The Advanced Automotive Battery Conference held in Atlanta from Feb 3 through 7 is a worthwhile event for engineers looking to make contacts, learn what’s new and get some engineering-level information about the latest research and markets for batteries, ultra/super capacitors and hybrid electric vehicles.
For example, you may have noticed that the market for ultra/super capacitors is making inroads into the transportation vehicle market, but mostly in Europe and Asia – not so much in the USA. That hasn’t stopped Maxwell and Ioxus from providing state-of-the-art designs for automobiles, trains, large work vehicles and much more. These ultracaps combine so well with rechargeable batteries to provide on demand power and offer peak shaving of power demand.
In one of the first sessions on electrochemical (super/ultra) capacitors, Michael Everett, CTO for Maxwell talked about this capacitor technology being used for to help bolster an energy grid storage and push our crumbling energy infrastructure into a much needed new age of energy technology.
Chad Hall, co-founder and VP of sales and product management for Ioxus focused his talk (see his short video that encapsulates his thoughts) on a modular ultracap design specifically designed for light rail systems. He talked about the specific technological challenges and benefits of implementing ultracaps into light rails. The Ioxus design is the first to eliminate bus bars and substantially removes heat from a design, which of course leads to better reliability.
There were several other top-notch technical presentations on these electrochemical capacitors but they were only a small partof this week-long conference. Thursdays sessions will be on energy-storage for low-voltage hybrids, and in conjunction with that you might want to read the exciting news release ) from Alcoa (yes, the aluminum company), and Phinergy , a startup company with a brilliant idea for extending battery power for automobiles.
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