Output voltage vs energy storage capacitor size

What are energy storage capacitors?

Energy storage capacitors are electronic components that can store electrical energy. They are typically found in remote or battery powered applications and can be used to deliver peak power, reducing depth of discharge on batteries, or provide hold-up energy for memory read/write during an unexpected shut-off.

What is the difference between a battery and a capacitor?

Capacitors and batteries are different types of energy storage technologies. Capacitors charge and discharge very quickly compared to battery technology and are optimal for energy harvesting/scavenging applications. Depending on power requirements, capacitors can even replace batteries altogether.

What are energy storage capacitor specifications?

Capacitor specifications of capacitance, DC leakage current (DCL), equivalent series resistance (ESR), size, etc. are typically room temperature measurements under a very specific test condition. Furthermore, energy storage capacitors will often be set up in some parallel/series combination that can pose unique challenges or unexpected behaviour.

What is an energy storage capacitor test?

An energy storage capacitor test was set up to showcase the performance of ceramic, Tantalum, TaPoly, and supercapacitor banks. The test involved charging the capacitor banks to 5V and keeping the sizes modest. The capacitor banks were then tested for charge retention and discharge duration under a pulsed load, which mimics a high power remote IoT system.

What type of capacitor should a switching power supply use?

When designing a switching power supply, it is difficult to decide which output capacitor type to use. Electrolytic capacitors have high equivalent series resis-tance (ESR), making power loss high and transient response too poor for use with tough load-response requirements.

Are supercapacitors superior to batteries?

Supercapacitors are not as effective as batteries in terms of energy storage, but they can deliver an enormous amount of power with significantly increased number of charge/discharge cycles than that of batteries. This property makes supercapacitors ideal for many peak power, remote, battery replacement/supplement, and energy harvesting/scavenging applications.