Analysis of self discharge characteristics of electric double layer capacitors

Abstract

Electric Double Layer Capacitors (EDLC) represent a viable choice for energy storage in low power energy harvesting applications where primary energy varies in time or even is missing for periods of time. A major drawback of these devices is their self-discharge, especially in cases like solar panels, where no energy is supplied in EDLC for hours during the night. The present paper presents a Spice model of EDLC with self discharge behavior, a designed and implemented test bench for the study of self discharge of EDLC devices and some measurements performed with it as well as the adjustment of Spice model to meet the measured parameters of different types of EDLC devices.