Research on the Impact of Supercapacitor Cell Inconsistency on Module Discharge Efficiency

Supercapacitors are emerging as a vital energy storage technology, valued for their long cycle life, high power density, and operational stability across a wide temperature range. A critical challenge in their application, particularly under high-power, pulsed conditions, is the performance inconsistency among individual cells, which severely impacts the overall efficiency of a module. This research focuses on analyzing this effect by constructing a simulation model based on experimental discharge data from single cells. The parameters for the equivalent circuit model of individual cells are first identified, and their statistical distribution is used to generate a representative cell population. Using these models, two module topologies comprising 30 cells 15S2P (15 series strings in 2 parallel) and 2P15S (2 parallel groups in 15 series) are simulated and compared. The discharge performance is evaluated under a high-frequency pulsed regime with a peak power of 1.2 kW, a pulse width of 0.01 s, and a 20% duty cycle. Simulation results demonstrate that the 15S2P configuration provides superior discharge efficiency, highlighting the significant influence of topological design on mitigating the detrimental effects of cell inconsistency in supercapacitor modules.