Power Management: Intelligent Transportation Stays on Track with Supercapacitor Integration

March 20, 2024

Blog

High-density power backup is a smart fit for data protection and ignition management when paired with rugged edge computers.

Intelligent transportation systems often operate in "dirty" power source environments – potentially jeopardizing an application’s data integrity based on routine power fluctuations and interruptions. Supercapacitors can address the challenge, offering safe, sustainable performance designed to replace battery-based UPS (uninterruptible power supply) components. Supercapacitors are often misunderstood and likened to a battery, yet today these mature devices are fueling significant advances in energy storage. In contrast to a UPS, they offer advanced electrical functions that protect connected devices from data loss in the event of unexpected power fluctuations. In rigorous transportation applications, the supercapacitor's ability to safely sustain cycles of high charge and discharge optimizes it for use where energy can be gathered and reused.

Protecting Data Performance in Mission-Critical Transportation Settings

Railway signaling is communication-based train control, powering the safe and efficient management of freight and passenger trains across the rail network. Automated communication between trains and control hubs routes vehicles to correct tracks and platforms, protects braking distances, and pinpoints train location and speed as part of a centralized system. In this complex network of equipment, embedded fanless systems play a critical role by enabling reliability, serviceability, and scalability.

Railway signaling and rugged network video recorders (NVRs) conduct extreme data processing at the edge – moving away from a centralized cloud platform to spare bandwidth, reduce latency and data bottlenecks, and pioneer a new focus on immediate insights by efficiently using data close to the source.

Ideally, rugged NVRs meet EMC conformity with EN50155 & EN50121-3-2 for equipment deployments in railway applications; systems should also comply with UL 62368-1 Ed. 3 for ultimate safety and reliability. Blending these rugged features with solid-state storage, RAID-based data redundancy, and inference processing distinguishes such a system as a true rugged edge device – tailormade for visual processing and recording in environments with high vibration and movement, environmental contaminants, questionable power voltages, and severe temperature conditions. With supercapacitors added for power redundancy, a camera in a rail surveillance application will capture its object detection data properly, even in the event of a catastrophic power failure. A supercapacitor solution can provide stable power for a rugged edge computer to safely shut down, preventing data loss or corruption from immediate power drops.

Supercapacitors Perform Beyond the Limitations of UPS Components

Hostile computing environments are common to diverse transportation systems. Many of these settings are characterized by confined spaces or dangerous scenarios featuring chemicals, contaminants, and operating temperatures that create environmental hazards. These equate to unsurmountable restrictions on battery performance, where traditional system batteries, such as Lithium Ion, are not proven as safe power sources. Supercapacitors offer a safe alternative that protects alarms and shutdown processes – by powering redundancy and backup long enough to ensure mission-critical data processing and management.

Premio's ECO-1000 EDGEBoost EnergyPack is a power backup module that ensures power-reserve management in mission-critical applications. This standalone module leverages high-density, industrial grade supercapacitors for stable backup power during unforeseen power outages.  Premio's ECO-1000 also features a range of industrial-grade certifications including:

• Railway EN50155, EN50121-3-2
• CE and FCC
• UL Certified
• Extreme Temperature Range: -40°C to 65°C
• 20G Shock and 5 Grms Vibration Resistance

Offering both quick and normal charge options, the ECO-1000 Series also enables dynamic charging that suits energy demands that may vary according to the application at hand. Alongside the normal charge mode, which operates with 60W or 120W power supplies, the quick charge mode elevates performance with rapid power inputs of 220W, 280W, and 306W. For end users, energy replenishment is adaptable, catering to their specific time-sensitive requirements without compromising system efficiency, performance, and longevity.

Supercapacitors operate similarly to a UPS but offer smarter features such as voltage and current stabilization, power redundancy, and power backup. Illustrated by Premio's ECO-1000 EDGEBoost EnergyPack[MP1], steady 12- or 24-Volt current flows provide essential consistency for systems that are unable to handle power fluctuations that could cause system shutdown. Discharge times vary by model, and timed intervals are based on whether 8x or 16x supercapacitors are available versus how much backup energy storage is needed. For example, 8x supercapacitors at 100W load can provide power redundancy for 12 or 24 volts for specific discharge times. A system offering 16x supercapacitors can support up to a 200W load for a specific discharge time. Overall, depending on the type of application, a timed discharge is available for power redundancy in environments where real-time data processing and telemetry are most mission-critical.

When battery cells are replaced with supercapacitor cells, flammable or explosive hazards are eliminated. Without an AC/DC transformer, efficiency is higher than with traditional battery backup. Lightweight supercapacitor systems better handle shock and vibration and allow for the wider operating temperatures common to transportation compute systems.

Safety First: Informing Proper Shutdown Processes and Ignition Management 

In public transportation applications, critical data such as vehicle telematics, GPS, and speed are transmitted consistently, while scheduling information and safety data such as rail conditions or track obstructions are simultaneously received. In a power outage or fluctuation, supercapacitors ensure this essential data is captured even in the event of a catastrophic power interruption. Supercapacitors also help ensure features such as ignition management safely boot down the system at engine shutdown, part of a smart, low-maintenance design that protects vehicle downtime. The 50155 & EN50121-3-2 EMC-compliant and UL-certified ECO-1000 Series features programmable power ignition management, uniquely enabling delayed on/off shutdown for data redundancy.

While rolling stock vehicles are in operation, their power is sourced from the engine. During this mode, the engine powers all intelligent devices while simultaneously charging the supercapacitors. Here, the primary function of the supercapacitor is to act as a power stabilizer to filter power fluctuations. When the engine is off, supercapacitors take over controls of attached devices and inform proper shutdown commands to protect the data. They can also provide power to communication devices such as cellular and GPS for location and alert information.

What’s Old is New Again

Supercapacitor technology was invented and patented in the late 1960s – taking another decade to become commercially popular. Eventually, research into electric vehicles (EVs) drove the tech forward as scientists explored the possibility of reusing energy created from braking for vehicle power and acceleration. Today’s intelligent transportation applications are seeing the benefit – as data is readily collected, analyzed, and applied in real-time, no matter the physical demands of the environment at hand. As computing becomes more edge-native, mission-critical power strategies featuring supercapacitors are essential in supporting these increasingly diverse and data-driven transportation operations.