Estimating supercapacitor performance for embedded applications using fractional-order models

Commercially available supercapacitors currently require designers to experimentally characterise devices before integration for their specific applications. In this work a simple fractional-order equivalent model for a supercapacitor is used to derive the design equation to estimate the discharge time due to a constant current. This model is shown to capture the transient discharging behaviour in the voltage range of interest (5–3 V) typical of many embedded systems. Experimental results using Kemet FT0H105ZF supercapacitors (1 F rating) as a secondary power supply for an Arduino Uno system are presented to highlight the application of this model and equations to a ubiquitous embedded system.