A Flexible Design For Fast Charging Supercapacitors In Industrial Applications

Focus:

Supercapacitors require chargers that can handle high current and work smoothly in constant-current mode during charging and in constant-voltage mode once the final output voltage is reached. In applications where many supercaps are connected in series, the chargers must manage high input and output voltage. This article discusses two use cases for supercapacitors: automatic pallet shuttles in storage facilities and short-duration backup systems in fail-safe valve actuators, explaining how to calculate run time. It then introduces a charging circuit based on a stepdown supercapacitor charger (the MAX17701) which can handle a large range of industrial and consumer applications. The charger’s key features are discussed and the two use cases are used to demonstrate its efficiency.

What you’ll learn:

• How to implement a supercapacitor charging circuit for a series string of supercaps using the MAX17701 charger IC
• How to implement a supercapacitor charging circuit for applications with up to 60 V input

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Author & Publication:

Nazzareno (Reno) Rossetti and John Woodward, Maxim Integrated, San Jose, Calif., How2Power Today, Sep 15 2020

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