Voltage Balancer for Electric Double Layer Capacitors

Abstract

Decrease in energy density of the storage system with several electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs) is caused by imbalance of voltage for each EDLC. In case of low power applications, conventional voltage balancer with constant voltage circuits is useful. However, it has some problems for high power applications such as electric vehicle. We have developed a new system to balance the voltage of EDLCs by removing a little energy. In any case, the system can store the energy in each EDLC equally. In the present research, a prototype of voltage balancer is produced for making use of a number of EDLCs and evaluated. The results confirm that the system is effective and suitable for high power applications.