Corning adds weight to super-cap development for vehicles

Materials firm Corning has joined Maxwell Technologies to develop better supercapacitors, also known as ultracapacitors, for cars.

Corning brings expertise in materials and analytical capabilities, according to Maxwell.

“Corning has invested significant time and resources to establish this new business initiative because we see great potential in capacitive energy storage. We are excited to work with a company like Maxwell who has such a long history of innovation in the field and strong market presence,” said Corning director of automotive innovations Doug Harshbarger.

Supercapacitors are often promoted as a partner to batteries in automotive traction applications. While they have far lower energy density (Wh/litre or Wh/kg) than electrochemical batteries, they can accept and deliver energy far faster (W/litre and W/kg) making them suitable for load levelling in, for example, regenerative breaking and acceleration. They also work over a wider temperature range: -40 to +65°C, according to Maxwell, and have a far longer cycle life – a million or more charge/discharge cycles. Energy storage alongside electrically-coupled turbo chargers is another potential application.

The firm points out that there are over 1 million Peugeot Citroen cars on the road incorpotating its supercapacitors, in a voltage stabilisation system developed by Continental.

However, improvements to batteries tend to offset the need to add supercapacitors to batteries.

Maxwell offers components from 1 to 3,400F, and modules from 12 to 160V.

steve bush

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via Yuichun