electrolyte membrane FCs (PEM-
FCs) are promising power sources because of their relatively
small size, lightweight, and ease to build.
The FC model here is for a type of PEM, which uses the
following electrochemical reaction:
1
H2 + O2 → H2 O + Heat + Electrical Energy. (1)
2
248 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION, VOL. 24, NO. 1, MARCH 2009

Fig. 1. Simplified diagram of the PEMFC system.

The FC voltage VFC is modeled as [20], [21]:

Activation loss

  
O hm
ic loss
IFC + in 
VFC = E − A log − Rm (IFC + in )
io
Concentration loss


 
IFC + in
+ B log 1 − (2)
iL
where E is the reversible no loss voltage of the FC (the ther-
modynamic potential), IFC the delivered FC current, io the ex-
change current, A the slope of the Tafel line, iL the limiting
current, B the constant in the mass transfer term, in the internal
current, and Rm the membrane and contact resistances.
As developed earlier, the Nernst equation for the hydro- Fig. 2. FC dynamic characteristics to (a) current step (b) current slope: 4 A/s.
gen/oxygen FC (using literature values [21] for the standard- pared with Fig. 2(b), because fuel flows (particularly the delay
state entropy change) can be written as: of air flow) have difficulties following the current step, called

the fuel starvation phenomenon. This condition of operation is
E = 1.299 − 0.85 × 10−3 (T − 298.15) evidently harmful for the FC stack [13], [14].

Without any doubt, to use the FC in dynamic applications, its
1
+4.3085 × 10−5 T ln (pH 2 ) + ln (pO 2 ) nCell (3) current or power slope must be limited, but some research work
2 has omitted to do this. One may lack the FC information in which
where T is the cell temperature (in Kelvin), pH 2 and pO 2 are the failure modes for FC are not well documented, and degradation
partial pressure of hydrogen and oxygen (in bar), respectively, causes and mechanisms are not understood. However, recent
and nCell is the number of cells in series. works with evidently experimental results have been based on
the control of the FC current slope, for example: 4 A/s for a
B. Fuel Cell System 0.5-kW, 12.5-V PEMFC [9], [11] and 500 W/s for a 2.5-kW,
22-V PEMFC [23].
Fig. 1 shows a simplified diagram of the PEMFC system,
which is also employed for this research. Constructed by the III. SUPERCAPACITOR
ZSW Company (Germany), the FC stack (500 W, 40 A, 13 V)
is composed of 23 cells with area of 100 cm2 [22]. A. State of the Art
When an FC system is operated, its fuel flows are controlled The concept of the supercapacitor is not recent. Neverthe-
by a “Fuel Cell Controller” (see Fig. 1), which receives an less, marketing only began at the end of 1970s. These devices
FC current demand (reference), iFCREF , from the user (manual were low-sized devices (capacitance of some farads, low spe-
operation) or from the hybrid control algorithm (in case of auto- cific energy), dedicated to signal applications such as memory
matic operation). The fuel flows must be adjusted to match the backup [17].
reactant delivery rate to the usage rate by the FC controller [11]. Since the early 1990s, supercapacitors dedicated to high-
power industrial applications (capacitance up to some thousands
C. Fuel Starvation of the FC Stack
farads, specific energy and specific power of several Wh/kg
For clarity about the dynamic limitation of the FC generator, and kW/kg, respectively) have been available. Especially, DOE
Fig. 2 presents the 0.5 kW PEMFC voltage response to a current. supercapacitor development programs of long-term goals are
The tests operate in two different ways: current step and current specific energy >15 Wh/kg, specific power >2.0 kW/kg after
slope. It shows the drop of the voltage curve in Fig. 2(a), com- 2003 [3].

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THOUNTHONG et al.: ANALYSIS OF SUPERCAPACITOR AS SECOND SOURCE BASED ON FUEL CELL POWER GENERATION 249

Fig. 4. Simplified equivalent circuit of a supercapacitor cell including R p .

Fig. 3. Specific power versus specific energy of supercapacitor, NiCd, NiMH,

and Li-Ion battery technology from the SAFT company.

Finally, the comparison of storage device technologies from

SAFT Company is depicted in Fig. 3. Even though it is true that
a battery has the largest energy density (meaning more energy
is stored per unit of weight than other technologies), it is impor-
tant to consider the availability of that energy. This is the tradi- Fig. 5. Discharge profile for a supercapacitor under constant current.
tional advantage of capacitors. With a time constant of less than
0.1 s, energy can be taken from a capacitor at a very high rate. Many applications require the capacitors to be connected to-
On the contrary, the same size battery will not be able to supply gether, in series and/or parallel combinations, to form a “bank”
the necessary energy in the same time period. with a specific voltage and capacitance rating. Normally, they
Additionally, the main drawback of the batteries is a slow are always connected in series.
charging time, limited by a charging current; in contrast, the Capacitance variations affect the voltage distribution during
supercapacitor can be charged in a short time, depending on the cycling, and voltage distribution during sustained operation at
availability of a high charging current (power) from the main a fixed voltage is influenced by leakage current variations. For
source. The capacitor voltage vC (t) can then be found using the this reason, an active voltage balancing circuit is employed to
following classical equation: regulate the cell voltage.
 tn
It is common to choose a specific voltage, and thus, calculat-
1 ing the required capacitance. In analyzing any application, one
vC (t) = iC (t) dt. (4)
C t0 first needs to determine the following system variables affecting
the choice of supercapacitor:
For example, an SAFT supercapacitor module (583 F, 15 V, 1) maximum voltage, VCM ax ;
400 A) can be charged from zero voltage (zero of charge) to the 2) working (nominal) voltage, VCNom ;
maximum voltage in 22 s at a constant current of 400 A. More 3) minimum allowable voltage, VCM in ;
advantageous, unlike batteries, supercapacitors can withstand a 4) current requirement, IC , or the power requirement, PC ;
very large number (thousands to millions) of charge/discharge 5) time of discharge, td ;
cycles without degradation [24]. 6) capacitance per cell, CCell ;
7) cell voltage, VCell .
B. Supercapacitor Model Connecting many cells in series to form a bank, this does lead
to an increase in total ESR and to a decrease in total capacitance.
The supercapacitor model is very complex because of the
Defining nS as the number of capacitors connected in series, the
distributed-parameter model. Many different models have been
maximum capacitor voltage VCM ax , total ESR, and capacitance
proposed for the double-layer effect [17]. Recent works [10],
CSup erC of the capacitor bank can be estimated as:
[17] have proposed that the reduced order model (as portrayed
⎫
in Fig. 4) for a supercapacitor cell is presented because of its VCM ax = nS VCell ⎪
⎪
⎬
simplicity and its operating times on the order of a few seconds. ESR = nS RS
It is comprised of three ideal circuit elements: a capacitor CCell , . (5)
CCell ⎪
⎪
⎭
a series resistor RS called the equivalent series resistance (ESR), CSup erC =
and a parallel resistor Rp . The parallel resistor Rp models the nS
leakage current found in all capacitors. This leakage current is The discharge profile for a supercapacitor bank under a con-
equal to a few milliamps in a big supercapacitor. stant current is shown in Fig. 5. A constant discharging current

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250 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION, VOL. 24, NO. 1, MARCH 2009

Fig. 6. Discharge profile for a supercapacitor under constant power. Fig. 7. Two-quadrant supercapacitor converter.

IC is particularly useful when determining the parameters of in the ESR as:

 td
⎫
the supercapacitor. Nevertheless, Fig. 5 should not be used to ⎪
⎪
Eloss = i2Sup erC
(τ ) ESRdτ ⎬
consider sizing supercapacitors for constant power applications 0   . (9)
such as a general power profile (drive cycle) used in electric VC Nom ⎪ ⎪
= PC ESRCM in ln ⎭
vehicle. Worst case scenarios from drive cycle determine size VC M in
of the storage devices. For example, Mitchell et al. [25] pre-
To calculate the required capacitance CSup erC , one can
sented that the Renault fuel cell automobile (SCENIC II, rated
rewrite (6) as:
power of 70 kW of a PEMFC) needs a supplementary constant
power (from battery) of around 30 kW for a 3 s for transient 1  
CSup erC VC2 Nom − VC2 M in = PC td + Eloss . (10)
power (vehicle acceleration). Then, the discharge profile for a 2
supercapacitor under a constant power PC is shown in Fig. 6. From (6) and (10), one obtains:
To estimate the minimum capacitance requirement CM in , one ⎫
CSup erC = (1 + χ) CM in ⎬
can write an energy equation without losses (ESR neglected)
Eloss (11)
under a discharging constant power PC as: χ= ⎭
  PC td
1
CM in VC2 Nom − vSup
2
erC (t) = PC t (6) where χ is the defined energy ratio.
2
where vSup erC (t) is the supercapacitor terminal voltage. Then, C. Supercapacitor Converter
2PC td The supercapacitor bank is connected to the dc bus by means
CM in = 2 . (7)
VC Nom − VC2 M in of a 2-quadrant dc/dc converter (bidirectional converter). The
Since the power being delivered is constant, the minimum converter studied here is the circuit, as shown in Fig. 7 [26].
voltage VC M in and maximum current IC M ax can be determined L1 represents the inductor used for energy transfer and current
based on the current conducting capabilities of the supercapac- filtering. The inductor size is classically defined by switching
itor. Equations (6) and (7) can then be rewritten as: frequency and current ripple. Note here that since it is beyond
 ⎫ the scope of this paper to discuss converter circuit topologies,
2PC td ⎪
VC M in = VC2 Nom − ⎪ a simple circuit has been selected. The supercapacitor current,
CM in ⎬ which flows across the storage device, can be positive or nega-
. (8)
PC ⎪
⎪ tive, allowing energy to be transferred in both directions.
IC M ax =  2 ⎭
VC Nom − (2PC td /CM in ) The supercapacitor converter is driven by means of com-
plementary pulses, applied on the gates of two insulated-gate
The variables VC M ax and CSup erC are related by the number
bipolar transistors (IGBTs): S1 and S2 . The gate drive com-
of cells in series. Voltage rating is important, but the capacitor
mands are generated by a hysteresis controller coming from the
will also fail if the current is too high. The assumption is that the
hybrid control algorithm. It is realized in order to control the
capacitors will never be charged above the combined maximum
supercapacitor current. This controller is selected because of
voltage rating of all the cells. Generally, VC M in is chosen as
the simplicity to implement it and its fastest response to current
VC M ax /2, from (6), resulting in the remaining energy of 25%.
reference [27].
In applications where high currents are drawn, the effect of the
ESR has to be taken into account. The energy dissipated Eloss
IV. HYBRID CONTROL ALGORITHM
in the ESR, as well as in the cabling, connectors, and converter,
could result in an undersizing of the number of capacitors re- Fig. 8 depicts the hybrid source control strategy [22]. It lies in
quired. For this reason, one can theoretically calculate the losses using the supercapacitor bank, which is the fastest energy source

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THOUNTHONG et al.: ANALYSIS OF SUPERCAPACITOR AS SECOND SOURCE BASED ON FUEL CELL POWER GENERATION 251

Fig. 8. FC/supercapacitor hybrid control algorithm, where v B u s is the dc bus voltage, V B u sR E F the dc bus voltage reference, E B u sR E F the dc bus energy
reference, E B u sM e a the filtered dc bus energy, v S u p e rC the supercapacitor voltage, V S u p e rC R E F the supercapacitor voltage reference, v S u p e rC M e a the filtered
dc bus voltage, v F C the FC voltage, iS u p e rC the supercapacitor current, iS u p e rC R E F the supercapacitor current reference, iF C the FC current, iF C R E F the
FC current reference, iF C M e a the filtered FC current, p S u p e rC R E F the supercapacitor power reference, and G S L the absolute value for the FC current slope
limitation.

of the system, for supplying the energy required to achieve the

dc bus voltage regulation, as if this device were a standard
power supply. Therefore, the FC, although obviously the main
energy source of the system, may be seen as the device that
supplies energy to supercapacitor bank to keep them charged.
Consequently, the supercapacitor converter is driven to realize
a classical dc link voltage regulation, and the FC converter is
driven to maintain the supercapacitor bank at a given state of
charge. For reasons of safety and dynamics, these converters
are primarily controlled by inner current loops. These current
loops are supplied by two reference signals, iSup erCREF and
iFCREF , generated by the dc link voltage regulation loop and
the supercapacitor voltage regulation loop, respectively (iFCREF
also supplies the “fuel cell controller” to adjust fuel flows to the
desired current) [11].
For the dc bus voltage control loop, supercapacitor power
Fig. 9. Test bench of FC/supercapacitor hybrid power source.
reference pSup erCREF is generated by means of a proportional–
integral (PI) regulator. This signal is then divided by the su-
percapacitor voltage, and limited to maintain supercapacitor absolute value (GSL ) of some amperes per second enables safe
voltage within an interval [VC M in , VC M ax ]. This results in su- operation of the FC (refer to “FC Current Slope Limitation,”
percapacitor current reference iSup erCREF . This reference must even during transient power demand).
also be limited within an interval (maximum charging, maxi-
mum discharging), as depicted in the block “SuperC Limitation V. EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION
Function” [9].
For the supercapacitor voltage control loop, it consists of a A. Test Bench Description
proportional (P) controller limited in level and slope, to respect To validate the supercapacitor as a second source to assist
constraints associated with the FC. The reference iFCREF that the main source, a small-scale test bench is realized as shown
drives the FC converter through the FC current loop is then in Fig. 9. The dc bus studied here is 42 V (PowerNet), a new
kept within an interval [IFCM in , IFCRated ]. The upper value of standard voltage in automotive systems [28]–[31].
this interval corresponds to the rated FC current, and the lower The SAFT supercapacitor bank (292 F, 30 V, 400 A) is
value should be zero. Moreover, slope limitation to a maximum composed of two supercapacitor modules connected in series

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252 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION, VOL. 24, NO. 1, MARCH 2009

Fig. 10. SAFT supercapacitor bank: 292 F, 30 V, 400 A.

Fig. 11. Supercapacitor current response to a step 0–50 A.

(see Fig. 10). A module is six cells connected in series (single
cell: 3500 F, 2.5 V, 400 A, ESR = 1 mΩ). One chooses: VC M ax =
30 V; VC Nom = 25 V; VC M in = VC M ax/2 = 15 V. From (7)
without losses, the energy storage (discharging from VC Nom to
VC M in ) is equal to 58.4 kJ or 16.2 Wh. The current ripple ∆I
of the hysteresis current controller is set at 3 A.
The PEMFC system is 500 W, 40 A, 13 V (see Fig. 1).
The FC stack is connected to the dc bus by a classical boost
converter [11]. The FC maximum (rated) current is set at 40
A with a controlled current slope of 4 A/s (absolute value),
as already presented in Fig. 2. The hybrid control algorithm is
implemented in the real-time card dSPACE DS1104, through
the mathematical environment of Matlab-Simulink.

B. Supercapacitor Characteristics to Constant Current

Discharging
Fig. 11 presents the transient response of supercapacitor con-
verter interfacing between the dc bus and the supercapacitor
bank. The initial voltage of the supercapacitor bank is 30 V. The
current reference iSup erCREF is Ch2 and the measured current
iSup erC is Ch4. One can observe that the hysteresis controller
functions well with a current ripple of 3 A and the high dynamic
response of the supercapacitor auxiliary source (from 0 to 50 A
in 0.4 ms).
Fig. 12 illustrates the constant discharging current with a
current step from 0 to 50 A, and vice versa. The initial voltage
of the supercapacitor bank is 30 V. It can be observed that the
initial voltage of the storage device instantaneously dropped
when stepping current because of ESR effect, which can be
calculated as:
30 V − 28 V 18 V − 20
ESR = = = 40 mΩ.
50 A −50 A
This value is over the theoretical value of 12 mΩ (12∗1 mΩ).
After studying with SAFT engineers who designed the prototype
supercapacitor cells, we may conclude that the aged cells may
Fig. 12. Supercapacitor current response to a step 0–50 A, and vice versa.
lead to increasing oxide connection and total ESR, but we are
still waiting for demonstrations of this.
From (4), one can also calculate the total capacitance as,
50 A × 60 s
CSup erC = = 300 F. (13)
28 V − 18 V
This value is closed to the theoretical value of 292 F. More-
over, one may investigate that during a constant discharging
current, the supercapacitor voltage waveform is virtually linear;
(12) then the reduced order model presented in Fig. 4 is sufficient for
the supercapacitor impedance model with a small leakage cur-
rent. From (9) to (11), if we know the constant discharging power
profile of the system, we can now estimate energy losses in ESR
and the useful energy provided to the dc bus. Unquestionably,
from these tests, the fast response of the supercapacitor power

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THOUNTHONG et al.: ANALYSIS OF SUPERCAPACITOR AS SECOND SOURCE BASED ON FUEL CELL POWER GENERATION 253

Fig. 13. Hybrid source response during motor drive cycle.

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254
source can be operated with the FC main generator in order to
improve the slow dynamics of the FC system.
C. Performances of Fuel Cell/Supercapacitor Hybrid Source
The experimental tests shown later were carried out by con-
necting the dc link to an active load composed of a two-quadrant
converter, loaded by a dc motor coupled with a dc generator.
Fig. 13 presents waveforms obtained during the motor drive
cycle: the dc bus and FC voltages; FC, supercapacitor, and
load (motor) powers; motor speed; FC and supercapacitor cur-
rents; and supercapacitor state-of-charge (voltage). The initial
state is no-load power and the storage device full-of-charge,
VSup erC = 25 V; as a result, zero for both the FC and superca-
pacitor currents. At t = 10 s, the motor speed accelerates to the
final speed of 1000 r/min; synchronously the final FC current
increases with a limited slope of 4 A/s to a rated current of 40 A.
Thus, the supercapacitor, which supplies most of the power re-
quired during motor acceleration, remains in a discharge state
after the motor start. The final supercapacitor current is 8 A
because the steady-state load power (approximately 0.6 kW) is
greater than the FC rated power (0.5 kW), and the peak load
power is about 1 kW, which is about two times that of the FC
rated power.
After that, at t = 40 s, the motor speed decelerates to stop
with a peak load power of about −0.5 kW. The supercapac-
itor is deeply charged, demonstrating three phases. First, the
supercapacitor recovers the energy supplied to the dc bus by
the FC (0.5 kW) and the motor. Second, the supercapacitor is
charged only by the FC. Third, the supercapacitor is nearly full-
of-charge, then reducing the charging current. After that, both
the FC and supercapacitor currents reduce to zero when VSup erC
reaches VC Nom of 25 V. Fortunately, only small perturbations
on the dc bus voltage waveform can be seen, which is of major
importance in using supercapacitors to improve the dynamic
performance of the whole system.
VI. CONCLUSION
The main objective of this paper is to present the supercapac-
itor characteristics for energy storage applications, particularly
for future FC power generations. The slow dynamics of an FC
generator can be ameliorated by using a very fast power re-
sponse and the high specific power of the supercapacitor source.
During motor starts/stops or other significant steps in load, the
supercapacitor provides the balance of energy needed during
the momentary load transition period, and also, absorbs excess
energy from regenerative braking.
Experimental results (with small-scale devices of a superca-
pacitor bank and a PEMFC) authenticate the excellent perfor-
mance of the whole system during a motor drive cycle.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Dr. I. Sadli for operating the
FC system during experimentations.
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION, VOL. 24, NO. 1, MARCH 2009
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Phatiphat Thounthong (M’09) received the B.S.
and M.E. degrees from King Mongkut’s Institute of
Technology North Bangkok (KMITNB), Bangkok,
Thailand, in 1996 and 2001, respectively, and the
Ph.D. degree from the Institut National Polytech-
nique de Lorraine (INPL), Nancy-Lorraine, France,
in 2005, all in electrical engineering.
From 1997 to 1998, he was an Electrical Engi-
neer with E.R. Metal Works, Ltd. (EKARAT Group),
Thailand. From 1998 to 2002, he was an Assistant
Lecturer at KMITNB, where he is currently an Assis-
tant Professor. His current research interests include power electronics, electric
drives, and electrical devices (fuel cell, batteries, and supercapacitor).
Authorized licensed use limited to: King Monkuts Institute of Technology. Downloaded on February 19, 2009 at 22:20 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
255
Stéphane Raël received the M.E. degree in electri-
cal engineering from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure
des Ingénieurs Electriciens de Grenoble (ENSIEG),
Grenoble, France, in 1992, and the Ph.D. degree in
electrical engineering from the Institut National Poly-
technique de Grenoble (INPG), Grenoble, in 1996.
Since 1998, he has been with the Institut Na-
tional Polytechnique de Lorraine, Nancy, France,
where he was earlier an Assistant Professor, and cur-
rently, a Professor. His current research interests in-
clude power electronic components, supercapacitors,
batteries, and fuel cells.
Bernard Davat (M’89) received the Engineer degree
from Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Electrotechnique,
d’Electronique, d’Informatique, d’Hydraulique et
des Telecommunications (ENSEEIHT), Toulouse,
France, in 1975, and the Ph.D. and Docteur d’Etat
degrees in elecrical engineering from the Institut Na-
tional Polytechnique de Toulouse (INPT), Toulouse,
in 1978 and 1984, respectively.
From 1980 to 1988, he was a Researcher at French
National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS),
Laboratoire d’Electrotechnique et d’Electronique In-
dustrielle (LEEI). Since 1988, he has been a Professor at the Institut Na-
tional Polytechnique de Lorraine, Nancy, France. His current research inter-
ests include power electronics, drives, and new electrical devices (fuel cell and
supercapacitor).