Evaluation of Energy Storage Devices for Aerospace Applications

Abstract

Electrical energy storage devices are highly desirable for aerospace applications, such as the Space Vehicle (SV) and many systems/parts for the Space Lunch System (SLS). For this special application, devices that can work over a broad temperature and pressure range are critical. Many electrical energy storage devices, such as dielectric capacitors, supercapacitors, and batteries, are commercially available. However, most of devices for civil applications are not designed for aerospace applications. For those designed devices for aerospace applications, the performance at different temperatures and pressures is unknown. Therefore, it is important to characterize the performance of these devices in aerospace environments. In this research, two types of devices (supercapacitors and batteries) are studied. In Chapter 1 and Appendix, commercial devices designed for aerospace applications are surveyed and summarized. In Chapter 2, the test system is built for the characterization of supercapacitors and batteries. In Chapter 3, four selected different supercapacitors are tested under different charge/discharge rates at different temperatures. The parameters such as discharge capacity, discharge energy, and ESR of four supercapacitors are determined at -40oC, -20oC, 0oC, 20oC, 40oC and 60oC under varying discharge rates. The PBM-1500 supercapacitor shows much higher temperature stability than other supercapacitors. In Chapter 4, four samples of batteries are characterized. These batteries show a similar trend of performance at different temperatures and under different discharging rates. At the low temperature, the resistance in batteries is large and the electrochemistry reaction velocity is low, the battery discharge capacity is small, which results in a low output power and energy. The battery discharge energy and capacity change with the discharge rate. If the discharge current is small, the discharge capacity is large.