Development of a Hybrid System of Battery and Capacitor

PowerCaps have a comparable power density and fast-charging capability to supercapacitors, as well as an energy density approaching that of conventional batteries. In this project, the focus was on the use of cost-effective and environmentally friendly materials and their processing methods. A key objective of this project was, in addition to demonstrating technological feasibility, to demonstrate economic feasibility.

The developed PowerCaps were manufactured by industrial partners and are commercially available. To prove the feasibility, 12 use cases were developed and built as demonstrators.

* Equipping an industrial truck with PowerCaps
* Construction of a stacker crane with Powercaps
* Integration of Powercaps in industrial DC networks (DC laboratory)
* Integration into driverless transport systems
* Integration of Powercaps into the Stuttgart Exoskeleton
* Predictive wear detection of pipes by autonomous, networked systems powered by Powercaps
* Use of powercaps for recuperation in e-bikes
* Integration into a charging infrastructure for mobile robots
* Possible use of powercaps as energy supply for active workpiece carriers (PoCaiW)
* Intelligent surgical instruments with supercaps for energy supply

The research program presented here is expected to make a very significant contribution to the knowledge of energy storage cells in Baden-Württemberg and Germany.

Partners

• VARTA AG
• Daimler AG
• Freudenberg SE
• ICT AG
• Kromberg & Schubert GmbH & Co. KG
• Porsche AG
• SEW-Eurodrive GmbH & Co. KG
• viastore systems GmbH
• Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
• Institute for Energy Efficiency in Production (EEP), University of Stuttgart
• Institut für Strahlwerkzeuge (IFSW), University of Stuttgart
• Institute for Control Engineering of Machine Tools and Manufacturing Units (ISW), University of Stuttgart
• Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW)