Assessment of electrothermal model of supercapacitors for railway applications

The aim of the SNCF research division program in collaboration with LTN-INRETS laboratory is to respond to the high demand to more environmentally friendly transportation. We have investigated general behaviours of supercapacitors for railway application with two powerful methods of analysis. The first is constant charge/discharge current at high level value (300, 500 A), the second is impedance spectroscopy method. An electrothermal circuit model of supercapacitors based on activated carbon and organic electrolyte is defined for a given railway application. Matlab/Simulink simulations are shown to assess the model under railway specifications