Optimal selection and design of the supercapacitor module for fuel cell vehicles

Supercapacitor is anticipated to play an important role in increasing system efficiency by reducing the peak load for the batteries and recycling regenerated energy. As supercapacitors are produced in various voltages and capacitances by the manufacturers, accurate criteria for performance evaluation is essentially needed due to high unit price and it is also very important to raise system economic advantage by organizing optimal module on such basis. In this paper criteria for better selection of the supercapacitor through EIS (Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy) experiment are presented and based on the experimental results optimal method of designing supercapacitor module applied to fuel cell vehicle is proposed. The validity of the proposed criteria is proved through the computer simulation using FTP-72 urban dynamometer driving schedule.