Efficient use of Electric Double Layer Capacitor as energy source on board of electric vehicles

Electric Double Layer Capacitors (EDLC) are energy storage devices featuring extremely high power capabilities and superior cycle life, when compared to electrochemical batteries. However, due to the poor energy density, their use in electrical transportation is often limited to the implementation of power buffers for another energy source. After shortly describing this kind of application, the paper focuses on techniques for efficiency improvement and downsizing of such power buffer, based on the use of a split EDLC bank. Two different design methodologies for the proposed power buffer topology are presented and discussed, and their advantage over conventional implementations is shown by means of theoretical analysis and numerical simulation.