ENERGY AND RESOURCE CONSERVATION

WITH THE AID OF ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS UTILIZING SUPERCAPACITORS

One of the examples of INEP activities aimed at energy conservation is provided by the investigation and commercialization of supercapacitors.

 

The supercapacitors are largely employed in systems utilizing the kinetic energy of motion. The use of supercapacitor systems of energy storage for recuperating the energy of deceleration of electric transport as calculated for the Moscow city transport makes possible the following energy savings:

– 300 000 MW-h a year for subway train park,

– 200 000 MW-h a year for electric train park,

– 100 000 MW-h a year for street car park, and

– 75 000 MW-h a year for trolley bus park.

 

Resource savings in non-electric automobile and railroad hybrid transport is likewise associated with the use of supercapacitor-based systems of energy storage.

 

The main energy source in hybrid transport is the internal combustion engine (ICE) which operates continuously and sets to motion a generator supplying a traction electric motor. The combined power of internal combustion engine and generator corresponds to the conditions of uniform motion, while the conditions of acceleration and velocity increase are maintained jointly by the ICE and the energy storage system whose bank of supercapacitors is charged during deceleration owing to recuperation of kinetic energy.

 

The application of hybrid systems enables one to:

– reduce the consumption of fuel and

– reduce the amount of harmful emissions owing to the reduction of the ICE power and to the     

   steady-state operation of ICE even under conditions of acceleration of the vehicle.

 

Numerous calculations and experiments with prototypes of hybrid means of transportation revealed that the use of these means enables one to:

– reduce the power of ICE by at least 50%,

– reduce the fuel consumption by a factor of 2–2.5, and

– reduce the amount of harmful emissions by a factor of at least 10.

 

Supercapacitors are presently employed on the largest scale in railroad transport, where the diesel engines of locomotives are started using supercapacitors. The technique of capacitor starting of engines essentially consists in that a supercapacitor compensating for the pulsed mode of operation of storage battery is connected via special electronic system in parallel with the storage battery.

 

Starting diesel engines of locomotives with the aid of supercapacitors results in significant saving of resources, namely,

– reducing the energy capacity of the employed storage battery by half,

– increasing the service life of the storage battery by a factor of 1.5,

– raising the reliability of starting the diesel engine at minus temperatures of down to –40° C,

– saving 16 t of fuel per locomotive a year.

 

The supercapacitor starting technique is further employed in trucks and tractors, as well as in railroad station equipment of all types.

 

This scheme of storage battery operation in combination with supercapacitor is also employed in railroad and subway traction substations, where they are employed for emergency switching of oil circuit breakers. In this case as well, a capacitor battery of lower energy capacity may be employed, and the operating costs may be significantly reduced.