CN1797918A - Power supply device and power supply method - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a power supply device and a power supply method, which utilize the non-polar characteristic of an electrode of an ultra-capacitor to repeatedly switch the connection polarity between a battery and the ultra-capacitor so as to improve the energy utilization efficiency of the battery and simultaneously keep the voltage of the ultra-capacitor at a certain level.

Description

Power supply device and power supply method

technical field

The present invention relates to a kind of electric power supply equipment, especially relate to a kind of electric power supply device and electric power supply method that use battery and supercapacitor to output electric power stably, it is to repeatedly reverse the connection polarity between battery and supercapacitor, in order to save energy.

Background technique

Batteries have become an essential part of modern life and are used every day in everything from cars to consumer products like mobile phones, laptops and music players. Batteries use chemical reactions to convert energy when charging and discharging, and are usually designed for applications with low power requirements. Because the chemical reaction of the battery must overcome a certain activation energy, it cannot be charged and discharged quickly. In addition, although lead-acid batteries have high power density and are commonly used to start cars, they do not supply high current for a long time. Although in theory all batteries can have high power density as long as there is a breakthrough in materials, the service time and life of the battery will be shortened; and if it is used for a long time, the battery will be very bulky.

Compared with batteries, supercapacitors use fast surface adsorption and desorption to convert energy. When the electrode is charging and storing energy, the ions in the electrolyte will be quickly adsorbed at the interface between the electrolyte and the electrode. The ions gathered at the interface represent the capacitance of the supercapacitor or the energy stored therein. When the supercapacitor is discharged in a controlled manner, the ions are rapidly desorbed. Therefore, the power density of supercapacitors is much higher than that of batteries.

Ultracapacitors are also called ultracapacitors or electric double layer capacitors, and the most commonly used adsorbent material is activated carbon. Due to the large surface area of activated carbon, supercapacitors can store orders of magnitude more energy than traditional capacitors such as aluminum electrolytic capacitors. For the sake of manufacturing convenience, the two electrodes of the supercapacitor are usually made of activated carbon materials with the same formula and process. In terms of this design, before the supercapacitor is charged, the two electrodes are symmetrical to each other and have no polarity. In contrast, both batteries and conventional capacitors have specific cathodes and anodes of different materials that are not interchangeable from a polarity standpoint.

When the supercapacitor is connected to a power source for charging, the polarity of its two electrodes is determined. The one connected to the positive pole of the battery is positively charged, and the one connected to the negative pole is negatively charged, which means that the electrodes of the supercapacitor will be polarized due to charging. After the charged supercapacitor fully discharges its stored energy to the load, its electrodes return to the non-polar state. Therefore, on the next charge, each electrode can be connected to either positive or negative, regardless of its previous polarity. Since the two electrodes are symmetrical and have the same chemical properties, the electrode switching during charging will not cause any damage to the supercapacitor. This type of link polarity switching cannot be applied to batteries or conventional capacitors because the polarity of the electrodes is fixed. If the electrodes are connected incorrectly, it may even lead to disasters such as explosions.

In addition, ultracapacitors can only store energy, but cannot generate energy. Therefore, the supercapacitor is a passive component, and its use must have the following two disadvantages. One is that the use time is short, and the other is that the voltage will drop rapidly when discharging. In fact, both of these disadvantages are due to the low energy content of ultracapacitors. In order to make up for the shortcomings of supercapacitors in power applications, they must be used with power sources such as batteries, fuel cells, generators, or utility power grids. This combination can fully utilize the advantages of high power density and fast charging of the supercapacitor, and can greatly increase the power level of the power supply. In other words, the ultracapacitor can be used as a load regulation mechanism for the aforementioned voltage source, thereby prolonging its service life and reducing its size.

There have been many examples of the use of supercapacitor-battery combinations, especially in electric vehicles, as can be seen, for example, in U.S. patents US 5,157,267 by Shirata, US 5,373,195 by De Doncker, US 5,642,696 by Matsui, US 5,734,258 by Esser and Nozu In US 6,617,830, only a few examples are listed here. In the designs of the above studies, multiple batteries and multiple supercapacitors are connected in two separate rows, and are matched with electronic circuits including converters and processors to control the power transmission and recharging of the supercapacitors.

Combinations of batteries and ultracapacitors can also be used in low power consumption applications, as described in US 6,373,152 to Wang. Furthermore, the method of using a battery-ultracapacitor combination and a switching mechanism to double the power output of the former can also be found in US 6,016,049 ('049) by Baughman and US 6,650,091 ('091) by Shiue. In '049, the battery and ultracapacitor were switched from parallel to series before being discharged to the load; in '091, only the ultracapacitor was switched from parallel to series.

All of the above prior art technologies using hybrid power sources rely on a bank of batteries to rapidly recharge the ultracapacitor so that the ultracapacitor can provide a continuous and steady peak current. However, the voltage of the supercapacitor still decays rapidly when it is discharged. On the other hand, in many household products powered by disposable or primary alkaline batteries, the end of battery life does not mean that the stored energy is completely depleted. In fact, when the battery is discarded, about 65% of its energy is still unused, but at this time the remaining voltage of the battery is already below the driving voltage of the product. Therefore, a lot of energy is wasted every time the battery is discarded when it is exhausted.

It can be seen that the above-mentioned existing hybrid power supply and power supply method obviously still have inconveniences and defects in structure, method and use, and need to be further improved urgently. In order to solve the problems existing in the hybrid power supply and power supply method, the relevant manufacturers have tried their best to find a solution, but no suitable design has been developed for a long time, and there is no suitable structure for general products to solve the above problems , this is obviously a problem that relevant industry players are eager to solve.

In view of the defects in the above-mentioned existing hybrid power supply and power supply method, the inventor actively researches and innovates based on years of rich practical experience and professional knowledge engaged in the design and manufacture of this type of product, and cooperates with the application of academic theory, in order to create a kind of The new power supply device and power supply method can improve the general existing hybrid power supply and power supply method, making it more practical. Through continuous research, design, and after repeated trial samples and improvements, the present invention with practical value is finally created.

Contents of the invention

The purpose of the present invention is to overcome the defects of the existing power supply method and provide a new power supply method. The technical problem to be solved is to make use of the non-polar characteristics of the symmetrical supercapacitor to expand the battery-ultracapacitor The application range of capacitor hybrid power supply is more suitable for practical use.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a power supply device. The technical problem to be solved is to use the power supply method of the present invention to supply power, so that it is more suitable for practical use.

The object of the present invention and its technical problem are solved by adopting the following technical solutions. A power supply device according to the present invention includes: at least one voltage source; at least one supercapacitor connected in series with the voltage source; and at least one switching mechanism connected between the voltage source and the supercapacitor time, and can repeatedly switch the connection polarity between the voltage source and the supercapacitor.

The purpose of the present invention and its technical problems can also be further realized by adopting the following technical measures.

In the aforementioned power supply device, the switching mechanism is placed on the side of the voltage source.

In the aforementioned power supply device, the switching mechanism includes a double pole double throw (DPDT) switch.

In the aforementioned power supply device, the switching mechanism is placed on the side of the supercapacitor.

In the aforementioned power supply device, the switching mechanism includes a double pole double throw (DPDT) switch.

The aforementioned power supply device further includes a bypassing mechanism, which is connected in parallel with a load of the power supply device during a stage of charging the supercapacitor by the battery.

In the aforementioned power supply device, the switching mechanism includes a three-pole double-throw (TPDT) switch, which can also switch the bypass mechanism.

In the aforementioned power supply device, the voltage source is selected from the group consisting of primary batteries, secondary batteries, fuel cells, gas turbines, turbine generators and public power grids.

In the aforementioned power supply device, a working voltage of the supercapacitor is 1.5V, and a capacitance is 0.5F or above.

In the aforementioned power supply device, the supercapacitor has two electrodes connected to the voltage source, and the two electrodes have the same chemical composition.

In the aforementioned power supply device, the switching mechanism is selected from the group consisting of mechanical switches, electromagnetic relays, field effect transistors, integrated bipolar transistors (IGBTs) and intelligent integrated electronic circuits (IIEC).

In the aforementioned power supply device, a switching time of the switching mechanism is 60 seconds or less.

In the aforementioned power supply device, the intelligent integrated electronic circuit can sense the voltage and current of the supercapacitor, and trigger a switch placed in the intelligent integrated electronic circuit accordingly.

The purpose of the present invention and the solution to its technical problems are also achieved by the following technical solutions. A power supply method according to the present invention is suitable for a power supply system comprising at least one voltage source and at least one supercapacitor, the method comprising the following steps: connecting the voltage source in series with the supercapacitor; and repeatedly switching the voltage source The connection polarity with the supercapacitor is performed by a switching mechanism connected between the voltage source and the supercapacitor.

The purpose of the present invention and its technical problems can also be further realized by adopting the following technical measures.

In the aforementioned power supply method, the switching time point of the connection polarity is every time when a combined voltage of the voltage source and the supercapacitor is substantially 0V.

In the aforementioned power supply method, the step of repeatedly switching the connection polarity includes: changing the connection state between the voltage source and the switching mechanism.

In the aforementioned power supply method, the switching mechanism includes a double pole double throw (DPDT) switch.

In the aforementioned power supply method, the step of repeatedly switching the connection polarity includes: changing the connection state between the supercapacitor and the switching mechanism.

In the aforementioned power supply method, the switching mechanism includes a double pole double throw (DPDT) switch.

The aforementioned power supply method further includes using a bypassing mechanism to make a charging current bypass a load of the power supply system during a charging phase of the supercapacitor.

In the aforementioned power supply method, the switching mechanism includes a triple-pole double-throw (TPDT) switch, which can also switch the bypass mechanism.

In the aforementioned power supply method, the switching mechanism is selected from the group consisting of mechanical switches, electromagnetic relays, field effect transistors, integrated bipolar transistors (IGBTs) and intelligent integrated electronic circuits (IIEC).

In the aforementioned power supply method, the intelligent integrated electronic circuit senses the voltage and current of the supercapacitor, and then triggers the switch in the intelligent integrated electronic circuit accordingly.

Compared with the prior art, the present invention has obvious advantages and beneficial effects. As can be seen from the above technical solutions, in order to achieve the aforementioned object of the invention, the main technical contents of the present invention are as follows:

The power supply device of the present invention includes at least one voltage source, at least one supercapacitor connected in series with the voltage source, and a switching mechanism connected between the voltage source and the supercapacitor. This switching mechanism repeatedly switches the polarity of the connection between the voltage source and the ultracapacitor.

In an embodiment of the present invention, as long as the voltage of the supercapacitor is lower than that of the directly connected battery, it will receive energy from the battery. When the supercapacitor is charged to the potential of the battery, it will become an open circuit (open circuit), so that the battery stops discharging. At this time, switch the switch placed at the supercapacitor to reverse the polarity of its connection with the battery. At this time, the supercapacitor and the battery jointly drive the load with the combined voltage of the two. When the ultracapacitor begins to discharge to a voltage lower than the battery, it is recharged in this link reversed state. The charging rate in this inverted state is determined by the potential difference between the supercapacitor and the battery.

When the supercapacitor is fully charged, the discharge of the battery will be cut off, and at this time, the polarity of the connection between the supercapacitor and the battery will be reversed again (that is, the original one), and the combined power of the supercapacitor and the battery will continue to drive the load. . For a hybrid power supply including a supercapacitor and a battery, by charging in reverse polarity and switching the connection polarity repeatedly, the load can be driven continuously until the voltage of the battery drops to the point where it cannot be used.

Another way to reverse the polarity connection of the supercapacitor to the battery is to place the switching mechanism at the battery. Whenever the connection electrode of the battery is switched, the polarity of the connection of the supercapacitor is reversed, making the two components The load can be jointly driven. However, this type of component arrangement will cause the load to reciprocate every time it is switched. In detail, the reversal of the connection polarity of the supercapacitor is to make the supercapacitor and the battery change from the previous state to the reversed series state. The battery is charging the supercapacitor in the previous state, and the operation of switching/reversing the polarity of the connection makes the two into a reverse series state, and drives the load with its combined voltage. In the third embodiment of the present invention, the connection switching mechanism is designed as a safety mechanism with a bypass, which has the advantage of fast charging the supercapacitor.

In the above three embodiments, the power supplied by the battery-supercapacitor hybrid power source is initially from the supercapacitor because of its high discharge rate. When the energy of the supercapacitor is exhausted, the battery relays the energy to the load. In this way, the battery can be rested for a period of time when used in conjunction with a supercapacitor. Therefore, the battery in the hybrid power supply can recover its voltage level; compared with this, there is no voltage recovery phenomenon in the battery-powered power supply. In other words, by virtue of the load regulation function of the supercapacitor, the battery can be prevented from over-discharging, which often causes the voltage to decay prematurely and cause energy loss. Therefore, the energy utilization efficiency of the battery can be improved due to a short rest, and at the same time, the discharge voltage of the supercapacitor can also be maintained at a certain level due to the supporting charging of the battery and repeated polarity switching.

In the above-mentioned reference materials and other supercapacitor power applications in the literature, none of them has made good use of the above method of repeatedly switching the connection polarity of the supercapacitor to the charging source. The present invention uses a relatively simple circuit to repeatedly switch the connection polarity, so that the supercapacitor can output power stably. That is, one of the two disadvantages of supercapacitors (rapid drop in voltage when discharged) can be overcome by repeated link polarity switching. At the same time, by repeatedly switching the connection polarity, the energy utilization efficiency can be improved regardless of whether the battery used is a disposable or a rechargeable (secondary) battery.

It can be seen from the above that the present invention relates to a power supply device and a power supply method, which uses the non-polarity of the electrodes of the supercapacitor to repeatedly switch the connection polarity between the battery and the supercapacitor to improve the energy utilization efficiency of the battery. At the same time, the voltage of the supercapacitor is roughly maintained at a certain level.

With the above technical solution, the power supply device and the power supply method of the present invention have at least the following advantages:

As mentioned earlier, ultracapacitors are effective power amplifiers for both DC and AC power supplies. In addition to the unique properties of high charge-discharge efficiency, long service life, and high energy density of the supercapacitor, the present invention can also use its two-electrode symmetry feature to improve efficacy.

In the power supply method of the present invention, the polarity of the supercapacitor electrodes is repeatedly reversed during charge-discharge cycles to improve the energy utilization efficiency of the battery and stabilize the output voltage of the supercapacitor during discharge.

To sum up, the special power supply method of the present invention utilizes the non-polarity characteristic of the symmetrical supercapacitor to expand the application range of the battery-ultracapacitor hybrid power supply. The power supply device with a special structure of the present invention uses the power supply method of the present invention to supply power. It has the above-mentioned many advantages and practical value, and there is no similar structural design and method publicly published or used in similar products and methods, so it is indeed innovative, and it has great advantages no matter in product structure, method or function. Improvement, great progress has been made in technology, and has produced easy-to-use and practical effects, and has improved multiple functions compared with the existing hybrid power supply and power supply methods, so it is more suitable for practical use, and has a wide range of industries Utilizing the value, it is a novel, progressive and practical new design.

The above description is only an overview of the technical solution of the present invention. In order to better understand the technical means of the present invention, it can be implemented according to the contents of the description, and in order to make the above and other purposes, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and understandable , a number of preferred embodiments are specifically cited below, and are described in detail as follows in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Description of drawings

Figure 1 is a circuit diagram of a battery operating circuit equipped with a supercapacitor.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of a switching mechanism for repeatedly switching the connection polarity of the supercapacitor according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a circuit diagram of a switching mechanism for repeatedly switching the connection polarity of the supercapacitor according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram of a switching mechanism according to a third embodiment of the present invention, which enables the charging current to bypass the load to rapidly charge the supercapacitor.

FIG. 5A is a voltage oscillation pattern measured at both ends of the supercapacitor of the hybrid power supply under the repeated polarity switching operation of Example 1 of the present invention.

5B is a discharge curve measured at both ends of a motor jointly driven by a battery and a supercapacitor under the repeated switching operation of Example 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 5C is a discharge curve of a battery used together with a supercapacitor in Example 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 5D is a discharge curve of a power supply using only two batteries in a comparative example.

10: battery

20: supercapacitor (supercapacitor)

30: motor

S1, S1A, S1B: Contacts of switching mechanism

S2, S2A, S2B: Contacts of switching mechanism

S3, S3A, S3B: Contacts of switching mechanism

Detailed ways

In order to further explain the technical means and effects of the present invention to achieve the intended purpose of the invention, the specific implementation, structure and method of the power supply device and power supply method proposed according to the present invention will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and preferred embodiments. , steps, features and effects thereof are described in detail below.

Both supercapacitors and batteries are energy storage devices, but the latter can store much more energy than the former. In the battery-supercapacitor hybrid power supply, the battery is the power supply of the supercapacitor, and the effect of using the two together is better than that of a single battery.

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of a battery operating circuit equipped with a supercapacitor, wherein the supercapacitor 20 is represented by a pair of short bars of equal length to symbolize its non-polar and symmetrical nature. The ultracapacitor 20 is integrated into the circuit of the battery 10 and the load 30, wherein the load 30 is, for example, a motor or a light bulb. When the battery 10 drives the load 30, the supercapacitor 20 with no energy will be charged by the battery 10 at the same time until its voltage reaches the voltage of the battery 10. At this time, the supercapacitor 20 is an open circuit and is the end of charging. When the supercapacitor 20 is an open circuit, the supercapacitor 20 and the battery 10 not only have the same potential, but also are in parallel state. Since the electrodes of the ultracapacitor 20 are polarized due to charging, they have the same polarity as the two poles of the battery 10 . In terms of electronics, it means that the supercapacitor 20 is in a state of negative potential which offsets the potential of the battery 10 , so the load 30 will stop operating.

first embodiment

2 is the first embodiment of the present invention, wherein the connection polarity of the supercapacitor 20 to the battery 10 is controlled by a double-pole double-throw (DPDT) switch, which is composed of two switches. When the controller is in the S1-S1A and S2-S2A states shown in FIG. 2 , the supercapacitor 20 will be charged by the battery 10 , and the load 30 will be driven by the battery 10 at the same time. Even if the voltage of the battery 10 is not enough to drive the load 30 , the charging current can still pass through the load 30 to charge the ultracapacitor 20 . The flow path of the charging current is: the positive pole (long stick) of the battery 10 , the load 30 , S2A, S2 , the supercapacitor 20 , S1 , S1A and the negative pole (short stick) of the battery 10 . Once the supercapacitor 20 is charged to the potential of the battery 10, the charging current is stopped, and the load 30 is also stopped.

Next, the DPDT is switched to the S1-S1B and S2-S2B states, the supercapacitor 20 is connected in series with the battery 10, and the load 30 is driven by the combined voltage of the two. If the voltage of the battery 10 is 1.5V, the hybrid power supply can drive the load 30 at 3.0V. After the polarity is reversed, the initial driving power is provided by the supercapacitor 20 until the combined voltage drops to 1.5V, and then the battery 10 continues to supply power to the load 30 . Therefore, when the ultracapacitor 20 is operating, the battery 10 can have a rest period. In addition, since the supercapacitor 20 is directly connected to the battery 10 , as long as the potential of the supercapacitor 20 is lower than that of the battery 10 , it will be charged by the latter. In this way, when the supercapacitor 20 is discharged, the lost energy can be replenished by the battery 10 to maintain the potential balance between the two.

The charging rate is proportional to the potential difference between the supercapacitor 20 and the battery 10, and the charging process is completed when the combined voltage decay of the supercapacitor 20 and the battery 10 ends, and the charging path is the positive pole (long rod) of the battery 10 in sequence , load 30, S1B, S1, supercapacitor 20, S2, S2B and the negative pole (short rod) of battery 10. Therefore, even if the connection polarity is reversed during the discharge phase of the ultracapacitor 20, an electric field of opposite polarity is formed between the electrodes of the ultracapacitor 20. In this case, the ultracapacitor 20 is charged with the polarity reversed, which is possible due to the symmetrical nature of the electrodes of the ultracapacitor 20 .

Furthermore, the charging and discharging of the supercapacitor 20 are two reversible physical processes, that is, the ion adsorption and desorption processes on the electrode surface. Once ions are desorbed from the electrode surface, they leave empty adsorption sites that can be resorbed. If the ions can be desorbed quickly to handle the high power demand of the load 30, the ultracapacitor 20 can be recharged in the same short time. When the supercapacitor 20 is recharged to the negative potential of the battery 10, the polarity of the connection between the supercapacitor 20 and the battery 10 must be reversed again to use the energy newly stored in the supercapacitor 20 to drive the load 30, which drives The voltage is the combined voltage of the supercapacitor 20 and the battery 10 . Without this connection polarity reversal operation, the load 30 will not receive any energy from the ultracapacitor 20 or the battery 10 . The aforementioned operation of repeatedly switching the polarity of the connection between the supercapacitor 20 and the battery 10 may continue until the combined voltage of the supercapacitor 20 and the battery 10 is lower than the driving voltage required by the load 30 .

Two methods are proposed here to determine when to switch the polarity of the connection of the supercapacitor to the voltage source. One is based on the discharge time of the supercapacitor, which is the time required for the supercapacitor to discharge before switching; the other is based on the supercapacitor The remaining voltage, but this method also requires a voltage sensor to activate the switching mechanism when the preset voltage is reached. In fact, both the discharge time and the residual voltage are related to the same discharge process, that is, the longer the discharge time, the lower the residual voltage.

In addition, in any case, the polarity of the connection between the supercapacitor and the charging source can be reversed at a selected time point according to actual needs. The timing of the repeated switching of the link polarity can be carefully designed so that the discharge voltage of the supercapacitor remains at the required level. Compared with the conventional supercapacitor discharge step in which the discharge voltage quickly drops to 0V, the repeated switching steps of the present invention can easily discharge the supercapacitor in a stable voltage output state. In this way, the supercapacitor can operate like a battery, that is, it presents a gentle voltage decay curve during discharge. This characteristic is an important key to the effective use of both the battery and the supercapacitor.

In addition, when the charging power source of the supercapacitor is a group of batteries, fuel cells, gas turbines, turbine generators or public power grids with sufficient energy content, the above-mentioned repeated polarity switching operations can quickly fully charge the supercapacitor, making Ultracapacitors can provide instant and stable peak power to any load at any time without delay. Therefore, the charging source will not have any danger of overload, so it will not cause fire; at the same time, compared with the same level of power supply without supercapacitor and repeated polarity switching mechanism, the size and cost of the voltage source when driving the same load can also be reduced.

In addition, regardless of whether the battery used is a primary battery or a secondary battery, the above repeated polarity switching operation has another benefit for the battery, that is, the battery can have a short rest time, thereby greatly improving its energy utilization efficiency. During the rest period, the battery can recover its voltage due to the redistribution of the active material in it, which is stored in different locations of the electrodes. Otherwise, the battery may experience premature and irreversible voltage decay due to continuous discharge. Therefore, the aforementioned repeated polarity switching operation not only saves energy, but also reduces the number of discarded batteries in the world.

In addition, the connection polarity switching between the supercapacitor and the charging or voltage source can be performed by mechanical switches, electromagnetic relays, field effect transistors (FETs), integrated bipolar transistors (Integrated Bipolar Transistors, IGBTs) or intelligent integrated electronic circuits (Intelligent Integrated Electronic Circuit) , IIEC) to achieve. If switching triggers such as timers or voltage sensors are used in conjunction with electromagnetic relays, field effect transistors, or integrated bicarrier transistors, the aforementioned repeated switching operations can be automated, and the constructed switching control mechanism will only Consume minimal energy. In addition, the intelligent integrated electronic circuit (IIEC) can sense the voltage and current of the supercapacitor, and then activate the switch in the IIEC.

second embodiment

FIG. 3 is a second embodiment of the present invention, which uses an iterative switching mechanism designed for bidirectionally moving loads 30, such as garage doors, electric curtains, or elevators. When the double-pole double-throw (DPDT) switcher is set to the state shown in Figure 3, the battery 10 promptly provides the current of the following path: the positive pole (long rod) of the battery 10, S1, S1A, supercapacitor 20, load 30, S2A, S2 and the negative pole (short stick) of the battery 10. This current can drive the load 30 and of course charge the ultracapacitor 20 as long as the potential of the ultracapacitor 20 is lower than that of the battery 10 . When the supercapacitor 20 is charged to the negative voltage of the battery 10, the current will stop, so that the load stops operating.

In another situation, the discharge of the battery 10 can be synchronized with the movement of the load 30 , that is, the battery 10 can stop discharging when the load 30 stops. When the driving force of the battery 10 is offset by the ultracapacitor 20 , the polarity of the connection between the battery 10 and the ultracapacitor 20 must be reversed to drive the load 30 . When the DPDT is switched to the S1-S1B and S2-S2B states, the battery 10 and the supercapacitor 20 are also in a series state. After the polarity is reversed, the battery 10 and the supercapacitor 20 provide the current flowing in the following directions: the positive pole (long rod) of the battery 10, S1, S1B, load 30, supercapacitor 20, S2B, S2 and the negative pole of the battery 10 (short pole). Great). At the same time, the load 30 will reversely move due to the combined voltage of the battery 10 and the ultracapacitor 20 .

Once the ultracapacitor 20 is charged to the negative potential of the battery 10 again, the connection polarity needs to be reversed again so that the battery 10 and the ultracapacitor 20 can continuously drive the load 30 until the battery is exhausted. In other cases where the discharge of the battery 10 is synchronized with the movement of the load 30 , the discharge of the battery 10 and the recharging of the ultracapacitor 20 will stop no matter which point the load 30 stops between the two ends of its movement. At this time, the ultracapacitor 20 is not necessarily in a fully charged state, but depends on the power consumption rate of the load 30 . Whenever the ultracapacitor 20 is fully charged, the driving force of the battery 10 is canceled out. At this time, the connection polarity between the ultracapacitor 20 and the battery 10 must be reversed so that the mixed power of the two drives the load 30 .

However, if the switching architecture shown in FIG. 3 is adopted, the load 30 can only move in the opposite direction, and cannot continue its movement before the polarity reversal. In order to move the load 30 in the direction desired by the operator, the current provided by the hybrid power supply of the battery 10 -ultracapacitor 20 needs to be rectified by an inverter, which can be composed of another set of switches.

third embodiment

FIG. 4 is a third embodiment of the present invention, in which the battery 10 rapidly charges the ultracapacitor 20 without passing through the load 30 . In this example, a three-pole double-throw (TPDT) switch is used to reverse the connection polarity of the battery 10 and the supercapacitor 20 , wherein S1 , S2 and S3 are common contacts. When this TPDT is in the normally closed state (S1-S1A, S2-S2A and S3-S3A) shown in Figure 4, the battery 10 will charge the supercapacitor 20 through the following paths: the positive pole (long stick) of the battery 10, S3A, S3 , S2A, S2, supercapacitor 20, S1, S1A and the negative pole (short rod) of battery 10. The charging process of the supercapacitor 20 can be started by pushing a push-latching button (not shown).

Since the charging current does not flow through the load 30 in this example, the load 30 is stationary during charging. At this time, since the battery 10 and the ultracapacitor 20 are basically connected in parallel, the battery 10 can quickly charge the ultracapacitor 20 . When the starter is pulled down, the TPTD switch is slid to the normally open state of S1-S1B, S2-S2B, and S3-S3B, so that the battery 10 and the supercapacitor 20 are connected in series with the motor 30, and a high-power pulse is sent to drive the motor 30. The current path of this normally-on state is as follows: the positive pole (long stick) of the battery 10 , the load 30 , S1B, S1 , the supercapacitor 20 , S2 , S2B and the negative pole (short stick) of the battery 10 . In this way, the load 30 can be powered by the mixed electric power of the battery 10 and the ultracapacitor 20 , and can quickly perform work on the target.

The connection polarity reversal operation of the aforementioned battery 10 and ultracapacitor 20 can be applied to different power tools, such as cordless crushers, compactors, electric drills, hammers, hedgers, nailers, slicers, etc. Nibbler, pinner, pruner, stapler, tacker, trimmer, etc. After releasing the starter so that the TPDT returns to the normally closed state, the load 30 is no longer powered, and the supercapacitor 20 is quickly charged by the battery 10 to prepare for the next output. From a functional point of view, the switch S3 in FIG. 4 is used as a safety switch, which enables the supercapacitor 20 to be charged quickly and prevents the load 30 from being impacted by surges.

As described in the above embodiments, the present invention proposes some simple, economical and easy-to-use methods for reversing the polarity of the connection between the supercapacitor and the charging source, so as to facilitate the instant application of the supercapacitor, so that the supercapacitor can be provided as a battery Continuous and stable discharge current.

Two examples are presented below, which are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, but are only used to illustrate that the present invention has the advantages of stabilizing the working voltage of the supercapacitor during discharge and improving the energy utilization efficiency of the battery.

<Example 1>

In this example, according to the configuration shown in Figure 2, a 1.5V AA size (AA size) alkaline battery is connected to a self-made AA size, 2.5V×3F ultracapacitor and a DC motor for a toy car. In the comparative example, two 1.5V AA alkaline batteries of the same brand are connected in series to drive the same motor. That is, the DC motor is powered by a battery/ultracapacitor-toggle switch combination or a pure battery combination. The comparison of the battery energy utilization efficiency of each example is based on the time from driving the motor to its power exhaustion. Here, "power exhaustion" refers to the condition that the battery can no longer drive the motor in the continuous discharge test. Although the battery may be able to power the motor again after a period of rest, its usage time is too short to be counted.

Figure 5A shows multiple cycles of voltage changes measured across the supercapacitor of the hybrid power supply in this example. It is well known that when a battery starts to discharge, there is a voltage drop proportional to the internal resistance of the battery and the power demand of the load. In this test, the voltage drop is about 0.3V, while the maximum current draw of the motor is 0.5A. Due to the aforementioned repeated polarity switching, the working voltage of the supercapacitor oscillates within the potential range of 2.4V. That is, the super capacitor can be charged to 1.2V or -1.2V. Whenever the supercap is discharged from 1.2V to 0V, it will then be recharged from 0V to -1.2V with this reversed polarity. Afterwards, the supercapacitor is discharged from -1.2V to 0V with the polarity reversed again, and then recharged from 0V to 1.2V. In this way, each cycle of voltage change includes two pairs of charging and discharging steps swinging between 1.2V and -1.2V. This repeated polarity switching operation prevents the discharge voltage of the supercapacitor from decaying and locking at 0V, which is a shortcoming of conventional non-polarity inversion supercapacitor applications. Furthermore, by adjusting the switching time, the permanent discharge voltage of the supercapacitor can be set at a selected potential level.

Figure 5B is the change curve of multiple voltage decay cycles measured at both ends of the motor driven by the alkaline battery and the supercapacitor in this example, which is equal to the discharge curve of the battery-supercapacitor hybrid power supply, and the prickly shape This is partly due to interference from the motor. As shown in Figure 5B, this hybrid supply decays from 2.5V to 0V instead of 3.0V. During the initial discharge stage of the hybrid power supply, the power delivered to the motor is from the supercapacitor, so that its energy consumption is around 1.2V. The battery then continues to supply power to drive the motor while simultaneously charging the ultracapacitor until the combined voltage of the two is 0V. At this point, the supercapacitor is in a completely zero-charged state. However, the motor continues to rotate due to inertia. Then, the polarity of the connection between the supercapacitor and the battery is reversed by an automatic switch in just a few seconds, and the two drive the motor together to start another cycle.

By repeating the polarity switching operation, it can be repeatedly driven by a hybrid power source composed of a battery and a supercapacitor whose polarity is continuously reversed. Although Figure 5B shows that the combined voltage periodically drops to 0V, the aforementioned reversal point can also be set at a specific voltage to provide sufficient power to the load, such as in impulse, ignition, acceleration, actuation (actuation) , torque, thrust (impetus), amplitude or luminosity (luminosity) and other aspects. Especially when the battery or other voltage source has sufficient energy, the ultracapacitor can be charged quickly so that the load can be driven stably without any sign of hysteresis. In practice, the supercapacitor for auxiliary batteries to drive loads such as toy car motors only needs a capacitor of 0.5F to enable the motor to operate continuously.

FIG. 5C shows the discharge curve of the battery used with the ultracapacitor to continuously drive the motor. As shown in the figure, the voltage of the battery drops to 0.7V within 11 hours. In comparison, the discharge curve of the comparative example using two 1.5V alkaline batteries connected in series is shown in FIG. 5D . The voltage of this dual battery pack decays very quickly, dropping to 1.4V after 3 hours. On average, that is, each battery has a final voltage of 0.7V, which is the same as the battery voltage of the hybrid power supply. Obviously, when the voltage of the alkaline battery drops to 0.7V, its electrochemical reaction can no longer generate enough current to drive the motor.

In the comparative example using only the battery, the rotational speed of the motor is continuously and gradually reduced; while in the example of the present invention, the rotational speed of the motor will show a noticeable deceleration every time the voltage of the hybrid power source approaches 0V, The battery has the dual function of simultaneously supplying energy to the motor and the supercapacitor. The usage time of the battery in this example may not be as large as shown in the figure, but under the comprehensive consideration of all aspects, the repeated polarity reversal operation of the present invention can greatly improve the energy utilization of the battery supported by the supercapacitor efficiency. As far as millions of batteries are used worldwide every year, even if the battery life is only increased by 10%, it will make a great contribution to environmental protection.

As known to those skilled in the art, ultracapacitors have the effect of regulating the load of the battery, especially when the power demand of the load is higher than the design capacity of the battery. However, the present invention also allows the battery to have a rest period through the repeated polarity switching operation of the aforementioned supercapacitor, so that the battery can regain its voltage, and the service time of the battery can also be extended.

<Example 2>

The test conditions for this example were similar to those of Example 1, except that AA-size Ni-MH batteries with a capacity of 1800 mAh were used instead of AA-size alkaline batteries. A hybrid power supply consisting of batteries and ultracapacitors was operated under the condition of reversing the polarity of the connection every 7 seconds, and a power supply consisting of only 2 NiMH batteries in series was also used to drive the same motor until its energy was not enough to make the motor until it turns. The experimental results show that the usage time of the hybrid group and the battery-only group are 6.8 and 4.2 hours respectively. Apparently, the operation of repeatedly switching the connection polarity can also prolong the service time of the Ni-MH battery.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and does not limit the present invention in any form. Although the present invention has been disclosed as above with preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Anyone familiar with this field Those skilled in the art, without departing from the scope of the technical solution of the present invention, can use the method and technical content disclosed above to make some changes or modifications to equivalent embodiments with equivalent changes, but any content that does not depart from the technical solution of the present invention, Any simple modifications, equivalent changes and modifications made to the above embodiments according to the technical essence of the present invention still fall within the scope of the technical solution of the present invention.

Claims (23)

1. A power supply device, characterized in that it comprises: at least one voltage source; at least one ultracapacitor in series with the voltage source; and At least one switching mechanism is connected between the voltage source and the supercapacitor, and can repeatedly switch the connection polarity between the voltage source and the supercapacitor. 2. The power supply device according to claim 1, wherein said switching mechanism is placed at the side of the voltage source. 3. The power supply device according to claim 2, wherein said switching mechanism comprises a double pole double throw (DPDT) switch. 4. The power supply device according to claim 1, wherein the switching mechanism is placed on the side of the supercapacitor. 5. The power supply device according to claim 4, wherein said switching mechanism comprises a double pole double throw (DPDT) switch. 6. The power supply device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a bypassing mechanism connected in parallel with a load of the power supply device during a charging phase of the battery to the supercapacitor. 7. The power supply device as claimed in claim 6, wherein said switch mechanism comprises a triple pole double throw (TPDT) switch, which can also switch the bypass mechanism. 8. The power supply device according to claim 1, wherein said voltage source is selected from the group consisting of a primary battery, a secondary battery, a fuel cell, a gas turbine, a turbine generator, and a public power grid. 9. The power supply device according to claim 1, wherein the supercapacitor has a working voltage of 1.5V and a capacitance of 0.5F or above. 10. The power supply device according to claim 1, wherein said supercapacitor has two electrodes connected to the voltage source, and the two electrodes have the same chemical composition. 11. The power supply device according to claim 1, wherein said switching mechanism is selected from mechanical switches, electromagnetic relays, field effect transistors, integrated bipolar transistors (IGBTs) and intelligent integrated electronic circuits ( IIEC) group. 12. The power supply device according to claim 11, wherein a switching time of said switching mechanism is 60 seconds or less. 13. The power supply device according to claim 11, wherein the intelligent integrated electronic circuit can sense the voltage and current of the supercapacitor, and trigger the switch placed in the intelligent integrated electronic circuit accordingly . 14. A power supply method, suitable for a power supply system comprising at least one voltage source and at least one supercapacitor, characterized in that the method comprises the following steps: placing the voltage source in series with the ultracapacitor; and Repeatedly switching the connection polarity between the voltage source and the supercapacitor is performed by a switching mechanism connected between the voltage source and the supercapacitor. 15. The power supply method according to claim 14, wherein the switching time point of the connection polarity is every time when a combined voltage of the voltage source and the supercapacitor is substantially 0V. 16. The power supply method according to claim 14, wherein the step of repeatedly switching the connection polarity comprises: changing the connection state between the voltage source and the switching mechanism. 17. The power supply method according to claim 16, wherein said switching mechanism comprises a double pole double throw (DPDT) switch. 18. The power supply method according to claim 14, wherein the step of repeatedly switching the connection polarity comprises: changing the connection state between the supercapacitor and the switching mechanism. 19. The power supply method according to claim 18, wherein said switching mechanism comprises a double pole double throw (DPDT) switch. 20. The power supply method according to claim 14, further comprising using a bypassing mechanism to make a charging current bypass (bypass) the power supply system during a charging phase of the supercapacitor a load. 21. The power supply method as claimed in claim 20, wherein said switch mechanism comprises a triple pole double throw (TPDT) switch, which can also switch the bypass mechanism. 22. The power supply method according to claim 14, wherein said switching mechanism is selected from mechanical switches, electromagnetic relays, field effect transistors, integrated bipolar transistors (IGBTs) and intelligent integrated electronic circuits ( IIEC) group. 23. The power supply method according to claim 22, wherein the intelligent integrated electronic circuit senses the voltage and current of the supercapacitor, and then triggers a switch in the intelligent integrated electronic circuit accordingly.

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