Nanotechnology Enabled Hybrid Power System Suitable for Portable Telecommunications and Sensor Applications

A prototype nanotechnology-enabled hybrid power system has been developed and tested in the laboratory. The system, which consists of a nanotechnology-based battery and supercapacitor plus a dynamic power management circuit, has been designed to meet the power needs of high power, low duty cycle applications, such as telecommunications equipment or unattended ground sensors. The hybrid system has almost 17 times the specific energy of the supercapacitor alone and 3 times the specific power of the battery alone. Under load conditions similar to those found in a telecommunications system, the nanotechnology-enabled hybrid power system has 34 per cent more capacity than the battery alone and 30 per cent more capacity than the combined capacities of the battery and supercapacitor taken together.