Thermal Modeling of a Supercapacitor Based on Calorimetric Measurement

Supercapacitors have the potential to meet the high pulse power capability of the energy-storage systems for automotive applications. In the high pulse power operations for automotive applications, a large amount of heat is produced inside a supercapacitor cell. Because the lifetime and performance of a supercapacitor depend strongly on temperature, it is important to accurately predict the thermal behaviors of a supercapacitor for its efficient and reliable system integration from an application perspective. Modeling of the thermal behaviors of a supercapacitor can serve a valuable role when optimizing the design of future cells and the thermal management system for automotive applications.<br/>In this work, the rate of heat generation of the supercapacitor cell during charge and discharge is measured with a large, custom-made calorimeter, because most commercial calorimeters are manufactured for testing small cells. Then, based on this measurement data, a three-dimensional modeling is carried-out to investigate the effects of the operating and ambient conditions on the thermal behavior of a 2.7 V/3500 F supercapacitor cell for a 42-V automotive electrical system. The results show that the temperature of the supercapacitor cell increases during the first 50 cycles after which it reaches a periodic steady-state value that increases with increasing ambient temperature.