See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/37436784

The use of supercapacitors for energy storage in traction systems

Article · January 2004

Source: OAI

CITATIONS READS

21 594

2 authors, including:

Alfred Rufer
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
304 PUBLICATIONS   5,998 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Ultrafast Charging of Electric Vehicles View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Alfred Rufer on 04 August 2017.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 The use of supercapacitors for energy storage in
traction systems
Philippe Barrade, Alfred Rufer
Laboratory of Industrial Electronics, STI-ISELEI
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, EPFL
1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
philippe.barrade@epfl.ch
Abstract— Regarding traction systems, new solutions can be
proposed today, where energy storage with
supercapacitors can offer an easier energy management,
together with a strong decrease of the constraints applied
to the main energy source of such systems. The energy
density of supercapacitors is not so high that these
components can be used as main energy sources. However,
their power density allows those components to supply
efficiently power peak demand of the vehicle, minimizing
so power constraints on the main energy source: batteries,
thermal engine, catenaries, etc… The aim of this
contribution is to define typical applications fields for
supercapacitors, in the general domain of traction systems.
The supercapacitors will be first defined, and models will
be proposed. A method for sizing supercapacitors will be
described, taking into account energy and power
requirements to match efficiency as high as possible. Two
main applications will be then described and commented:
supercapacitors as complementary power supply,
associated with batteries in an electrical scooter
application. It will be described how the sizing of a
batteries tank can be optimized thanks to supercapacitors.
The second application will present an application where
supercapacitors are used as energy feeders for weak
distribution networks (trolley-buses supply).
Keywords-energy storage; supercapacitors; energy; power
I. INTRODUCTION
Supercapacitors represent a compromise between batteries
and conventional capacitors. The aim of their development is to
propose components dedicated for energy storage, able to offer
a high energy density and a high power density. As their power
density is lower than capacitors, and as their energy density is
still lower than batteries, they are an intermediate energy
storage component, interesting because of their lifetime. The
number of charging/discharging cycles is considerably high
compared to batteries [1].
However, their energy density leads to a reduced number of
applications where supercapacitors could be used as main
energy source. For traction systems studies have been made in
order to power electric vehicles with supercapacitors only. The
limited amount of energy stored into a supercapacitive tank that
has to be integrated into the limited free space of a tramway or
a trolleybus leads to an increased complexity for such a system.
Solutions to re-fill each 10 or 20 minutes such a storage tank
are heavy, and cost expensive [2].
On the other hand, their power density is interesting
because such components are compatible with the
instantaneous power needed for traction systems such as cars,
trolleybuses, tramways, and some regional trains. For such
applications, supercapacitors are used as complementary
storage devices that have to assume the fluctuating power
requirements of the traction chain, minimizing so constraints
on the main energy source. In addition, an interesting aspect in
the use of supercapacitors used in complement with an energy
source is that they enable the recovering of energy during
braking, even if the main energy source is not able to do it. In
new applications, such as tramways and some regional trains,
the braking resistors are replaced with supercapacitive tanks.
This enables first an increase of the energy efficiency of the
traction chain, with limited power constraints on the main
energy source during the acceleration of the systems.
In such application fields for supercapacitors, it is first
needed to identify the power needs of the system. The
supercapacitive tank will be designed to match criteria related
to fluctuating power, while the sizing of the main energy
source (batteries, diesel engine, fuel cell) will be affected
according to averaged power requirements. Regarding the
sizing of the supercapacitive tank, it is not only needed to
identify the energy to store in order to identify the number of
needed component. It has also to be checked if this
supercapacitors are power compatible with the application.
Power compatible means that this storage tank should offer an
optimum efficiency during charge and discharge. It has also to
be identified the link between the sizing of the storage tank and
the sizing of the main energy source.
This paper presents a sizing method to design a
supercapacitive tank taking into account energy and power
requirements, dedicated for smoothing power fluctuations on
the main energy source of a system. In a first part, the sizing
method of a supercapacitive tank will be described.
Considerations on energy efficiency will be made in order to be
power compatible with the application needs. A second part
will take the example of an electrical scooter, initially powered
with batteries. It will be shown how these batteries can be
strongly under-sized using complementary supercapacitors.
The third part will expose how supercapacitors technology can
help to maintain constant the voltage of an over-head supply
for trolleybuses.
II. SIZING A SUPERCAPACITIVE TANK
A. Energy requirements
Supercapacitors are usually seen as capacitors with a huge
capacitance value, from few farads to few kilo-farads. Studies
have been made that demonstrate that the identification of the
supercapacitors capacitance is not so evident, as some
relaxation phenomena occur during charge and discharge. The
capacitance that is given by manufacturer to characterize their
  100  
components is often the “main” capacitance, measured for
charge and discharge time up to few dozen of seconds.
However, measurements during charge and discharge time on a
longer duration lead on highest values of capacitances. This is
commonly represented with additional RC sub-circuits in
parallel with the main capacitance in an electrical-equivalent
representation. As a consequence, it is possible to store more
energy in supercapacitors than the energy calculated taking into
account the main capacitance [3].
Optimization procedures could then offer a reduction of the
size and the weight of a supercapacitive tank by lowering the
number of components, taking into account these relaxation
phenomena. However, in the general application field of
traction applications where supercapacitors are used to smooth
power constraints on an energy source, the constant time for
charge and discharge is quite short, and the relaxation
phenomena cannot be used with profit. Considering only the
main capacitance of a supercapacitor is then a simplification
that is justified to characterize the energy storage properties of
these components.
For the sizing of a supercapacitive tank, a simple sizing
process can be realised taking into account only the energy
requirements, considering that the supercapacitors are ideal
components, with no internal losses in a first approach. The
main equations that define the properties of supercapacitor are:
du c 1 half of this value). In most of applications, the discharge ratio
ic = C and W = Cu c2 (1)
dt 2 is maintained higher than 50%, for efficiency reasons.
Where ic is the current threw one supercapacitor, and uc is
the voltage across it. The parameter C is its capacitance, and W
is the stored energy. This energy is dependent on the voltage
across the component. The voltage across a supercapacitor has
to be limited to a maximum value UM (typically 2.5V), in order
to avoid any electrochemical reactions into the component that
could limit its lifetime. Under this condition, the stored energy
is at its maximum range WM when the voltage is at its
maximum value UM. The voltage across the component has
then to be decreased from its maximum allowed value UM to
0V in order to use the total amount of stored energy. This is not
possible because the current provided by the supercapacitor
should then be infinite, with the related efficiency problems on
the associated power converter. For this reason, the minimum
voltage when discharging the component has to be limited. All
the energy stored will not be used. It is necessary to define the
parameter d, that is the ratio between the minimum allowed
voltage Um once the discharge is finished, and the maximum
voltage UM that defines a full charge of the component. The
parameter d is expressed in percent and is called voltage
discharge ratio:
Um
d= 100 (2)
UM
The usable energy Wu of a supercapacitor is then only a
part of the total stored energy WM:
  d  2

1 1 1
Wu = CU 2M − CU m2 = CU M
2
 1 −    (3)
2 2 2

WM
Depending on the value chosen for the discharge ratio d,
the usable energy is only part of the total stored energy. This is
illustrated in Fig. 1, where the ratio between the usable energy
and the maximum stored energy is plotted versus the ratio d.
Figure 1. Usable energy as a function of the discharge ratio
An interesting limit choice is d=50%, that enable the use of
75% of the total stored energy, for a limited voltage variation
across the supercapacitor (from the maximum voltage to the
For a discharge ratio d given, and knowing the energy Wbu
to store into the supercapacitive tank, it is then easy to identify
the number N of needed supercapacitors:
Wbu
N= (4)
Wu
B. Efficiency and power availability
In the previous development, supercapacitors have been
considered as ideal components, without internal losses. Even
if the series resistors of supercapacitors have a low value
(lower than the milli-ohms), it has to be checked if the
supercapacitive tank is power compatible with the power needs
of the considered application [4][5].
 Power compatible means that the sizing process takes into
account losses into the supercapacitors, in order to guaranty an
acceptable efficiency during the charge and the discharge of the
component. As supercapacitors are mainly used as power
sources to smooth power constraints on an energy source, their
efficiency is directly related to power they have to absorb or
provide.
Efficiency computations have been made for a typical
2600F/2.5V supercapacitor, having a 0.7mΩ series resistor.
The efficiency for the charge and the discharge are given in
Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, for a discharge ratio d=50%, and for two
types of charge/discharge: with a constant current, or with a
constant power.
Figure 2. Efficiency of a 2600F/2.5V/0.7mΩ supercapacitor during charge
Figure 3. Efficiency of a 2600F/2.5V/0.7mΩ supercapacitor during
discharge
Efficiency for charge and discharge with a constant current
or a constant power are quite similar. The following comments
can be made:
• The time for loading energy has to be kept up to 10s in
order to obtain 90% of energy efficiency: this means a
charging current lower than 320A or a charging power
lower than 700W.
• The time for unloading energy has to be kept up to 10s
for a 90% energy efficiency. This means a discharge
current lower than 320A or a discharge power lower
than 400W.
The use of such supercapacitors with a 90% of energy
efficiency leads to limit the charging/discharging current to
320A, compared to the limit current defined in datasheets
(600A). Moreover, as the limit power is 400W, the real power
density of the component becomes 1120W/kg instead of the
4300W/kg given by manufacturers.
As a consequence, once a supercapacitive tank has been
designed to match energy requirements, it has then to be
checked if the number of supercapacitors is compatible with
the power requirements of the considered application. If
needed, the number of supercapacitors has to be increased in
order to increase also its energy efficiency.
III. ASSOCIATION OF SUPERCAPACITORS WITH BATTERIES
A. Batteries in an electrical scooter
A first example in the possible sizing of a supercapacitive
tank in association with an energy source is an electrical
scooter, initially powered with batteries only. In order to justify
the choices made by the scooter manufacturer for the batteries
system, let consider the typical electrical power profile in Fig.
4, measured on the scooter during a test run.
Figure 4. Power profile – Lausanne -CH
The first curve is the profile of the power injected into the
DC motor of the vehicle. It can be seen that the maximum
power the batteries system has to provide is 3.44kW, during
acceleration along an uphill. It should also been noticed that the
potential saving of energy during braking phases is not
exploited on such a vehicle. This is mainly due to the power
electronics that interfaces the batteries with the DC motor of
the vehicle. For cost reasons, the topology that has been chosen
does not allow a controllable regenerative braking. Energy
saving occurs only during downhill, at high speed, when the
voltage across the DC motor becomes higher than the voltage
of the batteries, by the spontaneous switching on of diodes.
By numerical integration, energy profile is obtained from
the power profile (curve (1) on Fig. 5). The energy needs for
such a run are then 192.5Wh.
Figure 5. Energy profiles deduced from power profiles
From the power peak and the energy needs, choices can
then be made for batteries. The scooter manufacturer has
chosen cadmium-nickel batteries stacks, able to supply 600Wh
per stack, with a maximum power rate equal to 1.57kW per
stack. The sizing process is quite identical with that one for the
design of a supercapacitive tank. Considering energy
requirements, one batteries stack is able to provide enough
energy for the scooter. But from a power profile point of view,
three batteries stack must be used to match the 3.44kW needed
for the scooter (3 times 1.57kW). As a consequence, the initial
scooter is powered thanks to 3 batteries stack.
For this particular application, the main sizing criterion is
then power constraints that batteries have to satisfy. This has to
be done even if the batteries system is over-sized from an
energy point of view, in order to obtain a good efficiency
during accelerations (discharge of the batteries), a to prevent
batteries from aging. Note that the way batteries are sized is
extremely close of the previous method described for
supercapacitors.
B. Association of batteries and supercapacitors
The main goal for the association of batteries with
supercapacitors is to share advantages of each technology, by
using batteries only for their advantageous energy density
properties and supercapacitors for their power density.
Considering again the main power profile described in Fig.
4, this curve can be shared into two parts: a constant power
plus a fluctuating one. The constant part of the power, equal to
990W, gives by numerical integration the energy requirements
for the device that should assume this part of the vehicle needs
(curve (2) of Fig. 5).
The fluctuating part of the power has a maximum value
equal to 2.45kW. Its numerical integration gives the curve (3)
on the associated energy profiles in Fig. 5. The energy profile
associated to the fluctuating power has an energy balance equal
to zero, as the averaged value of the fluctuating power is zero.
But the energy the device that should assume such profile has
to store is the difference between the maximum energy level
and the minimum energy level. In this case, this corresponds to
48Wh.
The main comments can then be made:
• The energy contribution for moving the vehicle
(195.5Wh) can be affected to a device able to provide a
constant power (990W), as this energy corresponds to
the total energy balance. As a batteries stack is able to
store much more energy (600Wh), with the required
power availability (1.57kW), one batteries stack will
be enough.
• The fluctuating power can be operated with
supercapacitors if a reduced number of them are able
to store the 48Wh related to the fluctuating power in a
reduced volume, with the required power availability
(2.45kW peak power with an efficiency higher than
90%).
The first step consists so to the sizing of the supercapacitive
tank according to energy requirement (48Wh). The equation
(3) shows that the lowest number of components is obtained for
a voltage discharge ratio as low as possible. For efficiency
reasons related to the associated power converter, the ratio will
be first chosen to be 50%. This allows the use of 75% of the
total stored energy into the supercapacitive tank. Using some
2600F/2.5V supercapacitors, this leads to the choice of 29
components. The volume is then 12 litters, for a weight equal
to 15kg. Regarding the weight and the volume of actual
batteries stack, such a supercapacitive tank offers identical
characteristics compared to the devices it is supposed to
replace.
From the power availability point of view, the energy
efficiency of this supercapacitive tank has been computed, in
the case of charge and discharge with a constant power, taking
into account the series resistor of these components, equal to
0.7mΩ. Results are given in Fig. 6.
Figure 6. Power availability of 29 supercapacitors 2600F/2.5V/0.7mΩ
 If we consider a complete discharge of this supercapacitive
tank, the energy efficiency is higher than 98% when the
discharge power is lower than 2.45kW. In this application, the
power availability of the tank is then high, taking into account
that the 2.45kW we have considered are only a peak power.
The main sizing requirement is then related to energy
constraints, for this particular application.
We will then retain as a final choice, for assuming the
power profile defined in Fig. 4:
• 1 batteries stack 600Wh, 1.57kW, over-sized from a
power point of view
• 29 supercapacitors 2600F/2.5V, 0.7mΩ, able to store
48Wh of usable energy with a discharge ratio equal to
50%, and able to provide 12kW with a 90% energy
efficiency.
present at some places, with examples like end-or periferic-
stations of city networks. Typical problematic voltage drops
are characterized by a fall down to less than 200 Volts without
load. This kind of situation can happen by abnormal presence
of three busses near the end-station as a result of jam in the
road-vehicle flow.
For reasons of versatility, price, weight and volume, it is
now investigated to use supercapacitors as energy storage
devices for compensating the voltage drop at the end of the
line, allowing also the saving of energy during regenerative
breaking. The principle is shown in Fig 7. The aim of such an
application is not to provide all the energy needed for the
busses at the end of the line as for a classical supply station, but
to provide only the energy to limit the voltage variations.
End of line
Supercapacitive
Tank

C. Additional comments Supply

DC Station
The proposed association of batteries and supercapacitors DC
TL
675Vdc
as described above consists in the reduction of fluctuating
Val-Vert 3 km
power constraints applied to the batteries. The first gain is the Station
Bellefontaine
Station
reduction of the volume and the weight of batteries. This
Figure 7. End of line supercapacitive tank – Line n°7 - Lausanne
reduces the costs that are linked to elements having a reduced
number of cycles and a shorter lifetime than supercapacitors. A typical voltage profile has been measured at the end of
On another hand, the design of a storage tank that allows the line No7 in Lausanne (CH), in the case of non-
the reduction of power constraints on batteries leads to prevent compensation. It is presented in Fig. 8. Without any
the aging of batteries, and should increase their lifetime compensation, this voltage varies in a large range of values. In
compared to the initial vehicle powered only with batteries. particular cases, this voltage can decrease under 350V
(compared to the "nominal" 675V). In this case, a bus that
However, as can be seen on Fig. 4, the proposed sizing has should start at the end of the line would not be able to do so.
been made considering the on-board power converters as they
are in the actual vehicle. In particular, energy saving is difficult 700
to obtain and impossible to control. The use of supercapacitors
could offer the possibility to re-design the drive of the scooter, 600
in order to allow regenerative braking, as they are fully power
compatible with the power requirements in such an application. 500

This should have a positive consequence on the sizing of the

batteries stack that should be notably reduced. 400
U (V)

In addition to the re-design of the initial power converter, 300

an additional DC/DC converter is needed to interface the
supercapacitive tank to the application. This increases the 200

weight and the volume of the storage system that appears to be

today heavier than the initial system with batteries only. In 100

addition, the price of supercapacitors today and their needed

power electronics interfaces lead to solutions more expensive 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30

than the conventional ones. The complexity of supercapacitive t (min)

tank and their needed power converter compared to single
batteries, and the price of supercapacitors is today the main
limit of such a technology.
IV. SUPERCAPACITORS FOR WEAK DISTRIBUTION
NETWORKS
A. Principle and sizing
Energy distribution with low voltage systems is especially
sensible against voltage drop when lines present ohmic
components like in transportation with the example of
trolleybuses. Special sensible points of those networks are
Figure 8. Without Supercapacitive compensation – End of line N°7 –
Lausanne - CH
Corresponding to the voltage profile defined in Fig. 8, the
fluctuating power profile measured at the “Bellefontaine”
station is defined in Fig. 9, that a supercapacitive tank has to
assume and compensate. Its mean power is 0W, the maximum
power is 550kW, and the minimum power is –140kW. As for
the scooter application, the energy profile associated to this
power profile is deduced from the power profile by numerical
integration. The usable energy is obtained from this last profile,
as the difference between the maximum value and the lowest
level of energy. In this example, the usable energy is 20.55MJ
(5.7kW.h).
This capacity corresponds to a number of 4800
supercapacitors of each 2600F/2.5V, where their voltage will
vary down to 70% of the maximum value. An arrangement in
20 branches of 240 supercapacitors connected in series has
been selected. Such a unit represents a weight of approximately
2.5tons, for a volume of 2m3, where the static converter has not
been included. Power requirements have been taken into
account to match an energy efficiency higher than 90%. But, in
this particular application, the sizing criterion is energy
requirements.
5
6
x 10
5
4
of voltages between the supercapacitive bank and the line.
Especially when the design of the tank has been done for the
compensation of one or two busses, the stable injection is
possible with current control for the case of an abnormal
overload of the line with three busses or more. A second
advantage can be seen if a short-circuit occurs on the overhead
line, the current can still be controlled thanks to the buck
converter.
In Fig. 11 are shown simulation result, based on
measurements realized in the Lausanne bus network. In that
case, with a supercapacitive tank at the end of the line, the
voltage level is practically kept at a constant level thanks to the
voltage-control facility. Note that the bank of supercapacitors
becomes more solicited as the load approaches the autonomous
storage substation. On the supercapacitor current, it is easy to
see the compensation action according to the dynamic
fluctuations.

3
Power (W)

-1

-2
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
t (s)

Figure 9. Fluctuating power profile at Bellefontaine station – Line N°7 –

Lausanne - CH

B. Power electronics developments

Because of the voltage variation across the supercapacitive Figure 11. End of line voltage compensation
bank during the charging and the discharging, power
converters are needed for interfacing the supercapacitors and The main difficulty in such an application is the
the end of the line. Such a power converter is presented in Fig. management of the charge level of the supercapacitive tank.
11. This is obtained thanks to a control scheme as defined in Fig.
12.
DOUBLE-STAGE DC/DC CONVERTER CONTROL
Iref_charge_scaps_max
R_Vscaps
Vscaps_max
DeltaVline Iline_r ymax +
Rline G2

R_Vendline -
-
Voline Vendline_ref + Itransfer
+ -1

End of -
R_Vinter
+
Line Vinter_ref +

-
+
G1

+ +

Supercapacitive - -

R_Iinject R_Iscaps
Tank
Figure 10. Power interface from the supercapacitive tank to the line PWM PWM
Vendline Iinject Vinter Iscaps Vscaps

The first stage, from the supercapacitors to an intermediary L1 RL1 L2 RL2

DC high voltage level stage, is a reversible boost converter Cinter Cscaps

which enables a continuous current in the supercapacitors. The

second stage, from the DC high voltage level stage to the line, RECTIFIER
SUBSTATION
LINE
(CATENARY)
SUPERCAPACITORS-BASED SUBSTATION

is a reversible buck converter. The main advantage of such a Figure 12. Structural diagram of the controlled supercapacitive storage based
topology is to allow a complete control of the currents in the substation
supercapacitors and in the line independently of the difference
 The main principle is to define a voltage reference for the
end of the line. A first regulator controls the current to inject
into the line in order to achieve this. A second regulator defines
the reference for the charging or discharging current for
supercapacitors, in order to maintain constant the intermediary
DC voltage constant or higher than the end of line voltage.
The charge-level management of the supercapacitive tank is
made by choosing an end-of-line voltage lower than the value
in case of no bus on the line. The voltage reference will as low
as the supercapacitive tank needs to be re-filled. In the example
of Fig. 11, the voltage reference is 650V, compared to the
700V in case of no buses on the line.
C. Additional comments
The solution that consists in using supercapacitors at the
end of the supply line for trolleybuses, or tramways, presents
two main properties:
• The maintain of a constant voltage at the end of a line,
• The opportunity to add devices able to allow the
storage of energy when vehicle on the line brake.
Such solution has to be compared to existing solutions, or
new developments. As an example, another possible solution is
to replace part of the braking resistors on the vehicles with
supercapacitive tanks. As energy and power requirements are
only linked to the needs of only one vehicle, then the storage
tank is considerably reduced. The first goal is to save energy
during the braking of the vehicle. The second goal is the use of
this stored energy during the acceleration of the vehicle. This
enables to lower power constraints on the over-line with the
advantage of lower voltage fluctuations. The last advantage is
to store the energy locally, instead of making it circulating on a
non-negligible part of the line before being stored. The
efficiency of the energy saving is then increased [6].
Another possibility is to design supercapacitive tank
directly in parallel with conventional non-bidirectional supply
stations. Such a solution does not offer the possibility to control
the voltage along the line, but allows only energy saving. The
limit is the efficiency of the regenerative braking, when vehicle
re-inject an energy that will be stored few hundred meters from
them [7].
A last solution is proposed by other technology than
supercapacitors. It is also possible to connect energy storage
devices on the line, between two non-reversible supply
stations. Here, such system has to enable the catenary voltage
control, together with energy saving. But as the part of the line
managed by the storage system is reduced, the needed stored
energy and the corresponding power availability are not so
critical. Flywheel technology becomes then intersting, and
leads to reduced size and weight. It has now to be investigated
how much of such systems are needed on one line, to compare
definitively this solution to the others [8].
V. CONCLUSION
This paper has presented a general approach to size a
supercapacitive tank.
View publication stats
In most applications, especially in tractions applications,
simple models of supercapacitors consisting in capacitance
with a series resistor are generally well adapted for the sizing
and the design process.
The sizing of a supercapacitive tank is made in a two steps
approach. First considering energy criteria leads to identify a
first number of components to use. Then, by analysing the
power requirements, this number can be eventually increased if
it is needed to increase the efficiency of the supercapacitive
tank during charge and discharge.
In most applications, supercapacitors are used as energy
buffers, in order to minimize power constraints on a main
energy source. This has been illustrated thanks to two
examples: the association of supercapacitors with batteries in
an electrical scooter, and the use of supercapacitors to control
the end of line voltage of over-head trolleybuses supply.
For this last solution, there are different possible
approaches. The supercapacitors technology has to be
evaluated in comparison with flywheels technology. Energy
storage can be made on-board, at the supply-stations level,
between two supply-stations, and at the end of the line.
Optimisation works have to be done to identify the solution or
the combination of solutions to use in order to save energy
efficiently, with a good over-head line voltage control, taking
into account redundancy and costs.
REFERENCES
[1] A. Schnewly, R. Gallay, “Properties and applications of supercapacitors
– From the state-of-the-art to future trends”, PCIM2000 Power Quality,
Nürnberg, Germany
[2] P. Barrade, A. Rufer, “High-Power Fast Energy Exchange between
Storage Systems: Supercapacitors as energy buffer in transportation
systems”, EVS-18 : The 18th International Vehicle Symposium, 20-24
October, International Congress Centre (ICC), Berlin, Germany
[3] L. Zubieta, R. Bonert, F. Dawson, “Considerations in the design of
energy storage systems using double-layer supercapacitors”, IPEC,2000,
Tokyo, Japan
[4] P. Barrade, A. Rufer, Current capability and power density of
supercapacitors: considerations on energy efficiency, EPE 2003 :
European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications, 2-4
September, Toulouse, France
[5] P. Barrade, A. Rufer, Considerations on the energy efficiency of a
supercapacitive tank, MAGLEV 2002: International Conference on
Magnetically Levitated Systems and Linear Drives, 3-5 September,
Lausanne, Switzerland
[6] Steiner M., Scholten J., Energy Storage on Board of DC Fed Railway
Vehicles, 35th IEEE PESC Conference, 21-24 June 2004, Aachen,
Germany
[7] “SITRAS SES, Energy Storage System for 750 Vdc Railway”, Siemens
Transportation Systems, Public. Nr A19100-V300-B276 and B275
[8] Pulsed power provision by high speed composite flywheel, Kelsall D.R.,
Pulsed Power 2000 (Digest No. 2000/053), IEE Symposium , 3-
4.05.2000, London, UK, Page(s): 16/1 -16/5, INSPEC Acc. Nr.
6623246, available on http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.