Connection-switched capacitor storage system

摘要

There is disclosed a connection-switched capacitor storage system having an improved energy efficiency. When the capacitors having their respective parallel monitors are initialized, less power loss occurs than conventional. The capacitor storage system comprises the plural capacitors, the parallel monitors connected in parallel with the capacitors, respectively, switches for switching the connections of the capacitors from a series combination to a parallel combination or vice versa, and a control portion. The parallel monitors bypass the charging current for the capacitors when the terminal voltages of the capacitors exceed a given voltage, thus limiting increases of the terminal voltages. The parallel monitors have a function of initializing the terminal voltages of the capacitors to their original level. The control portion controls initialization done by the parallel monitors to initialize the capacitor voltages to their original level based on the total voltage of the capacitors or on the terminal voltage of a certain capacitor typical of the capacitors. The control portion also controls switching of the connections of the capacitors done by the switches. The control portion causes the parallel monitors to initialization the capacitors near the voltage at which the connections of the capacitors are switched by the switches. Therefore, the initialization is done at a low voltage. The power loss is reduced. Deterioration of the efficiency due to switching of the connections of the capacitors is alleviated.