Investigation of ultra-capacitor as alternative energy storage for uninterruptible power supply(UPS)
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Date
2019-06
Authors
Mohammad Irfan Bin Adha
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Abstract
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) is a backup power supply to sensitive electronic equipments when there is a sudden power outage, power surge or peak fluctuation involved the electronic equipment. UPS is basically a tool that is being used in many important industries nowadays such as in communication, medical industries and data storage system. UPS system normally uses lead-acid battery as the energy storage. Lead-acid battery is known for low energy density, smaller charge or recharge cycle, heavy, bigger in size and a shorter lifespan. It also contains hazardous substances that can pollute the environment. Meanwhile, Lithium Ion batteries can be the alternatives but are high in cost and require higher safety rating. Thus, in order to increase the efficiency of the UPS system ultra-capacitors(UCs) is investigated as the alternatives energy storage for replacing the lead-acid battery or lithium ion battery. UCs is the advanced capacitor that have higher power density, smaller in size, high surface area, fast charging, high capacitance that results in higher energy storage and longer lifespan. UCs storage is made from an array of six 2.7V 3.33/83.33 F UCs connected in series. So, the UCs are connected to the UPS box as an energy storage to back up the different power ratings of lamps when the supply disconnects. The investigation found that higher capacitance UCs make the backup time longer. This means the total energy storage increased with higher capacitance and voltage ratings. However, it is limited with some other parameters such as power load and current load. The UCs backup the 5W lamp much longer compared to 70W and 140W lamp. It is because the increasing of load current when the power load is high and makes the UCs discharge energy faster. Meanwhile, UCs have higher power density compared to lead acid battery and it make them charge and discharge faster. It is concluded that the UCs is the optimum alternatives as it gives a lot faster charging time with enough time to support the load during power outage. It can also prevent our earth from hazardous and toxic material and makes our earth a better place.