Marius Catalin Carp

Thermal and voltage testing and characterization of supercapacitors and batteries

The aim of the paper is to present and emphasize the benefits of using hybrid storage devices (composed of batteries and supercapacitors) and typical controllers in a wide range of applications, especially in the automotive field. In order to offer an optimal integration of the mentioned devices for different types of applications, the focus is oriented on an experimental study of the electrical and thermal behavior of the organic supercapacitors. The impedance spectroscopy and DC charge / discharge tests were made to observe the behavior of the fast release storage devices and to experimentally determine the electric series resistance and the capacitance variation of the supercapacitors. The experimental and simulation results are presented, analyzed and compared. Also, the mathematical model was determined by interpreting the experimental data obtained as a result of the DC charge / discharge measurements.

Wearable computing for patients with coronary diseases: Gathering efforts by comparing methods

Cardiovascular diseases are a prime cause of mortality and morbidity around the world. The World Health Organization names this as a global epidemic identifying it as a big challenge to Information and Communication Technologies that can provide valuable tools to improve population health and well-being. In tandem with a strategy to provide information and education to individuals at risk, several projects across the world at national or regional levels are trying to address this challenge. The HEARTRONIC project developed an innovative system for prevention and early warning by continuous monitoring the heart conditions. This system is wearable by the patient, monitors and analyzes the ECG, and in the event of results that could predict a heart attack or stroke an alert message is sent to a server and then relayed to the responsible healthcare professional. The system uses ECG processing for automatic detection of abnormal functioning. First response actions are taken but the healthcare professionals are always in the control. The BIOMED-TEL project developed an innovative remote patient monitor that supervises 24 hours/7 days the main patients vital signals in its environment. These signs are: SpO2, ECG one derivation, arterial blood pressure (BP), in conjunction with the body vibration acquired from chest zone and, glucose concentration in blood all above mentioned signs being relevant for the health patient status. With the correlation of the signals, the remote monitor is able to dynamical adapt his working regime from local storage of data acquired (as a classical holter) to continuously transmission of data acquired from patient to the hospital server, providing a quick time intervention of the health care professional in case of patients alarm or emergency situation. Both projects are gathering efforts by comparing methods in order to assess the best practices and address the technical challenges that came across the development of such useful platforms.

Characterization of the organic and inorganic supercapacitors

The aim of the paper is to emphasize the differences between the behavior of the organic and inorganic supercapacitors in order to obtain a good understating of their optimal applications. The differences were obtained and determined while testing two types of supercapacitors with cycling temperature, DC charge discharge and electric impedance spectroscopy procedures. To anticipate the behavior of such devices in applications of electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles, the corresponding models were necessary to be determined. The testing procedures were necessary for determining the values of the parameters used in the modeling process and for validating the developed electric models. In the present paper, the results of the experiments were interpreted, the specific parameters were identified and the electrical models were determined.

PV cells test bench system with remote access trough Internet

A test bench system for testing the solar cells is presented. The system allows remote access through Ethernet in order to measure the I-V characteristics at different levels of lighting and the dynamic behaviour of solar cells using light or current pulses. The paper presents two different solutions and emphasizes their advantages allowing high accuracy in the measurement of the PV cell parameters. The paper shows the architecture and elements of a data acquisition system that was developed based on high resolution ADCs. The user interface is implemented in the LabVIEW environment.

Embedded Intelligent Structures for Energy Management in Vehicles

The present research is focused on developing embedded intelligent structures for energy management in mobile systems. The research introduces a hybrid structure composed of different energy sources endowed with control systems able to optimize the power flow of the ensemble. In the paper, the architecture of the proposed hybrid system is described. To test the functionality and the advantages of the system, preliminary simulations were made. To characterize the behaviour of the physical developed system, a test bench was implemented.

Hybrid storage systems and dynamic adapting topologies for vehicle applications

The present paper emphasizes the benefits of using supercapacitors in vehicle applications. The paper basically presents the supercapacitor technology and the advantages of using such novel devices in automotive applications. A comparative image of two implementations is described: (i) Start/Stop system implemented on a diesel locomotive, which illustrates an optimal hybrid storage solution and (ii) a regenerative braking system implemented on a reduced scale electric vehicle demonstrator, as an illustration of a dynamic storage multi-element adapting topology. The hardware architectures and implementations, the control systems and data acquisition systems are detailed. The experimental results are interpreted and the corresponding electrical parameters are determined in order to emphasize the increase in energy efficiency. Also, the advantages of using hybrid storage systems and dynamic adapting topologies for vehicle applications are emphasized.