Electrochemical Capacitors

Introduction
Capacitance
Electrochemical capacitors
Charge storage in electrical double layer
Supercapacitor electrodes
Electrolyte
Supercapacitor applications

EE8093 Energy Devices

Heavy electric vehicles

The vehicles shown below are not powered by diesel or by a

battery pack

Hybrid electric bus in southern California US

Source: ECS Interface
EE8093 Energy Devices

Power source for electric bus

in China
Source: Physicsworld IOP

Common commercial vehicles

These vehicles are powered by

diesel or compressed natural gas

EE8093 Energy Devices

Electric power source for heavy vehicles

Commercial vehicles such as lorries, minivans, buses and

taxis are operated very differently from private cars.
All commercial vehicles tend to make many stops during
the day. These stop-go cycles are needed for picking up
passengers and delivering goods or services to customers
During stop-go cycles, large currents must flow to and from
the EV battery. But the batteries today do not have high
power handling capability
For this reason, batteries are not a suitable power source
for these vehicles at the present time.
For future commercial vehicles, a possible solution is to use
electrochemical capacitors with very high capacitance

EE8093 Energy Devices

Why electrochemical capacitors?

Ragone Plot
Capacitors have much higher power density (specific power) than batteries
EE8093 Energy Devices

What if batteries are used?

As discussed in the section on batteries, the chemical

reactions taking place inside a battery involve ionic motion
through the electrolyte and the bulk of the electrode
This is why batteries are slow devices and cannot be
discharged or charged at high currents.
If a battery is charged or discharged at high currents, the
electrode often will become damaged quickly and the
battery liftetime will be shortened.
The mechanism of the battery damage by high currents is
still not well understood and is a topic of research
Thus, while batteries are suitable for private electric cars,
they are not suitable for heavy electric vehicles.

EE8093 Energy Devices

Types of Capacitors
Two main types of capacitors:
1. Dielectric capacitors
2. Electrochemical capacitors

The dielectric capacitor is one of the oldest passive device

in electrical engineering. It is often used together with the
resistor and the inductor in an electrical circuit.
In EE8093, we will focus on the electrochemical capacitor.
The dielectric capacitors will be mentioned only to introduce
the concept of capacitance.

EE8093 Energy Devices

Dielectric Capacitors

Each dielectric capacitors

has two electrodes made
of a metal
Between the two
electrodes is an insulating
layer called the dielectric.
This is usually made of
insulating metal oxides
The dielectric layer does
not allow current to pass
through so the capacitor
can store charge by using
current from a voltage
source

electrode
+++++++++++++++++++++
dielectric
--------------------electrode

water

EE8093 Energy Devices

Dielectric Capacitors
Charging
During charging, the voltage
source does work and move
electrons from one of the
electrodes to the other
electrode
The energy from the voltage
source is stored in the
electric field in the dielectric
Electric field (V/cm) =
Voltage
Thickness of dielectric

Discharging
We connect a load e.g.
resistor across the
capacitor
The energy in the electric
field is used to drive an
electric current through the
load and most (but not all)
of the energy is recovered
Between the charge and
discharge, the energy is
stored in an electrical form

EE8093 Energy Devices

Capacitance

Every capacitor has a

property called the
capacitance
The capacitance, C, tells us
how much electric charge
can be stored inside the
capacitor
It is defined as the amount
of charge on a capacitor
plate (in coulombs) per
unit potential difference
(in volts)
The unit of capacitance is
the Farad
EE8093 Energy Devices

C = Q
V

10

Example:

An electrochemical
capacitor has a
capacitance of 100F. How
much charge does it store
when it is charged to a
voltage of 2.2V?
How many electrons are
stored in one of its
electrodes?

Charge = CV
Charge = 100 x 2.2
= 220C (coulombs)
Each electron has a charge
of 1.6x10-19 C and so the
number of electrons on
one of the electrodes is:
220/(1.6x10-19 ) =
1.675x1021
This is a very large number
of charged particles

EE8093 Energy Devices

11

Energy Stored in Capacitors

Stored = CV2
Energy
2

The energy (joules) stored

in any capacitor is
proportional to the
capacitance and the square
of the voltage across it
If we want to store a lot of
energy in a capacitor, we
need one with a big
capacitance
An even more effective
method is to increase the
voltage across the
capacitor

EE8093 Energy Devices

12

Example:

A dielectric capacitor has a

capacitance of 1.5F. When
it is charged up to 2V by a
voltage source, how much
energy is stored in this
capacitor?

Using E = CV2/2

Energy stored = 0.5 x

1.5x10-6 x 4
= 3x10-6 J (joules)
This is a very small
amount of electrical energy
but the capacitance is
actually not small
This simple example shows
that a dielectric capacitor
is totally inadequate for
energy storage purposes

2V

EE8093 Energy Devices

13

Dielectric Capacitors
Dielectric capacitors
usually has a very small
capacitance
Typical capacitance:
microfarad (F), nanofarad
(nF), picofarad (pF)
[Farad is a very large unit]
As a result, the main
applications of dielectric
capacitors are only used in
low power electronic
circuits
solid state memory devices

EE8093 Energy Devices

14

Parallel Plate Capacitance

The capacitance of a
parallel plate capacitor
depends on:
I. Size of the capacitor
plates
II. Thickness of the dielectric
layer
III. Dielectric constant of the
dielectric
If these are known, we can
calculate the capacitance
by using the equation
opposite:

C = 0r(A/d)
A = area of plates
r = dielectric constant
0 = permittivity of
vacuum
d = thickness of
insulator

EE8093 Energy Devices

15

How to increase capacitance?

From the parallel plate capacitor formula:
1. Use a very large plate area, A
2. Use a very thin dielectric layer thickness, d
3. Use a dielectric with a high dielectric constant r

A
d
EE8093 Energy Devices

16

Example:

An electrochemical
capacitor has a
capacitance of 100F. By
using the parallel plate
formula, estimate the area
of the plate required.
Given: dielectric constant
=3
Separation between charge
sheets = 1nm

From the parallel plate

capacitor formula, we can
write:
Area A = Cd/0 r
A = 100 x 10-9/3x 8.854x10-12
A = 3764 m2
Assuming this is a square, one
side of this square will have a
length of 61m. This is roughly
the size of a football field.
An electrochemical capacitor
must have an enormous actual
electrode area!

EE8093 Energy Devices

17

Electrochemical Capacitors

Each electrochemical
capacitor (EC) has two
electrodes but they are not
labelled + and -
The capacitance of an EC is
much, much higher than
any dielectric capacitor
Usually an EC can be
charged to just over 2V
At a higher voltage, a
breakdown of the
electrolyte can occur
Electrodes
EE8093 Energy Devices

18

Fundamental differences
Electrochemical capacitors

Batteries

Operates mainly by a physical

mechanism
Charges are stored at the surface
of the electrode only near the
double layer
Reacts very fast to the applied
voltage in both charge and
discharge
Charging and discharging can take
place many many times

Operates by an electrochemical
redox reaction principle
Charges are stored in the entire
electrode (bulk storage)
Reaction is therefore much
slower and so for both charge
and discharge, the battery will
take time
Reaction can slowly lead to
degradation of the electrodes

EE8093 Energy Devices

19

Types of Electrochemical capacitors

Electrical double layer
capacitors (EDLC)
Invented in 1957 by
Becker at the oil company
Sohio corporation in the
USA
Main EC used by industry
today
Charges and energy are
stored in the EDLC by a
purely physical mechanism

Pseudocapacitors
Invented in 1975 by Prof.
Brian Conway at the
University of Ottawa,
Canada
Not covered in this course

EE8093 Energy Devices

20

Structure of EDLC
Activated porous carbon

Electrolyte
Current collector
current

Current collector
Activated (porous) carbon

B.E. Conway, Electrochemical Supercapacitors, Kluwer, 1999.

EE8093 Energy Devices

Separator
21

Comments on EDLC

The device shown on the previous page looks like a battery.

But it cannot be a battery. Why?
Both electrodes are made from the same material:
activated carbon and so even though they are immersed in
the electrolyte, there can be no electrochemical reaction.
This is because the activated carbon cannot oxidize or
reduce itself.
The first important conclusion about the EDLC is that it
does not work by a redox principle. Its operating principle is
purely physical and it is called the electrical double layer.

EE8093 Energy Devices

22

Electrical double layer

EE8093 Energy Devices

DOUBLE LAYER

G. Prentice, Electrochemical engineering

Principles, 1991.

+ + + + - - - + + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + +

When a metal electrode is put

into an electrolyte solution,
one of the ions will prefer to
be near the electrode
These ions will form a layer
surrounding the electrode
surface
Since any ion is charged (+ or
-), a second layer of ions of
the opposite charge will form
The two sheets of charges
form what is called the
electrical double layer

Ions evenly distributed

23

Two electrical double layers

+ + + + - - - + + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + +

+ + + + - - - -

+ + + + + + + +

Each electrode forms an electrical double layer inside the electrolyte. The
Separation of two charge sheets is about 1nm. This leads to a high capacitance
The electrical double layer is like a capacitor with high capacitance per unit area.
EE8093 Energy Devices

24

Electrical double layer capacitor

V

A
-

+
+
+
+
+
+
+

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

+ + + + + + +
+ + + + + + +

B
+
+
+
+
+
+
+

If we connect a voltage source and transfer electrons from electrode A to

B, then anions (-) will be attracted to the surface of A and cations will be repelled.
Similarly, cations (+) will be attracted to the surface of B and the anions will be
repelled. The result is two double layers in series.
EE8093 Energy Devices

25

Electrical double layer capacitor

+
+
+
+
+
+
+

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

+ + + + + + +
+ + + + + + +

Double layer capacitance

Series resistance

+
+
+
+
+
+
+

When the voltage source is disconnected, the charges in the double layer stays put.
Electric charges have been stored at the TWO double layers of the EDLC.
EE8093 Energy Devices

26

Electrode structure of Real EDLC

Due to two electric double layers connected in series, the measured capacitance
of the EDLC Is actually about half the capacitance of each electrode.

EE8093 Energy Devices

27

EDLC electrode

The EDLC electrode is always a porous conductive material

The most common (but not the best) material is porous
carbon or activated carbon.
This is a low density form of graphite that is full of small
holes called pores
It can be formed by heating coconut shells in an inert
atmosphere at high temperature
After all the oxygen and hydrogen have evolved, the carbon
skeleton that remains has a very large surface area
This area is much greater than the area of the current
collector and is the area that we use to calculate the
capacitance of the EDLC.

EE8093 Energy Devices

28

EDLC Electrolyte
Aqueous electrolyte
This is the electrolyte that
was first used
Electrolyte consists of an
acid or an alkali and it
contains ions that can form
the electrical double layer
Lower maximum operating
voltage if this is used in an
EDLC
Example: sulphuric acid
H2SO4

Organic electrolyte
Consists of an organic
solvent dissolving molecular
ions
Tolerates a higher operating
voltage
Example: acetonitrile
CH3CN

EE8093 Energy Devices

29

Smart Grid Applications of

Supercapacitors
On-shore Wind Farms

Altamont pass wind farm (Livermore, California). This wind farm has about 5000
Wind turbines and is one of the worlds largest. Wind farms are also common in
Germany, China and Denmark.

EE8093 Energy Devices

30

Frequency smoothing
Because the wind speed is
unpredictable, the wind
speed can be high
sometimes and a wind farm
can see a surge of
generated electric power
By using supercapacitors,
the surge in power can be
quickly and efficiently
stored for later use.

The capacitors effectively

removes the higher
frequency harmonics in the
generated power from the
wind farm and this is called
frequency smoothing

EE8093 Energy Devices

31

Energy efficiency application

During unloading of the
heavy container from a
ship, the potential energy of
the container is converted
into kinetic energy and
ultimately heat.
Some of this energy can be
saved by converting it to
electricity and then store it
quickly in an
electrochemical capacitor.
This can reduce the amount
of electricity used.

Flywheel

KE

EE8093 Energy Devices

generator

Load

32

Civil Aviation

The cabin doors of the A380

airliner is operated by
electrochemical capacitors.
Unlike lithium ion batteries, there
has been no safety incidents with
respect to electrochemical
capacitors in aviation.
This shows the relative reliability
of these energy storage devices.

EE8093 Energy Devices

33

Questions
Where is the energy stored in an electrochemical capacitor
when it is charged up?
1. In the double layer of the positive electrode
2. Inside the electrolyte
3. In the double layer at both electrodes
Why is activated carbon used in electrochemical capacitors?
A. To increase the rate of electrochemical reactions
B. To increase the dielectric constant
C. To increase the electrode surface area

EE8093 Energy Devices

34

References
1. C. Hamannm A. Hamnett, W. Vielstich,
Electrochemistry 2nd edition, Wiley-VCH (2007)
2. B.E. Conway, Electrochemical Supercapacitors,
Kluwer (2001)

EE8093 Energy Devices

35

Energy Transition
The transition from an economy with an energy infrastructure
based on hydrocarbons to one based on renewable sources is
fraught with difficulties and will take a very long time.
Economic factors
All the energy devices covered in this course are still
expensive in comparison with conventional power sources.
Without a large market, the cost of these devices can only
decline slowly. (An exception is solar photovoltaics).
Material factors
Many energy devices e.g. batteries, wind turbines require the
use of rare earth metals which are themselves in limited
supply and therefore not sustainable.

EE8093 Energy Devices

36

Case study: Energiewende

German for energy revolution

Germany has set itself an ambitious energy target to generate 40-45% of
its electricity need from renewable sources by 2025
By 2050, the percentage of electricity generated by renewable sources will
increase to 80%
All nuclear power stations have to be decommissioned (shut down) by
2022.
In order to help wind and solar power to grow, a feed-in tariff (guaranteed
price) for feeding electricity from renewable sources to the German grid
was implemented.
This effective subsidy had to be borne by the consumers in the form of a
surcharge. It makes German electricity (household and industrial) one of
the costliest in the world.

EE8093 Energy Devices

37

Energy Transition
Infrastructure limitation
Some energy devices like batteries in electric vehicles can only
be deployed when a network of charging stations
(infrastructure) is in place. This takes time to build and until it
is built, the consumer is hesitant to adopt the technology
even if it is affordable
The output of the world solar manufacturing plants is not
adequate at present to meet the needs for utility scale
photovoltaic power generation

EE8093 Energy Devices

38

Happy Place
Happy Place is the trade name of a (former) Israeli start up
company.
It has ambitious plans to build a network of battery changing
stations for EV in Israel and Denmark.
Customers can drive their EV to any Happy Place station to
swap for fully charged batteries. The driver does not own the
batteries.
Goal is to overcome the long charging time of EV batteries.
However, due to the large amount of capital required, Happy
Place ceased operation in 2014.

EE8093 Energy Devices

39

Sustainable Urban Environment

Are there sustainable cities anywhere in the world?

At the moment, the major cities are not energy efficient
and are major sources of CO2. However, some efforts are
made to build new cities that are sustainable.
One example is the Masdar city near Abu Dhabi in the
United Arab Emirates
This is a completely new city built in the desert and is
integrated with a new research university with research on
environment and sustainability.
The city is being built now and will make use of the energy
devices and other environmental and architectural design
concepts introduced in this course.

EE8093 Energy Devices

40

Solar Energy in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is the worlds largest producer of crude oil and a
key member of OPEC (Organization of petroleum exporting
countries)
Saudi Arabia is also a major consumer of petroleum. Most of
the electricity in Saudi Arabia is generated by burning oil. This
is different from most other countries that use either natural
gas or coal for power generation.
Due to the extremely low cost of oil in the Saudi Arabia, use of
energy is inefficient and this leads to steadily rising
consumption.
By 2038, Saudi Arabia will become a net importer of
petroleum.
Source: The Atlantic (2015)
EE8093 Energy Devices

41

Solar Energy in Saudi Arabia

In order for the future to be sustainable, Saudi Arabia is
building solar PV generating facilities and solar PV factories
across the country.
Factors favorable for PV include: very high insolation (highest
in the world) and large areas of desert which allows almost
continuous daytime output.
Plan is to use PV on a large scale for domestic electricity
generation. This will free up crude oil for exports and ensure
that the economy can be sustainable into the future.
=> PV is making an impact in even the most fossil fuel
dependent countries in the world.
Source: The Atlantic (2015)
EE8093 Energy Devices

42

Green Building code

How about existing cities?

For existing cities, new building codes are being drawn up
by governments to (i) encourage or (ii) compel the private
sector to construct energy efficient buildings
Locally, a green mark scheme was introduced by the
Building and construction authority (BCA) in 2008 to
provide incentives for companies to build environmentally
friendly buildings.
This scheme allows companies to build a slightly larger floor
area in return for having specific categories of energy
saving and renewable energy devices in the building.

EE8093 Energy Devices

43

1. Energy Efficiency
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Building envelope
Unit indoor comfort
Natural ventilation common areas
Lighting
Ventilation car parks
Lifts
Energy efficient features
Renewable energy
EE8093 Energy Devices

44

Campus Green Buildings

EE8093 Energy Devices

45

Zero Carbon Building

EE8093 Energy Devices

46

Appendix
Answers will be uploaded to Edventure on the third day after the end of the last
lecture for 24 hours.

EE8093 Energy Devices

47

Revision Problems
1. Which of the following is not a renewable energy source?
A. Tidal power
B. Geothermal power
C. Nuclear power
D. Solar Power
E.
Wind power

4. Which of the following battery is used in an internal

combustion vehicle?
A. Lithium air battery
B. Sodium sulphur battery
C. Lead acid battery
D. Lithium ion battery
E.
Nickel metal hydride battery

2. What is the formation mechanism of crude oil?

A. Anaerobic decay of ancient organisms under
temperature and pressure
B. Aerobic decay of ancient plants and animals under
pressure
C. High pressure decomposition of hydrocarbons
D. Decay of animals and high pressure
E.
Decay of plants and low temperature and pressure

5. Which of the following energy storage device occupies the

upper left quarter of a Ragone plot?
A. Supercapacitor
B. Rechargeable battery
C. Flow battery
D. Lithium ion battery
E.
Nickel matel hydride battery

3. Which of the following is not a cause of the urban heat

island effect?
A. High CO2 concentration in the atmosphere
B. Canyon effect of tall buildings
C. High population density
D. Heavy traffic flow
E.
Air pollution

6. Which of the following semiconductors is a good

thermoelectric material?
A. Silicon
B. Silicon germanium
C. Lithium
D. Copper
E.
Tungsten

EE8093 Energy Devices

48

Revision Problems
7. A box weighing 100 N moves up a conveyor belt 14.14m
long at an angle of 45o to the horizontal. What is the gain in
potential energy?
A. 1414N
B. 1000N
C. 1441N
D. 5000N
E.
4359N
8. Which of the following is an electrode material for a
supercapacitor?
A. Iron
B. Germanium
C. Activated carbon
D. Silicon
E.
Sodium
9. What is a zero energy building?
A. A disused building with nobody inside
B. A building that does not use energy
C. A building that generates as much clean energy as it
uses fossil fuel energy
D. A building that uses a lot of energy
E.
A building that only uses clean energy

10. What is power conversion efficiency of a solar cell?

A. Electrical power generated/Weight of solar cell
B. Electrical power generated/Solar irradiance
C. Solar irradiance/Electrical power generated
D. Solar irradiance/Mechanical power
E.
Solar irradiance / Chemical power
11. Where are charge carriers generated in a solar cell?
A. At the (+) and (-) contacts of the solar cell
B. At the top surface of the solar cells
C. At the p-n junction of the solar cell
D. At the electrodes
E.
At the passivation layer
12. Which of the following will degrade the performance of a
solar cell?
A. Carrier recombination
B. Carrier generation
C. Carrier transport
D. Carrier degeneration
E.
Junction delamination

EE8093 Energy Devices

49

Revision Problems
13. What is a current collector used for?
A. To provide a storage site for electric charge
B. To allow current to flow to or from an electrical energy
storage device
C. To provide a heat sink for an electrical energy storage
device
D. To prevent insulator breakdown
E.
To prevent moisture from getting into the solar cell
14. What is the principle behind the thermoelectric device for
energy harvesting?
A. Peltier effect
B. Photoelectric effect
C. Seebeck effect
D. Seaback effect
E.
Photoelectric effect
15. When did the Hubbert peak occur for United States
domestic crude oil production?
A. 1961
B. 1981
C. 1971
D. 1951
E.
2001

16. What is the unit for the specific energy of a battery?

A. J
B. Wh/kg
C. W/kg
D. Jh/kg
E.
Wh2 /kg
17. Which effect is known to be the cause of atmospheric
warming?
A. Seebeck effect
B. Greenhouse effect
C. Electromagnetic induction effect
D. Peltier effect
E.
Greengas effect
18. What determine the capacitance of a dielectric capacitor?
A. Electrode thickness, electrode area, dielectric thickness
B. Electrode area, dielectric thickness, dielectric constant
C. Electrode conductivity, dielectric thickness, dielectric
constant
D. Electrode chemical composition
E.
Electrode volume and thickness

EE8093 Energy Devices

50

Revision Problems
19. What is anthracite?
A. An ancient marine microorganism
B. The lowest grade of coal
C. The highest grade of coal
D. A form of bacteria
E. A form of virus

22. What is the key characteristic of a primary battery?

A. It can only be discharged once
B. It can be discharged and recharged once
C. It can be repeatedly charged and discharged
D. It cannot be charged up but can be discharged
E. It can be charged up but cannot be discharged

20. What is the percentage of carbon in octane?

A. 24%
B. 33.3%
C. 30.8%
D. 90%
E. 78%

23. What type of voltage is used in a conventional

electric grid?
A. Constant voltage
B. Sinusoidal voltage
C. Triangular sawtooth voltage
D. Pulse voltage
E. Trapezoidal voltage

21. Which of the following batteries has the highest

open circuit voltage per cell?
A. Li ion battery
B. NaS battery
C. Pb acid battery
D. NiMH battery
E. Leclanche battery

24. Which of the following vehicles can be fitted with

electrochemical capacitors?
A. Private car
B. Bus
C. Motorbike
D. Taxi
E. Scooter

EE8093 Energy Devices

51

Revision Problems
25. What is the green mark certification used for?
A. To denote a power station is not emitting large amounts
of CO2
B. To recognize a building is using envriomentally friendly
devices
C. To indicate a vehicle is complying with emission
standards stipulated by the European Union
D. To indicate the building is ready for occupation
E.
To indicate the building is green in color
26. Which of the following light sources are the most energy
efficient?
A. Gas lamp
B. Incandescent lamp
C. Light emitting diode
D. Candle
E.
Fire torch
27. What causes the open circuit voltage of a battery?
A. Electrical breakdown
B. Electrochemical reaction
C. Internal combustion
D. Decomposition
E.
Photochemical processes

28. Which of the following cannot be the fill factor value of a

solar cell?
A. 52%
B. 103%
C. 66%
D. 30%
E.
48%
29. What causes the water to heat up in a solar water heater?
A. Electricity
B. Visible light from the sun
C. Infra red radiation from the sun
D. Ultraviolet light
E.
Gamma rays
30. For how long has human beings been burning fossil fuels
on a large scale?
A. 50 years
B. 200 years
C. 1000 years
D. 500 years
E.
400 years

EE8093 Energy Devices

52

Revision Problems
31. When several solar cells are connected in series,
which of the following will increase?
A. Output current
B. Fill factor
C. Output voltage
D. Output resistance
E. Short circuit current

34. Which of the following is an unconventional fossil

fuel?
A. Anthracite
B. Bitumen tar sands
C. Light sweet crude
D. Natural gas
E. Lignite

32. What is the typical color of a high efficiency silicon

solar cell?
A. White
B. Silvery grey
C. Dark blue
D. Red
E. Yellow

35. Which of the following is not energy in transit?

A. Heat
B. Light
C. Thermal energy
D. Kinetic energy
E. Sound

33. What can the fill factor be used to determine?

A. Maximum output current
B. Maximum output voltage
C. Maximum output power
D. Maximum operating temperature
E. Minimum output power

36. A heavy object with a mass of 15kg is raised to a

height of 10m. Given g = 9.8m/s2, what is the potential
energy of this 15kg object?
A. 150g J
B. 15g J
C. 49g J
D. 300g J
E. 240g J

EE8093 Energy Devices

53

Revision Problems
37. Which of the following light source is used for the
illumination of expressways?
A. Incandescent light bulbs
B. Sodium vapor lamps
C. Magnesium vapor lamps
D. Light emitting diode
E.
Organic light emitting diode

40. When did world oil production appear to reach a Hubbert

type peak?
A. 1950
B. 2005
C. 1970
D. 1988
E.
1967

38. Which of the following cities has the most severe urban
heat island effect in the summer months?
A. Tokyo
B. San Francisco
C. Bern
D. Slazburg
E.
Adelaide

41. What is the altitude and location of the Mauna Loa

observatory?
A. 420m Hawaii
B. 4200m Alaska
C. 4200m Hawaii
D. 3000m Beijing
E.
3400m Paris

39. Why do Internet data centers require large amounts of

electricity?
A. For running many server computers
B. For running server computers and the associated cooling
systems
C. For keeping the data centre warm at all times
D. For boiling water
E.
For storing large amounts of energy

42. What kind of heat engine is normally used for

concentrating solar power systems with a parabolic dish?
A. Steam engine
B. Internal combustion engine
C. Stirling engine
D. Lancaster engine
E.
Watt engine

EE8093 Energy Devices

54

Revision Problems
43. Which of the semiconductors below is the first known
thermoelectric material?
A. Indium phosphide
B. Gallium indium nitride
C. Silicon germanium
D. Silicon carbide
E.
Aluminum nitride

46. Which of the following is the definition of the round trip

efficiency of an energy storage device?
A. Wout / Win
B. Win / Whout
C. Whout / Whin
D. Wout / Whin
E.
Win / Whout

44. A heat engine has a high temperature reservoir at 600oC

and a cold reservoir at 30oC. How much heat is needed to
generate 1000J of useful mechanical work?
A. 1000/0.653 J
B. 1000x0.653 J
C. 1000/0.422 J
D. 2000/0.422 J
E.
1500/0.433 J

47. What electrolyte is used in the Leclanche battery?

A. Aqueous potassium bromide
B. Aqueous ammonium chloride
C. Aqueous sodium sulphite
D. Acetonitrile
E.
Benzonitrile

45. Which of the following is a characteristic of a smart grid?

A. Centralized power generation
B. Exclusive use of fossil fuel sources
C. Widespread use of smart power meters at households
D. One way communication between utility and customer
E.
Rigid pricing of electricity

48. A battery is discharged at a constant current of 100mA.

After 15 hours, it becomes fully discharged. What is the
charge capacity of this battery?
A. 0.1 x 15 x 60 C
B. 0.1 x 15 x 600 C
C. 0.1 x 15 x 3600 C
D. 0.2 x 16 x 400 C
E.
0.1 x 234 x 333 C

EE8093 Energy Devices

55

Revision Problems
49. Which of the following represents the highest
discharge rate for a secondary battery? C is the
charge capacity of the battery.
A. C/1.5
B. C/15
C. C/4.7
D. C/33
E. C/19
50. Which country below has the worlds first
purpose built green city and what is the name of that
city?
A. United States, Orlando
B. United Arab Emirates, Masdar City
C. Bahrain, Masdar City
D. China, Tianjin
E. UK, Leeds
End of Practice Paper

EE8093 Energy Devices

56