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This Defense Intelligence Reference Document from the Defense Intelligence Agency, dated 1 November 2010, was one of a series of advanced technology reports produced in FY 2010 under the Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Applications (AAWSA) Program. It reviews ultracapacitors as energy and power storage devices. It covers how they work, their materials, their commercial and military uses, and new developments such as carbon nanotubes, thin films and magnetic capacitors. It concludes that the U.S. government must understand and adopt advanced ultracapacitors.
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIO I 1!55 0111 Y Chapter 3: Applications ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS The most straightforward application of an ultracapacitor is to stabilize de voltages, which is where they have found widespread use. Areas where a dip in voltage may occur and negatively impact performance is another natural fit for ultracaps. Initially, they were used as backup power for clock chips and CMOS memory; now, they find utility in power smoothing, flash photography, and digital cameras. Flash for mobile phone cameras is an ever-increasing market. Nearly one billion phones equipped with cameras were sold in 2009. Ultracaps enable flash photography integrated with mobile communication. Today's market is driving toward electronics devices with multiple functions to eliminate the need for multiple specialized electronics that each performs one task. Integrating components into one electronic device requires the use of ultracapacitors to help stabilize the short power spikes from the individual components. Ultracaps also serve to reduce thermal loading from power dissipation. Ultracaps have found extensive application in wireless communication, where they are used in wireless data cards for GSM, GPRS, and WiMAX data transmission. The peak current required during data transmission can exceed what is available under USB or PC-card standards, and the excess current is delivered with an ultracapacitor. Automated meter reading is another application where ultracaps have become an integral component, as the power required to send and receive the meter information is handled by an ultracapacitor. The mobile telecomm industry is currently using these in a number of ways; it is likely that additional uses for ultracaps will spring up along with needs to balance power requirements for increasingly complex and multifunctional devices contained within smaller areas. INDUSTRIAL Industrial applications are becoming much more ubiquitous as ultracaps are being used as a platform to deliver a large amount of power quickly. These are becoming increasingly important in cranes, forklifts, elevators, and power tools. As an example, power is stored by an ultracapacitor in hybrid forklifts every time a loading fork descends. The stored power is then delivered to the forklift when heavy lifting is required. Figure 6 shows the power requirements for a hybrid forklift. The peak power pulses are areas where using an ultracap to deliver or to receive the power greatly improves the operational efficiency. The blue shaded area represents the power distribution handled by a fuel cell, and the tan regions above and below the blue area represents the output from and the input to the ultracapacitor, respectively. 22 In cranes and elevators, a similar application is used. Peak power is supplied for lift operations by the ultracap. During descent of the elevator or lowering of the loaded crane, generated power can be used to recharge the ultracapacitor. Power tools are becoming increasingly disconnected from an outlet. Many of these cordless power tools require significant amounts of peak power, which many batteries cannot adequately supply. The ultracapacitor used in conjunction with a high energy battery supplies the pulse power required during heavy use. UNCLASSIFIED//Flilll. lilFFUil,t.l, lal!i! 8Hl!V 13
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 34 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.