Uncertainty Evaluation of a Supercapacitor Equivalent Circuit Parameters

The accurate simulation of the behavior of a supercapacitor (SC) and its control in an electronic system, cannot be achieved by a simple one-branch circuit. A correct simulation requires the use of more complex equivalent circuits, with at least two or three branches. These equivalent circuits guarantee a good reproduction of the device’s behavior. The effectiveness of an equivalent circuit is linked to the limits of the circuit parameter identification, which is commonly achieved by means of the voltage and current measurement of charge and self-discharge cycles. The uncertainty in the identification of these circuit parameters, is dependent on the accuracy of the measurement instrumentation and on the repeatability of the SC. A cycle for determining the parameters can extend over a few hours for larger SCs, also considering the time needed by the software algorithm for the parameter identification. Therefore, having a large set of cycles including the parameters determination is a time-consuming procedure. In this study, an efficient method for the repeatability and uncertainty assessment of the equivalent circuit parameters is proposed; this approach relies on a limited set of experimental data and on a single parameter identification process. The analysis presented in this paper highlights how the limited repeatability of the device is an important source of uncertainty for the identification of the equivalent circuit parameters, but it is not the main one for all parameters.