Supercapacitor-based Hybrid Storage Systems for
Energy Harvesting in Wireless Sensor Networks
S. Saggini*, F. Ongaro*, C. Galperti**, P. Mattavelli***
*
DIEGM, University of Udine, Udine, Italy. E-mail: stefano.saggini@uniud.it, fabio.ongaro@uniud.it
**
DEI, Politecnico of Milano, Milano, Italy. E-mail: galperti@elet.polimi.it
***
DTG– University of Padova, Vicenza, Italy. E-mail: paolo.mattavelli@unipd.it
Abstract – This paper investigates a power management
architecture based on a hybrid accumulator system that utilizes
the supercapacitor cell as storage element for energy harvesting
applications. The supercapacitor guarantees a longer lifetime in
terms of charge cycles, it presents itself as a “green” technology
compared to batteries and it has a wide range of operating
temperature. The drawbacks of this type of solution are the low
energy density and the leakage current that reduce the
performance for very low power applications. In this paper a
photovoltaic scavenger based on the supercapacitors is
investigated and it can work only with supercapacitors, or
together with the lithium battery cell in order to obtain a good
compromise in terms of energy density and lifetime. A dedicated
power management strategy is also proposed. Experimental
results with a 5W photovoltaic energy source are reported.
Keywords – DC-DC converters, power management, wireless
sensor network, super-capacitors, battery charger
I. INTRODUCTION
The pervasive computing and network of wireless sensors
are applications based on energy-autonomous system [1-4].
For example, a network of wireless sensors consists of a large
number of micro-sensors distributed in an area of interest.
Each node monitors the local environment and it shares this
information with the other neighboring nodes by using a
wireless link. The nodes should not require any maintenance
and thus, they have to be energetically autonomous without
the need of batteries replacement. In many application
scenarios the targeted node lifetime ranges typically between
2 to 5 years and the need of energy harvesting is a primary
issue in order to grant effectiveness of the wide-spread
diffusion of this technology.
In principle, all energy sources should be exploited to
extract the available energy; among the others, the solar one
[1-5] is generally the most effective in outdoor applications.
Solar cells exhibit a strong non-linear electrical characteristic
and the extraction of energy is even more difficult in non-
stationary environments. Variable operating conditions can be
associated with weather changes (e.g., cloudy and non
optimally radiating solar power environments) and aging
effects or efficiency degradation in the solar panel (e.g., dust
in the cell surface). Moreover, the energy transfer mechanism
is strongly influenced by the illumination conditions, such as
978-1-4244-4783-1/10/$25.00 ©2010 IEEE 2281
the incidence angle of the sunlight, which varies along the
day especially if the sensor node is in a mobile system.
Most of the solar energy harvesting solutions for wireless
sensor nodes present a simple on/off-threshold charge
mechanism relying on a diode connecting the cell with the
rechargeable battery [6]. Unfortunately, a diode-based
solution is extremely low cost, but the working point of the
cell is set by the battery voltage and it cannot be adjusted to
maximize the energy transfer in changing environment. This
problem is addressed by substituting the diode-based solution
with a Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT) system. This
approach requires the development of adaptive systems to
transfer the energy generated by the solar cell into storage
elements, such as batteries or supercapacitors, while
maintaining the working point of the PV cell around the
optimal one.
In general terms, traditional MPPT circuits differentiate
themselves in the design of the power converting electronics
and/or in the control strategy. In most applications [6-9], the
charging of high-density batteries in presence of fluctuating
power sources remains an open issue. For example, Fig.1
reports the power obtainable by a photovoltaic panel, having
2W as the nominal power, in a mobile system constituted by a
buoy on the sea. As can be observed, even if the weather
condition is good, the irradiation is in the tropical condition
and the temperature is maintained stable by the water, the
available power has a high fluctuation due to the wave motion
that changes the instantaneous orientation. This situation is
usually not compatible with the charging of high density
accumulators, like the lithium cell, because a precise charging
profile, in terms of charging current and final voltage, must be
implemented in order to prolong the lifetime [10] and the
conditions reported in Fig. 1 determine a large variation of the
charge and discharge cycles.
The solution proposed in this paper utilizes an hybrid
accumulator architecture that combines the advantages of the
supercapacitors in terms of the charge speed and
instantaneous output power and the lithium cells for the
stored available energy. In this architecture, the instantaneous
power demand is supplied by the supercapacitor if the power
generated by the converter is less than the power required for
the load and the battery charge. If the technologies of the
supercapacitors improve their performance in terms of
leakage current and energy density, the structure can be
simplified and only supercapacitors can be utilized.
 1
0.8
Power (W)
Power
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
H
Time (h)
Fig. 1 – Power obtainable by a photovoltaic cell mounted on a buoy on the
sea
II. PROPOSED POWER MANAGEMENT ARCHITECTURE
The proposed power management architecture is reported
in Fig. 2, where three dc-dc converters are connected in
parallel to the dc power bus. The first converter, denoted “dc-
dc PV converter” interfaces the PV panel to the dc power bus,
the second, denoted “dc-dc battery converter” connects the dc
bus to the battery and the third, denoted “dc-dc supercap
converter” connects the dc bus to the supercapacitor. The
internal power bus is the main power supply of the electronic
system utilized by sensor node. The power range of the
proposed photovoltaic scavenger is in the range of 5W. The
average power obtained by this source during a day is about
150mW, that is sufficient for our application where the
average load power is 100mW. Moreover, the energy stored
in the battery is designed in order to supply the load for the
whole day.
The architecture reported in Fig. 2 is aimed to the
maximization of the power conversion efficiency from the PV
source to the load. In fact, when the power source is available,
the energy flows directly from the source to the load through
Fig. 2 – Power conversion system of the scavenger with super-capacitors
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Fig. 3 – Coupled inductor Sepic converter utilized for Photovoltaic
conversion with input voltage controller
the dc-dc PV converter. Moreover, with the power
architecture of Fig. 2, it is possible to parallel different power
sources. In fact, other energy sources can be connected by a
converter to the same bus without changing the system
architecture or the power management control. Thus, by
including a hybrid accumulator system, the battery can be
protected from overcharging and discharging stresses in order
to prolong its lifetime. In fact, the extra power required by the
load or generated by the fluctuating source is smoothed by the
supercapacitors elements. In our case of study the dc bus is at
3.3V (VBusDC), the solar panel has a voltage of about 6V
(VPV), the maximum voltage utilizable by the supercapacitor
is of 2.5V and the lithium battery has a nominal voltage of
3.7V (VBattery).
The dc-dc PV converter is based on the Sepic topology as
reported in Fig. 3. This solution guarantees small input
current ripple and it is compatible with the voltage of the
photovoltaic cell because, in CCM operation, the conversion
ratio can be stepped down to the bus voltage:
VBusDC D
= (1)
VPV 1− D
where D is the converter duty-cycle. In the implementation, a
coupled inductor was used, thus reducing the magnetic
element to one, as shown in Fig. 3. The input voltage of the
converter is controlled by a feedback loop and the reference is
determined either by the source MPPT or by the control on
the supercapacitor voltage, depending on the state of the
power management algorithm.
Fig. 4 – Bidirectional Buck converter connected to the super-capacitor
 The dc-dc supercap converter is a bidirectional converter
based on the synchronous buck topology, as reported in Fig.4;
it operates in step-down mode when the power flows from the
dc bus to the supercapacitor, and in step-up mode when the
power flows in the opposite direction. The converter controls
the dc bus voltage and it behaves as a sink or a source
depending on the instantaneous power conditions. By
utilizing the dc-dc converter, the supercapacitors are
connected in parallel without requiring an overvoltage
protection system on each element that is needed in the serial
connection [11].
If the consumption of the wireless node is high during the
period of time without irradiation, a lithium battery is used
decreasing the size of the energy storage unit. During the
charge of the battery the system works as in the previous
description, and the supercapacitor system allows a stable
Fig. 5 – Bidirectional Buck-Boost converter connected to the Battery
charge process. When irradiation is not present and the
supercapacitor system is almost discharged, the operation of bus voltage soft-start. In this state, the control strategies are
the battery converter must be inverted by the power manager. based on the MPPT of the sources and on the dc bus voltage
In this case the energy required for the super-capacitor is the regulation. The state machine switches from the soft-start
energy utilized to compensate the input energy variations with state to battery charge state, when the dc bus voltage has
respect to the load requirement and the battery charge profile. reached its nominal values and the energy of the
The dc-dc battery converter is a bidirectional Buck-Boost supercapacitor exceeds the reference energy ErefBC.
converter, as shown in Fig. 5, to charge and to utilize the In these conditions, the dc bus voltage is controlled by
battery at the same time depending on the working conditions. voltage loop using the dc-dc supercap converter and the
This choice is dictated by the required voltage level of the voltage, thus the energy, in the capacitor is regulated at ErefBC
battery with respect to the dc power bus; in fact, the lithium by changing the charging current of the battery if it is less
battery has a nominal voltage of 3.7V and the dc bus voltage than the maximum input current of the charge profile of the
is 3.3V. This converter operates like a Buck-Boost by turning battery. When the battery charging current reaches the
on the switch M2 and M3 during the “on phase”, and by maximum value, the supercapacitor voltage becomes the
turning on the switch M1 and M4 during the “off phase”. In degree of freedom during this state. When the supercapacitor
CCM operation the conversion ratio is: voltage increases, the algorithm moves towards the Over-
VBusDC D Power state. In this case, the source MPPT is switched to a
= (2) control loop on the supercapacitor voltage that regulates the
VBattery 1 − D maximum energy to ErefOP, thus reducing the input power.
Instead, when the input power reduces and it is less than the
This type of converter has a current controlled loop and the
load power, the supercapacitor voltage decreases and the
power management algorithm decides the current reference
system moves to the Battery Help state. In this state, the
value, which is either positive or negative depending on the
control maintains the voltage stable for the dc bus, the MPTT
working conditions of the battery (charge or discharge).
for the source and it uses the battery as a source in order to
III. POWER MANAGEMENT ALGORITHM maintain the voltage of the supercapacitor at ErefBH by
modulating the battery current level. At the same time, the
The proposed power management algorithm for the
maximum current output level of the battery is limited by the
complete hybrid storage system is based on different control
control in order to prolong the battery lifetime. Moreover, in
states defined by the charge state of the supercapacitor. The
order to avoid extra discharge of the battery, the output
supercapacitor energy is used to switch from a state to another
current limit falls to zero if the voltage of the battery is lower
one because it inherently monitors the power balance of the
than a threshold value.
conversion system. In Fig. 6 the state machine of the
Finally, if the input power is lower than the output power
proposed power management is reported.
required by the load and the battery is discharged, the voltage
The first state is the state of “Turn-off”: from this state, the
across the supercapacitor decreases until it reaches the
system wakes up only if some sources can deliver the energy
threshold voltage associated with the energy Eth1 and the
required to start up the control electronic and, consequently,
system goes to the Turn-off state. Figure 6 summarizes the
the system can proceed to the soft-start state. During this state
operation of the state-machine.
the energy comes from the source and it is directed to the
supercapacitor and to the controllers in order to maintain the

2283
 Let’s denote pSCgen(t) the power generated by super-
capacitor:
pSCgen (t ) = − pSC (t ) . (8)

Thus, the probability that pSCgen(t) is greater than power P at a

given time t is

P
∫ fp SC
( p) dp
P ( pSCgen (t ) > P | pSC (t ) < 0) = −∞ (9)
P ( pSC (t ) < 0)
Fig. 6 – Block diagram of the state machine for the power management
The extracted energy ESCgen is defined from the extracted
power pSCgen:
The value of the supercapacitor is based on the study of the
N
instantaneous power variation of the source or the load in two
main states of the algorithm: battery help and battery charge.
E SCgen = ∑ pSCgen (t + n Tsample ) Tsample (10)
n =1
If the system is correctly designed these two states switch
during the day and the night. where N is the number of subsequent events where pSC(t)<0.
By neglecting the converter losses, the instantaneous From (10), the probability density function of ESCgen is:
power on the supercapacitor in the battery charge state can be
P ( E SCgen > E | p SC (t ) < 0) =
expressed as:
∞ E Tsample
pSC (t ) = pSource (t ) − pLoad (t ) − pCh arg e (t ) (11)
(3) ∑ P ( p SC (t ) < 0) n ∫ f n
∑ p SC
( p ) dp
n =1 −∞ k =1
and in the battery help state = (1 − P ( p SC (t ) < 0))
P ( p SC (t ) < 0)
pSC (t ) = pSource (t ) + pBattery (t ) − pLoad (t ) (4)
where f n is the probability density function of the sum
∑ pSC
If there is a load power increase or an input power k =1
reduction during the battery charge state, the battery charging of pSC(t) when pSC(t)<0 .
current is reduced in order to regulate the voltage across the Then, the probability density function of the extracted
supercapacitor and under the worst case, it is reduced to zero. energy ESCgen is derived differentiating (11):
Under these conditions, (3) becomes:
∞
e
pSC (t ) = pSource (t ) − pLoad (t ) (5) f Esc (e) = [1 − P ( p SC (t ) < 0)] ∑ P ( p SC (t ) < 0) n −1 f n ( )
n =1 ∑ p SC Tsample
k =1
In the battery help state, when the battery generates the
(12)
maximum power available for a given current limit Imax, the
power can be expressed as follow: For example, let’s consider the case where the input power
is constant ( pSource (t ) = 2.5 W ), the system is working in
pSC (t ) = pSource (t ) + I maxVbattery − p Load (t ) (6)
battery charge mode and, when the load is active, the power
The following analysis is based on the hypothesis that the load p Load (t ) is a random variable with an uniform
instantaneous power generated or accumulated on the super- distribution from 0 to 4 W with a sample time of Tsample=10 s.
capacitor can be considered an uncorrelated random variable Using (12), the probability density function fEsc is reported in
for event with a distance of Tsample. This interval depends on Fig. 7: it can be noted that in 90% of the cases, the energy
the fluctuation of the load and source power. Based on a supplied by the supercapacitor is less than 25J. Thus, in order
statistical approach, the power generated or accumulated by to avoid to use the battery during the day, i.e. to avoid the
the supercapacitor is described by a probability density battery help state, we impose:
function fPsc that is different depending on the state of the
power manager (Battery Help or Battery Charge). Using fPsc , ERef BC − ETh2 > 25 J (13)
it is possible to express the probability of extracting power
from the supercapacitor at a given time t as: Assuming ErefBC=2V and ETh2=1V, the supercapacitor
value C should be greater than 16.67 F.
0
P ( pSC (t ) < 0) = ∫ fp SC
( p) dp (7)
−∞

2284
 -4
x 10
8 1

f Esc (e) 7
FEsc (e) 0.9
6
0.8
90%
0.7
5
0.6

3
0.5

0.4
PV Converter
0.3

(Hz)
2
0.2

1
0.1

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
e [J] e [J]

a) b)
Fig. 7 – a) Density probability function of the energy required by the super-
capacitor during the battery charge mode b) Cumulative distribution function
of the energy required by the super-capacitor during the battery charge mode P1

pLoad(t) pSource(t)
4

[W]
3.5
(H)
3 [V] 1.8

2.5
1.6
Vc(t) a)
2

1.4
1.5

1 1.2

SC Converter
0.5
1
0
200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
[sec] [sec]

(Hz)
a)
b)
Fig. 8 – a) Simulation of the power load requirement during the battery
charge mode b) Super-capacitor voltage in the same condition with the two
voltage levels referred to Battery charge mode (2V) and Battery help mode
(1V)
P2

The same reasoning should be applied during the night

taking into account that the battery is able to supply a
maximum current Imax=600mA. In these conditions, the input
(H)
source is zero and the maximum power supplied by the
battery is 2.2W. Moreover, when the load is active, the power b)
load p Load (t ) is assumed to be a random variable with an Fig. 9 – a) Efficiency of the Sepic converter as a function of inductance and
uniform distribution from 0 to 2.5 W with a sample time of frequency for the nominal voltage and current and P1 the value of the utilized
parameters (L=22μH, Fsw=250kHz) b) The same for the bidirectional Buck
Tsample=10 s. Using (11), we found that in 90% of the cases the converter and P2 the value of the utilized parameters (L=0.5μH, Fsw=1MHz)
energy supplied by the supercapacitor is less than 3J. Thus, in
order to avoid the turn-off state, we impose:
Using MATLAB scripts, one for each converter, the losses
ERef BH − ETh1 > 3J (14) for every operating conditions are calculated: the inputs are
the inductance, the frequency and the input current, while
Assuming ErefBH=1V and ETh1=0.2V, the supercapacitor fixed parameters are the input and the output voltages. The
value C should be greater than 6.25 F. program calculates the converter operating conditions
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS (continuous or discontinuous conduction mode); detailed
mosfets conduction and switching, DCR, dead times, ground
The converter connected to the input power is designed on resistance (valued in 50mΩ) and drivers losses are evaluated.
the maximum input power coming from the source, which is As the conclusion of this calculation, the maximum value of
5W, the nominal power of the photovoltaic panel. The the converter efficiency within the input power range is
supercapacitor converter is designed to work in a range of obtained and reported in Figs. 9a and 9/b; Figure 9a is used as
power that depends on the maximum instantaneous power the design criteria for the selection of L and fsw for the sepic
required by the load or generated by source. In our converter and point P1 of Fig. 9a has been chosen (L=22 μH,
application the power fluctuation of the load and the source is Fsw=250 kHz); for the super-capacitor converter the inductor
approximately the same (5W). The converter operates in is chosen to optimize the efficiency, but the frequency of
bidirectional mode with a minimum capacitor voltage of operation is chosen higher in order to reduce the ripple of the
200mV. In order to select the appropriate values of DC Bus voltage. Thus point P2 of Fig. 9b has been chosen
inductance and frequency of the sepic and supercapacitor (L=0.5μH, Fsw=1 MHz).
converters, Figures 9a and 9b are used.

2285
 controlled input voltage. Figure 13a shows the efficiency of
Connection to optional Battery Converter
the supercapacitor converter in Buck operating mode, varying
Power Manager the input power at different supercapacitor voltages; Figure
13b shows the efficiency in Boost mode, where the power is
extracted from the supercapacitor; the results reported in
100

90

80

70
PV Converter Super CAP Converter

Ef f icency [%]
60

Fig. 10 - Bidirectional Buck-Boost and Sepic converter connected 50

Vmpp=6V
The control system of both converters is based on the 40
stabilization of the input voltage; in the Sepic case, the 30
regulation is realized with a Proportional-Integral (PI) 20
controller, which allows a dominant pole compensation, being
the bandwidth requirement not very restrictive; the 10

bidirectional Buck regulator instead, is a Proportional- 0

Integral-Derivative (PID), which allows a faster stabilization 0 1 2
Pin [W]
3 4 5
of the input voltage level.
Fig. 12 – Efficiency of the Sepic input power stage, with a controlled input
V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS voltage of 6V
100
The power management system was experimentally
90
verified on a prototype built using discrete Component Off
80
The Shelf (COTS) reported in Fig. 10. The power manager is
implemented by a microcontroller of the Microchip family 70
(PIC18LF2620). The controller utilized for the sepic
Ef f icency [%]

60
converter is a commercial IC (TPS43000). The converter 50 Vcap=2.5V
works at 250kHz and it utilizes a coupled inductor of L=22μH Vcap=1.5V
40
with a coupling factor of 0.95 (Coilcraft MSD1260 series). Vcap=1V
The supercapacitor converter is a Buck converter that utilizes 30
a 500nH inductor (Coilcraft SER2000 series) and it works at 20
1MHz, while the controller IC is ISL8118. In Fig. 11 the main 10
converter waveforms are reported: channel 1 (CH1) is the
0
gate of the low side transistor of the input converter, CH2 the
0 1 2 3 4 5
signal of the bus DC voltage, CH3 the current to the
Pin [W]
supercapacitor and CH4 the gate of the high side transistor of
a)
the supercap converter.
The efficiency of each stage has been measured: Fig. 12 100
reports the efficiency of the input stage with a fixed and
90

80

70
Ef f icency [%]

60

50 Vcap=2.5V
Vcap=1.5V
40
Vcap=1V
30

20

10

0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Pout [W]
b)
Fig. 11 – CH1: gate of the low side transistor of the input converter, CH2:
Fig. 13 – a) Efficiency of the supercap power stage a) in Buck mode
signal of the bus DC voltage, CH3: sinking current to the supercapacitor,
(sinking mode), b) in Boost mode (sourcing mode), over input power
CH4: gate of the high side transistor of super cap converter.

2286
Figs 12-13 are in agreement with the estimated efficiency
reported in Fig. 9.
As a verification of the transient behaviour, the source is
turned off and Fig. 14 reports the main waveforms of the
proposed system without batteries, with a 50F supercapacitor
as primary energy storage and with the load power constant
and equal to 3W; in channel 1 (CH1) the input voltage of the
sepic stage is reported, during its normal MPPT operation, in
CH2 the dc bus voltage, in CH3 the he supercapacitor current
and in CH4 its voltage. As can be seen, when the input
voltage decreases and no energy flows in the dc bus, the
supercap converter provides the holding up og the dc voltage
with the supercapacitor energy.
Input Source off
Fig. 14 – Transient response of the circuit when no energy flows from the
input source in the dc bus. CH1: input voltage, CH2: dc bus, CH3 super cap
current, CH4 super cap voltage.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper a power management system based on
hybrid storage architecture composed by supercapacitors and
lithium-ion batteries is proposed. This architecture, combined
with the power management algorithm, ensures a controlled
battery charge and the maximum power point tracking from
the energy sources even in presence of large fluctuations of
the sources and of the load, thus prolonging the battery
lifetime. Moreover, the experimental results show high
efficiency in the proposed conversion systems.
2287
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