1.What is the difference between ultracapacitor, EDLC´s and supercapacitors?
Essentially all of the above are synonyms for electrochemical double‐layer capacitors( EDLC).
2. What gives ultracapacitors their „ultra“ capacitance?
Ultracapacitors have a capacitance of up to 10 000x times that of conventional capacitors due to the extremely high surface area of the carbon used as electrode material.
3. Why should I choose ultracapacitors over other energy storage and power delivery products, such as Li-ion batteries or lead-acid batteries?
Your product will have a safe, reliable and maintenance free operation for over 10 years and 1 million or more charge/discharge cycles. They perform normally over a broad operating temperature range (-40 to+65 C). The best batteries on the market have only a few thousand deep charge/discharge cycles.
4. Are batteries and ultracapacitors alternatives or complimentary?
In most cases, such as in UPS systems, they are complimentary: batteries give high energy and ultracapacitors high power and life cycles. Due to recent advances in Skeleton’s ultracapacitors, we offer better value for the customers when compared to high-power batteries.
5. What´s the difference between Skeleton Techonologies’ and other ultracapacitor devices?
We have 4x higher power density and 1.5x energy density, we can make the devices lighter and smaller for the same performance and provide a better value proposition. Read more in the technology section.
6. What´s the secret behind the technology? Do you use ionic liquids?
Superior energy and power densities have been achieved due to our patented proprietary materials and electrode manufacturing technology based on SkeletonC carbide-derived-carbon. We can tailor the carbon pore-size and distribution to exactly match the electrolyte proporties. We don´t use ionic liquids.
7. What are the market segments with most potential for the technology?
Over a million life cycles and 10 years of reliable perforamance with rapid charge-discharge cycles provide much needed value for automotive, locomotive and public transport applications, e.g. renegerative breaking, engine starting, electrical system auxilary power.
Ultracapacitors provide real-life cost savings in UPS systems for short term power outages and voltage sags, which cost US companies alone over 100B USD annually.
8. If ultracapacitors are so great why doesn´t everybody use them?
Ultracapacitors have been in mass-scale production for only a decade and the prices have fallen up to 90% during the period. According to industry experts the markets annual growth is around 50% and wider implementation is under way with Tier1 automotive companies.
9. You say that Skeleton Technologies has developed a special electrolyte for the automotive sector, what´s the advantage?
Skeleton has developed a proprietary patent pending Propylen Carbonate based elctrolyte for ultrasafe solutions in the consumer and automotive sectors. The ultrasafe solution still has significantly higher power and energy than ultracapacitors with acentonitrile based electrolyte.
10. How do I connect ultracapacitors – in series or parallel?
Usually ultracapacitors are connected in series to reach a higher working voltage. For example to reach 17 V you would have to connect six 2.85V devices in series. If the application requires higher capacitance than available cells can provide it´s also possible to connect them in parallel.
11. What rules do I have to follow for charging an ultracapacitor?
Ultracapacitor charge depends on how much current is supplied to the device, you´ll have to follow classical current-based charging rules.
12. What type of ultracapacitors do you develop?
Skeleton Technologies is mainly developing ultracapacitors in the range 200 – 8000 Farads.
13. Does Skeleton Technologies offer ultracapacitor modules?
Skeleton Technologies is planning to release several modules in the near-term perspective. If you require a special module do not hesitate to contact us.