Super Capacitors

Capacitors having very high capacitance reaching up to 500 farads is called super capacitor. They are also called ultra or double layer capacitor. The main principle behind the super capacitor is similar as normal capacitor but are manufactured with nano-technology which enables the dielectric to have a large surface area hence greater quantity of charge is stored. The commonly used dielectric is electrolytic soaked separator and the electrode is activated charcoal.  

              These stores energy just like batteries but advantageous due to lighter in weight, environmentally friendly, can be charged and discharged repeatedly unlike the battery, life is about 1000 times that of the battery. Their uses are in camera, electric automobiles, power conditioner, welders etc. Super capacitors can supply short burst of power and are useful when heavy loads are applied suddenly.  They also charge faster and absorb voltage transients better while the battery supplies the regular power requirement. They are also used in automobiles to where they can be charged easily and are particularly effective in recovering energy from the transmission systems through regenerative braking. The downside of supercapacitors is the low energy to weight ratio as compared to batteries.  Further advances in technology may narrow out this difference.