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SUPERCAPACITORS

I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW, WHAT WOULD BE THE POWER DISCHARGED TO THE GRID IF I HAVE A10,000 FARADS GRAPHENE SUPERCAPACITOR FULLY CHARGED FROM A GENERATOR WHICH IS DRIVEN BY A COMBUSTION ENGINE.
 
Power is equal to voltage x current.
Without more information, namely at what voltage this capacitor has been charged it will be hard to answer. Is the IC running a small alternator from an automobile? That would be a 12vdc system.
Also, its considered impolite to use all caps. It's the equivalent of shouting, thanks!
 
Power is equal to voltage x current.
Without more information, namely at what voltage this capacitor has been charged it will be hard to answer. Is the IC running a small alternator from an automobile? That would be a 12vdc system.
Also, its considered impolite to use all caps. It's the equivalent of shouting, thanks!
Thanks for your prompt response chonhack, you are correct I will be charging this supercapacitor with a 12 vcd alternator from an automobile, and would like to discharge the full load onto the grid, therefore I would like to know how much power I will be delivering to the grid. Thanks
 
Assuming this formula is correct:

Energy (Joule) = ½ x Capacitance (Farad) x Voltage^2 (Volts)

5,000 x 144
Joules = 720k

Energy (Watt hour) = Energy (Joule) / 3600 (sec)

720000/ 3600
Watt hours = 200 or 0.2kW/hr

Don't forget, you won't be able to completely discharge the cap nor should you. From what I understand, the manufacturers advocate release of 3/4 of the stored power or when the cap dips to 1/2 voltage. This is probably to prevent damaging the capacitor's matrix.

Hope this helps.

Be careful, these are serious levels of power. Why are you using an IC to charge and then release the power to the existing grid?
 
Thanks for your prompt response chonhack, you are correct I will be charging this supercapacitor with a 12 vcd alternator from an automobile, and would like to discharge the full load onto the grid, therefore I would like to know how much power I will be delivering to the grid. Thanks
I could not agree more with you chonhack, thanks for your answer and your help. To answer your question is just a matter of taking care of our environment reducing CO2 emmision and greenhouse effect. This is a personnal project I have been cooking for sometime and I believe it is time to take action. Rememebre the Hurricane Patricia? That is the result of the environmental changes all over.
 
To answer your question is just a matter of taking care of our environment reducing CO2 emmision and greenhouse effect.
Not sure I understand, using an internal combustion engine which is relatively inefficient to then store a charge, where again we lose some efficiency does not equate to an environmentally sound energy policy. Now, if you want to charge the cap from arrays of solar cells, I can understand that.

Rememebre the Hurricane Patricia? That is the result of the environmental changes all over.
Hurricanes are natures way of releasing energy and balancing. They are destructive in many cases, but hardly man induced.
 
To answer your question is just a matter of taking care of our environment reducing CO2 emmision and greenhouse effect. .

Three things. First, any - ANY - form of energy conversion creates more pollution. All conversion methods are less than 100% efficient, which means that your plan will have exactly the opposite effect of what you want.

Second, an automobile engine is reasonably efficient at moving two tons of steel 50 mph. It is terrible at everything else, especially creating electrical energy from chemical energy. If petroleum is your energy source, a multi-megawatt power plant is at least twice as efficient as any other way to convert it to electricity. Of all of the ways there are to generate your own electricity, and automobile engine is the worst.

And third, you can't just "discharge" a capacitor into a commercial electric power grid and have any positive effect. The power grid is comprised of thousands of AC generators running in nearly-perfect synchronism. Connecting a 12 V capacitor to the grid will cause the capacitor to burst, and the grid will not even notice because your total energy is the equivalent of running a 60 W light bulb for 3 hours. It is possible to connect a local power source to the grid, but it takes an specialized inverter to convert your DC source into an AC sinewave source of the correct voltage, frequency and phase.

ak
 
In brief: a supercap gets charged to a low DC voltage, whereas the grid is an AC high-voltage system. Do you see the problem? AnalogKid's post sets things out in more detail.
 
Just for comparison 12 D cells would have more energy:

D cell: 1.5V 12AH = 18 WH x 12 = 216 WH

Bob
 
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