Ultracapacitor adopts battery outline

A Young Electronics product story

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Sep 27, 2004

The BCAP0350 D cell is the first ultracapacitor based on an industry standard form factor and the first to be standardised on battery sizing.

One industry association has described a new ultracapacitor from Maxwell Technologies as a "true innovation".

Part of the Boostcap family, the BCAP0350 D cell is the first ultracapacitor based on an industry standard form factor and the first to be standardised on battery sizing.

"As an industry association formed to foster the commercialisation of ultracapacitors around the world, our mission is focused on development of standards and education-outreach tools for the industry", said Claude Letourneau, Executive Director, KiloFarad International (KFI).

"Maxwell's standardisation of the technology represents a true innovation in the industry and will help to drive acceptance of high performance ultracapacitors as mainstream energy storage systems in automotive, industrial power systems and consumer electronics", he added.

The Boostcap ultracapacitors deliver up to ten times the power and longevity of batteries, require no maintenance and operate reliably in extreme temperatures and voltages.

They are particular suited to the transportation, industrial and renewable energy markets, where product lifecycles are typically long.

The D cells can be used by automotive designers to power initial acceleration, operate electrical subsystems and recapture energy from braking for cleaner, more fuel efficient hybrid vehicles.

They can also be used to power soft shutdowns in critical industrial applications and to buffer short-term mismatches of power supply and demand in renewable energy installations.

Maxwell's D cell supplies bursts of high power and recharges rapidly from any energy source over hundreds of thousands of cycles without significant performance degradation.

The D cell has ultralow internal resistance so energy is easily collected and stored for reuse.

Providing reliability assurance, the ultracapacitors have a 10 year-life capability, deliver more than 500,000 discharge-recharge cycles and are resistant against reverse polarity.

The 350F, 2.5V D cell features a round, double-ended design measuring 61.5 x 33mm, similar to EN60086-2 and EN60285 sizing, and weighs just 60g.