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This Defense Intelligence Reference Document was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency's Defense Warning Office and dated 1 November 2010. It is one of a series of advanced technology reports produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Applications Program. The report reviews how ultracapacitors work, how they compare with batteries, their history and materials, and their commercial, military and aerospace uses. It concludes that new materials and cell designs will raise energy density and that the U.S. government must understand the devices' spectral signatures.
From the source: Release of 2026-09-18 Incident: 11/1/10, Las Vegas, Nevada. Released with redactions. This document is a Defense Intelligence Reference Document (DIRD), a technical reference format used by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to capture baseline knowledge on a specific topic for later analytic use. DIRDs are best understood as reference and synthesis products rather than as original research. It is one of 38 DIRDs produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) between 2009 and 2011. Because AAWSAP’s scope permitted a broad range of supporting topics, not every DIRD in the series directly concerns aerospace systems or future threat assessment. The following summary reflects the DIRD’s scope and framing at the time of writing and should not be read as implying current validation of the concepts discussed. This DIRD surveys ultracapacitors as high-power energy-storage devices and argues that their main value lies in extremely rapid charge and discharge, very long cycle life, and usefulness in systems that need short bursts of power rather than sustained energy delivery. The report explains how ultracapacitors differ from batteries, reviews the materials and cell designs that determine their performance, and emphasizes that they are especially useful for power stabilization, backup power, load leveling, regenerative braking, and other applications where fast energy transfer matters more than total stored energy. It also notes their drawbacks, including lower energy density, self-discharge, and voltage-management requirements that limit their usefulness as stand-alone replacements for batteries in many applications. The document presents ultracapacitors as a maturing and increasingly important technology whose most credible aerospace and military uses lie in pulsed-power, missile and munitions systems, electric propulsion support, and other hybrid power architectures rather than in long-duration primary energy storage.
UNCLASSIFIED1/FOR 8ffl@IAL tt91! e"t I 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 qu ickly. These are becom ing increasing ly 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 sim ilar 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 becom ing increasing ly 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. UNCLASSIFIEO/fFOA OFFI&I:.l.b YS& ONLY 13
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Official release, from the pursue 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.