Hybrid battery-supercapacitor mathematical

modeling for PV application using Matlab/Simulink

Maria C. Argyrou
Department of Electrical
Engineering, Computer
Engineering and Informatics
Cyprus University of Technology
Limassol, Cyprus
mx.argyrou@edu.cut.ac.cy
Paul Christodoulides
Faculty of Engineering and
Technology
Cyprus University of Technology
Limassol, Cyprus
paul.christodoulides@cut.ac.cy
Christos C. Marouchos
Department of Electrical
Engineering, Computer
Engineering and Informatics,
Cyprus University of Technology
Limassol, Cyprus
christos.marouchos@cut.ac.cy
Soteris A. Kalogirou
Department of Mechanical
Engineering and Materials
Science and Engineering
Cyprus University of Technology
Limassol, Cyprus
soteris.kalogirou@cut.ac.cy

Abstract—Energy storage plays an important role in the
renewable energy sources integration. Additionally, hybrid
energy storage can be integrated into various systems to achieve
different applications. Specifically, the combination of high
energy and power rating, increased life cycle, duration of
discharge period and other features may not be satisfied by the
single storage technology. There are several storage technologies
that may be used in a photovoltaic (PV) system. This paper
focuses on the mathematical modeling of the hybrid battery-
supercapacitor storage system. The hybrid storage combines the
advantages of both battery and supercapacitor storage. Also,
supercapacitors can reduce stresses on battery storage and thus
extend their battery life. The proposed mathematical model is
implemented using Matlab/Simulink. Regarding the
supercapacitor equivalent circuit, the two branches model is
examined. For the lithium-ion battery storage model, a dual
polarization model with two parallel RC networks is studied. The
next step is to integrate the hybrid battery-supercapacitor
storage into a grid-connected PV system.
Keywords—hybrid energy storage, supercapacitors, lithium-ion,
battery, photovoltaics, modeling, Simulink
I. INTRODUCTION
Solar energy is currently the most essential form between
all the renewable energy sources (RES). Specifically, solar
photovoltaic (PV) technologies are growing very fast with a
growth rate of 35–40% per year. By the end of 2010, the global
installed PV capacity was near 40 GW, while in 2016 the
capacity exceeded 300 GW. It is expected that by the end of
2020 the global installed PV capacity will reach 700 GW. A
similar growth is presented in the energy storage sector.
Among all storage technologies, batteries have received the
highest attention and experienced the most growth during the
last years. It is expected that by the end of 2030, global
installed battery storage capacity will reach 250 GW as
opposed to the current capacity of just 1.9 GW. Regarding the
lithium-ion batteries, it is expected that by 2025 the 80% of all
global battery storage installations will come from them [1],
[2].
Energy storage plays a crucial role in the RES integration,
transportation sector and grid support. The variable behavior of
solar irradiation and therefore of the PV generation makes the
energy storage important to overcome several problems that
may occur on a grid-connected PV system. Specifically, energy
storage can provide energy management, power and voltage
smoothing, peak shaving and emergency generation.
In this paper, the hybridization of battery-supercapacitor is
analyzed and modeled. Section II contains a review of hybrid
storage and the current combinations of batteries with
supercapacitors. In Section III, a mathematical analysis and
modeling of supercapacitor and battery storage is presented.
Finally, Section IV presents the simulation results of the two
storage methods. Concluding, a future work is proposed to
integrate the hybrid storage into a grid-connected PV system.
II. BATTERY- SUPERCAPACITOR HYBRIDIZATION
Hybrid energy storage (HES) results from the integration of
two or more different storage technologies into a system. This
way, a combination of the advantages and characteristics of
different storage methods is performed to achieve specific
requirements and improve the whole system performance. The
combination of energy and power rating, life cycle, duration of
discharge period and other characteristics may not be satisfied
by the single storage technology. Supercapacitors have high
power rate and short discharge duration, but limited energy
density. On the other hand, batteries have high energy rates and
long duration of storage, but limited power. Therefore, this
hybridization provides high energy and power rating, fast
response and both short and long discharge duration.
Moreover, supercapacitors can reduce stress on batteries and
increase the battery’s life [3], [4].
There are many researchers who propose the use of
batteries and supercapacitors together. This combination
offers high storage capacity and a very fast response time [5].
Some of them proposed the integration of battery-
supercapacitor storage into a wind power plant [6], in an
electric vehicle [7] or in a microgrid [8]. Kanchev et al. [9]
proposed an energy management method in a building with
PV system and a battery-supercapacitor storage. Specifically,
excess energy from photovoltaics is stored in batteries and the
local real-time power control is achieved by supercapacitors.
Therefore, it is necessary to choose an appropriate

978-1-5386-2910-9/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE

combination of energy storage systems to follow the system
requirements.
III. MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS AND MODELING OF
SUPERCAPACITOR AND BATTERY
A. Supercapacitor model
Supercapacitors are considered as a promising technology
with favorable characteristics. They are also known as
ultracapacitors or as electrochemical double layer capacitors.
The energy storage is in the form of an electric field between
their two electrodes, without any chemical reaction. During
charge process, the electrically charged ions are moved from
the electrolyte towards the electrode of opposite polarity [10].
Supercapacitors have complementary features, such as
high energy efficiency (85–98%), long life cycle (> 100000
cycles), high power density (500–5000 W/kg) and very fast
response time (< 5 ms). Moreover, they do not get affected so
much from deep discharges. However, they have short charge
and discharge duration and low energy density (0.1–5 Wh/kg)
[11].
Supercapacitors have low cell voltage resistance between
their terminals (up to 3 V) and hence they are built up with
modules of single cells connected in series or in a combination
of series and parallel connections [12]. The equivalent circuit
of the supercapacitor cell is shown in Fig. 1. We examine the
two branches model, which consists of the main branch and
the slow branch [13].
Fig. 1. Two branches equivalent circuit of a supercapacitor cell
The main branch corresponds to the immediate response of
the supercapacitor during the charge or discharge event in the
time range of seconds. In the main branch, R1 is the series
resistance and represents the waste power for internal heating
on charging and discharging (mΩ). The capacitor C1 depends
on the voltage V1 as expressed in (1), where C0 is the constant
capacitance in Farads (F) and Cv is the constant parameter
(F/V) [14], [15].
1 = 0 + 1 (1)
The slow branch determines the internal energy
distribution at the end of the charge or discharge cycle in the
time range of minutes. The parallel resistance Rf describes the
leakage current when the supercapacitor is in standby mode
(kΩ×102). This self-discharge property can be neglected for
fast charge and discharge cycles [16]. Equation (2) represents
the voltage Vsc of the supercapacitor module,
= = ( 1 + 1 ) (2)
where Ns and Np are the number of supercapacitor cells in
series and parallel connection, respectively. Also, Usc is the
cell voltage and Isc is the current of the supercapacitor module.
Concerning the slow cell, the voltage V2 can be expressed by:
1 1 1
2 = 2 = ( 1 − 2) (3)
2 2 2
The voltage V1 across the capacitor C1 on the main cell is
given by:
2
− 0 + 0 +2 1 (4)
1 =
where Q1 is the instantaneous charge of C1 and can be
calculated by:
1 2 (5)
1 = 0 1+ 1
2
All electrical parameters of the studied supercapacitor cell
(Maxwell BCAP3000) are given as R1 = 0.29 mΩ,
C0 = 2100 F, Cv = 623 F/V, R2 = 1.92 Ω and C2 = 172 F [14].
The supercapacitor has a rated voltage of 2.7 V and a rated
capacitance of 3000 F. The supercapacitor model in Simulink
is presented in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. Simulink model of supercapacitor cell
B. Battery model
Lithium battery technology is currently applied extensively
in portable consumer electronics such as laptop and mobile
systems. Also, there is a growing interest for hybrid and
electric vehicle applications and for grid applications as well.
Some of their advantages include high energy density (80–200
Wh/kg), high power density (500–2000 W/kg), high efficiency
(90–97%), low self-discharge rate (< 5%/month), wide
operating temperatures (–20 to 60 °C for charge and –40 to 65
°C for discharge) and more than 1000–10000 life cycles [4].
Battery packs include battery modules, with each battery
module containing several battery cells in series, parallel, or
series and parallel configuration. Battery cells are connected
in series to achieve higher pack voltage, while parallel cells
connection is used to achieve higher current and power
capability and consequently higher pack capacity [17]. In this
paper, our focus is paid on the battery cell model.
There are four commonly used models regarding the
equivalent circuit of the battery cell. (i) The ideal model is the
simplest model with a voltage source only, in which all the
internal parameters are ignored. (ii) The linear model consists
of an ideal battery with an open-circuit voltage and an
equivalent series resistance. However, this model ignores the
varying characteristics of the battery’s internal impedance
with the varying state-of-charge (SOC) and electrolyte
concentration. (iii) The Thevenin equivalent model consists of
an open-circuit voltage Voc, an internal resistance Rs, a
capacitance Cp and an overvoltage resistance Rp [18]. (iv) The
dual polarization model (2nd-order RC model) is an
improvement of Thevenin’s equivalent model that was
proposed by Chen et al. [19]. It contains an open-circuit
voltage Voc, an internal resistance Rs and two RC networks, as
shown in Fig. 3. The RC circuits correspond to the internal
charge distribution of the battery, while the series resistance Rs
represents the internal losses of the battery. The open circuit
voltage Voc is the internal voltage of the battery and depends Fig. 4. Battery characteristic curves of usable capacity with respect to: (a)
on the SOC [20]. The left-hand circuit in Fig. 3 is designed to cycle number, (b) temperature, (c) battery current, (d) storage time, as well as
track the SOC of the battery. The studied dual polarization (e) open-circuit voltage Voc versus SOC, and (f) transient response to a step
model comprises both steady state and transient response load current event [19]
behavior.
As can be seen from (6), the usable capacity does not
depend on current variation. The current dependence of usable
capacity shown in Fig. 4(c), presents the variation of capacity
for different SOC values at the end of discharge time for
different battery currents. During the charge or discharge
event, a current-controlled current source Ib can charge or
discharge the capacitor (Cusable), and therefore the Vsoc changes
Fig. 3. Dual polarization battery cell model dynamically, as shown on the left circuit of Fig. 3. The resistor
Rself-discharge represents the energy losses when the battery is left
Fig. 4 contains all the typical characteristic curves of the unused for a long time, which is usually ignored for a lithium-
battery in which battery parameters can be calculated. The ion battery. Finally, usable capacity is decreased with time
calculation of all battery parameters are presented and when no load is connected to the battery, as shown in Fig. 4(d)
analyzed as follows. [19].

1) Usable capacity calculation 2) Voc and SOC calculation

The usable capacity of the battery (Cusable in Coulombs)
represents the charge that a battery can store. Specifically, it is
the nominal battery capacity in Ah (Cinit) multiplied by cycle
number-dependent correction factor (f1(N), see Fig. 4(a)) and
temperature-dependent correction factor (f2(T), see Fig. 4(b))
[19].
The SOC of the battery is the ratio of its current capacity
to its nominal capacity. The nominal capacity is the maximum
amount of charge that a battery can store. The relationship
between Voc and SOC is shown in Fig. 4(e). A third-order
polynomial relationship between Voc and SOC is presented
below:

(SOC) = 2 3
= 3600. . 1 ( ). 2( ) (6) 0 + 1 . SOC + 2 . SOC + 3 SOC (8)
where α0, α1, α2 and α3 are constant values.
For simplicity, we can assume that usable capacity is not
affected so much from the temperature, and therefore f2(T) can For instance, we use the parameters that were examined
be set to 1. Regarding the capacity fading because of the and tested in [22], of the Panasonic NCR18650PF lithium-ion
battery cycle number, the cycle number-dependent correction battery cell: α0 = 3.2416, α1 = 1.3905, α2 = –1.3781 and
factor f1(N) can be calculated as below: α3 = 0.9206. Moreover, the SOC equation during discharging
is expressed by [23], [24]:
1( ) = 1 − ( 1√ ) (7)
SOC = SOC0 − (9)
where N is the cycle number and k1 = 4.5×10-3 [21].
where SOC0 is the initial SOC of the battery (0 ≤ SOC ≤ 1).
 3) Transient response
When a step load current is presented, the battery voltage
reacts slowly with time (Fig. 4(f)). The two RC networks in
Fig. 3 are responsible for the transient response. Specifically,
series resistance Rs is responsible for the instantaneous drop of
the voltage, while the two RC networks are responsible for the
following short-time and long-time transient response, as they
are circled in the Fig. 4(f) [19].

4) RC calculation
The values of Rs, Rp1, Rp2, Cp1 and Cp2 depend on the
battery current and SOC. Nonlinear curves behavior can be Fig. 5. Battery cell 2nd-order RC model
used as depicted by [19]. The following general functions
correspond to the RC parameters related to SOC:

= 0
− 1 .SOC
+ 2
(10)
1 = 0
− 1 .SOC
+ 2
(11)
1 = 0
− 1 .SOC
+ 2
(12)
2 = 0
− 1 .SOC
+ 2
(13)
2 = ℎ0 −ℎ 1 .SOC
+ ℎ2 (14)
where bi, ci, di, gi, hi (i = 0, 1, 2) are constant values. The RC
parameters can be calculated in Simulink using a look-up table
based on their variations behavior using the SOC as input. It is
observed that when the SOC is high (20–100%), these
parameters remain almost constant. Therefore, for simplicity
we can assume that these parameters remain constant with Fig. 6. Subsystem calculation of series voltage and RC parallel networks
SOC. In this paper, we use the values [22]: Rs = 0.0314 Ω, voltages
Rp1 = 0.0181 Ω, Cp1 = 1712 F, Rp2 = 0.0281 Ω and
Cp2 = 55257 F. IV. RESULTS
A. Supercapacitor Results
5) Voltage drop on RC networks
The simulation results of the supercapacitor model are
Additionally, each RC network has a voltage drop Vpi shown in Fig. 7 and Fig. 8, based on the Simulink model of
expressed by: Fig. 2. Firstly, a constant current of 200 A charges the
supercapacitor for about 40 s until it reaches the rated voltage.
(15) During the period of 55–70 s, the supercapacitor is at rest
= −
(Isc = 0 A). After that, a constant current of –200 A discharges
totally the supercapacitor. At the beginning of discharging, an
where i = 1, 2 correspond to the first and second RC network initial slight voltage drop of 59 mV is observed. This happens
respectively [25]. Therefore, the battery voltage is calculated due to the internal resistance R1 of the supercapacitor
as follows: (ΔV = ΙscR1).
= − 1− 2− (16)

Based on the analysis of the examined lithium-ion battery

cell, the Simulink model is shown in Fig. 5. The model is
based on the behavior of the 2nd-order RC battery cell model.
The battery parameters are taken from [22], in which a
Panasonic NCR18650PF lithium-ion battery cell was tested.
The studied battery has a nominal capacity of 2900 mAh and a
nominal voltage of 3.6 V. The calculation of capacity fading
due to the charge/discharge cycle number of the battery is
based on (6) and (7). Additionally, Fig. 6 presents the
calculation of series voltage and RC parallel networks
voltages, based on (15). Finally, the subsystem of the Voc
calculation in Fig. 5 contains a third-order polynomial Fig. 7. Supercapacitor charging/discharging Current with time
evaluation block based on (8).
Fig. 8. Supercapacitor charging/discharging Voltage with time Fig. 10. Battery pulse charging/discharging current with time

B. Battery Results
The following results were obtained based on the Simulink
battery model of Fig. 5. The relationship between Voc and SOC
is presented in Fig. 9, in which the form is similar to Fig. 4(e)
and corresponds to the third-order polynomial in (8).
To verify that our model responds to charge and discharge
events, we first set a pulse discharge current (Fig. 10) of about
1.5 A (0.5C), assuming that our battery is initially fully
charged (SOC0 = 1). As can be seen from Fig. 11, at the end of
discharge period, the battery is not fully discharged (SOC =
0.38). Also, at that moment the battery voltage is about 3.52 V
(Fig. 12). Moreover, during the resting period the battery Fig. 11. Battery SOC with time
voltage curve (Fig. 12) contains a linear part and an
exponential part. The linear part corresponds to the behavior
of the battery due to the internal resistance Rs, while the
exponential part shows the dynamic behavior of the battery
(RC networks).
Regarding the capacity fading due to ageing effect, Fig. 13
represents the decreasing of the usable capacity because of the
increase in the cycle number of the battery. The decreasing
effect has a similar shape with that of Fig. 4(a) and also
complies with that of the manufacturer’s datasheet.

Fig. 12. Battery voltage during charging/discharging with time

Fig. 9. Varying curve of Voc with SOC

Fig. 13. Usable Capacity vs. cycle number

 V. CONCLUSIONS - FUTURE WORK
Hybrid energy storage can be integrated into various
systems to achieve different applications. Hybrid storage has
significant features in some specific applications compared to
single energy storage. In this paper, a mathematical modeling
of the supercapacitor and battery call was examined. The
supercapacitor cell was analyzed though the two branches
equivalent circuit. Regarding the battery cell model, the dual
polarization model of two RC networks was investigated.
The hybridization of battery-supercapacitor can be
integrated into a system to achieve several solutions in
transportation, renewable energy integration and grid support.
Fig. 14 presents the proposed system topology of a grid-
connected photovoltaic system with hybrid energy storage
system. The system must be adjusted to different situations of
the weather and be synchronized with the utility grid [26]. An
active parallel configuration is used for the battery-
supercapacitor model. The battery and supercapacitor modules
are connected on the 400 V DC bus (output of PV converter)
through two bidirectional DC-DC converters. The DC-DC
converter allows the battery and supercapacitor module to
have different voltage and controls their energy flow. Several
energy managements exist in the literature. Our future goal is
to integrate an energy storage control system into the grid-
connected photovoltaic system to eliminate power fluctuations
and provide energy management, power and voltage
smoothing, peak shaving and standby generation in case of a
fault on the grid side.
Fig. 14. Grid-connected PV system with hybrid energy storage
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