Super Cap Me -- 8 July, 2013

SECRETED away in an industrial park in Lane Cove, Sydney, a team of materials scientists and engineers coat an aluminium substrate with a special sauce of activated carbon.

Down the corridor, technicians disassemble a Kindle ebook reader, and replace its internal battery with a flat prismatic supercapacitor in a flat silver packet, allowing it to run off the power generated by a solar panel.

And soon, the same supercapacitors made by CAP-XX (pronounced with one “X”), scaled up and connected in parallel, may be found in micro-hybrid and hybrid electrical vehicles from major international automotive makers.

We talked to Pierre Mars, Vice President for Quality and Applications Engineering at CAP-XX, to find out how Australian innovation could soon make drivers’ lives a whole lot easier.

Automotive pivot
CAP-XX’s core IP was first developed by the CSIRO in the mid-to-late 90s. Anthony Kongats, who was then involved in electrolytic manufacturing at Plessey Ducon in Meadowbank, started working with CSIRO to integrate their activated carbon technology into supercapacitors.

“CSIRO was being asked to get external funding for some of their research work, as their budget was being tightened,” explained Mars.

“So Anthony funded some of that work, and got the rights to the IP for the carbon coating in return for that funding, and that was the start of what was then energy storage systems.”

Early supercapacitors from CAP-XX retained the cylindrical form factor of regular capacitors, but were much larger, and could deliver a few thousand farads of capacitance.

“The party trick was that you could charge it up, go into a meeting, whack a paper clip across and you’d melt it,” Mars said.

After raising some seed funding for the startup, CAP-XX surveyed the market to find the prime focus for its technology, and decided to start making small and slim supercapacitors in a prismatic form factor for consumer electronics such as wireless modems and LED camera flashes.

“Back in 2000…as a startup company we recognised that the automotive industry would be too slow moving for us to succeed,” Mars explained.

“It has only been in the last couple of years as global warming, reduce emissions, improved fuel economy, price of gas, all that sort of stuff, has now driven people into looking at what we would call micro-hybrid, and to hybrid solutions.”

This prompted a decision in late 2011 to enter the automotive market.

“Market acceptance has just come now. People now have a genuine need because they are being pushed on fuel economy and emissions reduction.”

Cranking it up
Micro-hybrid vehicles use the start-stop system, which automatically shuts down and restarts the engine during stops. By reducing idling time, the system helps cut fuel consumption and emissions.

However, the start-stop system places a lot of strain on the battery, and current implementations require the use of expensive heavy duty batteries such as absorbed glass material (AGM) variants in order to cater for the required load.

“Instead of starting your car three or four times a day, you are now starting it forty, fifty, hundred times a day,” Mars pointed out. “Particularly in city traffic.”

The solution is to pair up a supercapacitor system with a smaller battery, and use the supercapacitor to provide the repeated high power cranking current required to start the engine.

Since the battery no longer experiences the cranking current, it can be smaller and lighter, which, together with the light weight of supercapacitors, would provide further fuel efficiencies.

Additionally, since supercapacitors can accept extremely high currents, such a system could also be connected to regenerative braking in order to recover even more power.

“Stop-start systems started with higher end cars and are coming along in the last two or three years. So we started looking at it, and we also started getting interest in it,” Mars said.

“People were making enquiries, and we could see the opportunities, so we made some prototype large cells. We now have a low volume production line here to make those, to meet sample needs for evaluation.”

While the current coating allows an impressive power density of around 90kW per kg, to cater for the automotive systems, CAP-XX looked to alter its proprietary coated foil technology to be higher energy.

In May 2013, CAP-XX announced its GC1 EDLC supercapacitor cells which provide 1400 Farads and Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR) of around 0.26 milliohms. The low ESR means it is possible to draw amperes out of the supercapacitor, and only experience a low voltage drop.

How to make supercapacitors
To make supercapacitors, create the coated electrode foil, and cut it out. The positive foil layers are joined together to construct the positive and negative terminals, then ultrasonically weld them together.

The assembly is then put into a silver pouch package, filled with electrolyte, sealed, and tested.

Since the key intellectual property for CAP-XX is in the coating of the electrodes, it manufactures its coated foils in Australia, and sends them to Malaysia for volume assembly into supercapacitors.

Its Malaysian manufacturers utilise production equipment from CAP-XX, which was shipped over along with work instructions. A data acquisition management system allows the Australian company to have oversight over the manufacturing process and test results.

In the case of the automotive supercapacitors, as they are currently being provided in sample quantities, they require small runs, which can be done in Australia.

Showing off one of the sample units, Mars said the form factor, similar to that of a large prismatic lithium-ion battery, allows for easier system designs, and is easier to pack into a smaller space compared to cylindrical cans.

“This has been made by off-the-shelf production equipment that was designed to make lithium-ion batteries,” Mars said.

“That is why we can set up a low-volume line here cost-effectively, because we can buy some of the key equipment at reasonable prices from China. That’s what makes the automotive market attractive. The capital cost to set it up is reasonable considering the potential returns.”

When asked about the potential for competitors to reverse engineer their products, Mars said the ultrasonic welding made it impossible to do so with the coated foil.

“Assembly-wise, anyone can cut it up and see how it’s put together, but making the production equipment to do it effectively is non-trivial,” he said.

“It’s quite a high barrier to entry. You have to have the right coated foil that will work with the electrolyte, the right separator…it’s a system. If you don’t get all the bits right, then you will have short life, or other problems.”

A powerful future
Much of CAP-XX’s business is in export – while there are a few small-scale design houses in Australia who buy supercapacitors, most of the volume comes from overseas.

“Often we would work with the design team, help the distributor win the design by giving application support to the customer, and then the customer will get the unit made in China or Singapore or Malaysia themselves, and we drop-ship our parts to the manufacturing location,” Mars explained.

CAP-XX is still supplying supercapacitors for electronic systems, and is working on a surface-mountable supercapacitor.

At the moment, all supercapacitors have to be mounted on a circuit board as a secondary operation in production, after the reflow process.

Standard supercapacitors cannot pass through a reflow oven, because they have liquid electrolyte absorbed into the pores of the activated carbon. The vapour pressure inside can cause the package to rupture when the unit is subjected to the temperatures (260°C) inside a reflow oven.



To make a surface mountable supercapacitor, CAP-XX will need to develop fundamentally different materials that do not exert vapour pressure.

By making a surface-mountable supercapacitor, CAP-XX hopes to make the creation of products bearing supercapacitors more cost-effective and better suited for high-volume applications.

On the automotive front, CAP-XX has already had a number of top tier suppliers sampling its supercapacitors, and is hopeful of a mass-market breakthrough within the next two to four years.

The company is also speaking to racing companies, for possible inclusion of supercapacitors in Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS), a variant of regenerative braking used by racing cars.

“When the racers go around the corner, they capture that energy, then push that energy out when they accelerate out of the corner. They get an extra one or two hundred horse power on top of what their engine gives them, in a short burst,” said Mars

The light-weight nature of supercapacitors is a point of special interest for racers looking to minimise their vehicle weight.

In the manufacturing process itself, CAP-XX continues to work on streamlining production, reducing costs by 25 to 50 percent, and improve materials utilisation and yield.

With the company also looking to explore applications in energy harvesting and wireless sensors, CAP-XX is also hoping to improve its supercapacitors’ life, allowing them to last longer in set-and-forget type applications.

CAP-XX has licensed its technology to Murata, a Japanese manufacturer, and will be looking for more licensing agreements with large players who can effectively scale up the production and distribution of the supercapacitors.

And while it is possible that CAP-XX will eventually become a pure IP company, Mars is keen to keep manufacturing its own parts, and be directly in the market, since it allows the company to engage directly with its user-customers, explore new applications, and get feedback.

Supercapacitors bridge power gaps.

If the peak power required to support a function is greater than the average power required by the device, you’ve got a job for a supercapacitor. One ubiquitous example of this is radio frequency transmission. Wireless technology enables billions of consumer and industrial devices, but it can be very power hungry. Everything that connects needs bursts of power to transmit data – power that batteries and other current-limited sources like energy harvesters and USB power supplies often can’t supply, but a supercapacitor certainly can.

And if the primary power supply is subject to failure or fluctuation (like a mains plug being pulled out, a battery running out of charge, or a cloud passing by a solar panel), a supercapacitor can ride through the power gap too, acting as an on-board, Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS).

And if your primary source is an energy harvester, or if you just want a battery-free, fast charging solution, a supercapacitor will function as the energy store, the power supply, and the on-board UPS.

Supercapacitors create advanced power solutions that enable the latest technologies. Discover how CAP-XX provides the power to wireless, consumer, and commercial devices.

sol-pg_w1 sol-pg_cn1sol-pg_cm1
Supercapacitor Benefits
Extend battery run time by minimizing the voltage droop caused by a high-current load
Smooth out fluctuating power requirements from a low current source
Minimize electrical and acoustic noise generated by current pulses in RF-enabled devices
Permit low-temperature and high-temperature operation in harsh environments
Provide technical benefit in small volume/mass, particularly in space-constrained environments
Enable thinner, smaller industrial designs for PDAs, smartphones, and other consumer applications
Meet all relevant environmental standards for disposal and hazardous operation
When to use a Supercapacitor

Do I Need a Battery or a Supercapacitor or Both? Battery Benefits:
Large Energy Density
CAP-XX Benefits:
Large Power Density
Quick Discharge & Recharge
Very Thin & Flat
Long Life (no electrochemical reactions means an almost unlimited cycle life)
When should I use a Supercapacitor to improve the Power Source? As a Power SUPPORT
(High Source Impedance)
Current-limited Host
Primary batteries
Rechargeable batteries
Energy harvesters
Fuel cells
As a Power REPLACEMENT
(Infinite Source Impedance)
Mains backup (e.g. as an internal UPS for SSDs)
Battery backup (e.g. for “graceful shut down”, “battery hot swap” and “last gasp” wireless transmissions)
Voltage stabilisation (e.g. for battery contact chatter “Drop Test” and transients)
Short term energy storage (e.g. for Battery-free devices using Inductive charge or Cradle/Cable charge)
http://www.cap-xx.com/cap-xx-applications/

Published on Thursday, 06 August 2015 by Rohit Sharma WhaTech Pro Trial

Super capacitors are electrochemical capacitors that are capable of holding more energy per unit volume and can bear multiple charge and discharge cycles compared to conventional batteries.

These are also called as Ultra-Capacitors and are governed by same governing principles as conventional capacitors but are incorporated with high surface areas and thinner dielectrics which decrease the distance between the electrodes that enable power supply stabilization, greater energy storage, energy regeneration and many more.

Due to these properties, the super capacitors find application in electric vehicles, cars, buses, elevators, and others where regenerative braking and short term energy storage needs to be achieved.

The super capacitors market is forecast to grow at a rate of 35.4% during the period 2015-2020. The high growth is due to the increasing adoption of super capacitors into transportation, consumer electronics and healthcare industry.

Electric vehicles and medical equipment are the key end use products which require efficient regenerative braking and short term storage of energy and are estimated to significantly escalate the market value.

The healthcare segment is the highest growing market in the period 2015-2020 owing to the escalating demands from the industry for effective power management and wearable devices. The medical wearable devices require compact and high energy storing devices and the ultra-capacitors meet the requirements and offer cheap, low power, and support batteries.

In 2015, CAP XX Co. Ltd has launched a product of 0.6mm thickness which is ideally suitable for wearable and portable devices.
With increase in the disposable and wearable medical devices, such as disposable insulin device or fitness tracking devices, the market for super capacitors is set to witness a high growth rate of 42.2% in the forecast period.

At the same time, the market growth is forecast to be aided by the transportation products. Buses, Electric Vehicles, Trams, and so on are the prime potential target for the companies to develop products.

The electric vehicle market is the promising among all of the transportation products whereas the trams, metro trains are seen as the potential segments owing to the government projects in certain regions. In China, in May 2014, 100% super capacitors powered low floor train was launched in which the ultra-capacitors provide the necessary power to the traction system.

The capacitors in this train are capable of 1 million charging cycles, that is, it possesses lifespan of around 10 years. Hence, with more such initiatives the not only transportation cost is reduces but performance also can be improved.

Thus, the market has growth prospects in the transportation and healthcare industries.

SMALL CAP IDEAS: CAP-XX's tiny super-capacitors should be no laughing matter once the technology takes-off

The surge in the share price of technology firm CAP-XX over the past six months has been nothing short of spectacular.
Investors lucky enough to get in at March’s £2.5million fund-raising, priced at 1p a share, are sitting on a near 600 per cent paper profit. Those who exited at 8p have done even better.
However, there is an argument the current price of 7p a share is merely a staging post to a valuation way in excess of the current market cap of £19million.
Certainly, if orders materialise from 20 or so automotive companies it is working with, or the integration of its tiny super-capacitors into machine-to-machine technology takes off, then the current share price will seem laughable.
Driving forward: CAP-XX's specialism is in super-capacitors – from the wafer thin, to those large enough to help power a high performance sports car.

Driving forward: CAP-XX's specialism is in super-capacitors – from the wafer thin, to those large enough to help power a high performance sports car.
Listed on the AIM here in London, CAP-XX is an Aussie headquartered firm that is tapping into some potentially huge global markets.
Its specialism is (as mentioned earlier) super-capacitors – from the wafer thin, to those large enough to help power a high performance sports car.
In layman’s terms, super-capacitors bridge power gaps.
They store electricity very efficiently, so it is there when it is needed. Importantly, they are able to supply the current in sharp, very powerful bursts.

Chief executive Anthony Kongats says CAP-XX’s technology is ‘disruptive’ on a number of levels
Its Thinline product is the lightest, thinnest super-capacitor on the market and is ideal for electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops where space is at a premium.

The ability to extend battery life is an added bonus that will no doubt be seized on by the consumer electronics industry.
However, the Internet of Things, where machines communicate via wireless, could be transformed by devices such as CAP-XX’s.
Its larger units, used in cars and for jump starting trucks, offer customers 'more punch for their dollar' by being smaller, but more powerful than the other products on the market.
Very little of this latent potential was apparent in the last set of results – the prelims – which were nevertheless revelatory on a number of other levels.
They showed the company’s gross margins, on sales of A$4.4million, had more than doubled to 30.6 per cent in the space of the year as CAP-XX became more efficient.
They also told us the royalties from Japan’s Murata Manufacturing, which uses the technology in a number of electronic devices, were on a sharp upward curve.
CAP-XX AT A GLANCE
AIM ticker: CPX
Value: £19million
Share price: 7.1p
Year high: 8.71p
Low: 0.75p
Notable also was the amount spent on research and development, which at A$2.6mln, was 60 per cent of revenues.
Boss Kongats makes no apologies for the amount invested back into products.
What he is selling is not another ‘me-too’ super-capacitor, but the best in class product, be that at the micro-end of the market, or larger units.
'We need to keep ahead of the competition,' he told Proactive Investors.
'If we cut back then we won’t be huge or a success. We believe there will be large growth in a number of markets we address that justifies the level of R&D
'We have to have something unique to sell.'
Neither is this a single-shot-on-goal company.

It is currently active in areas or developing products for car keys, electronic locks, smart metering and building controls.
Add to that list: smart credit cards, electronic shelf labels, medical and fitness devices and asset tracking.
Tiny product: Its Thinline product is the lightest, thinnest super-capacitor on the market and is ideal for electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops where space is at a premium

Tiny product: Its Thinline product is the lightest, thinnest super-capacitor on the market and is ideal for electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops where space is at a premium
Each, in and of itself, is a multi-million pound market.
'We are selling the shovels here to the gold miners,' CAP-XX boss said.
'I don’t know which application is going to take-off in the medical market for instance, but what I know is they are going to have a better product using CAP-XX.'

Among the high profile products on the market is a next-generation insulin pump that uses its super-capacitors – and provides an entre to the wider medical devices arena.
CAP-XX has a twin-track approach to commercialising its Intellectual property.

The larger opportunities in consumer electronics, mobile telephony and the automotive sector, it will joint venture or license out.
But where the market is smaller, the company will oversee the manufacturing of the product, while maintaining control of the technology at the core.
The plan ultimately is to be for advanced power what Intel is to the computer central processor – the default technology.
Currently CAP-XX’s Thinline product is under evaluation with more than 20 different companies involved in developing machines that talk to one another – part of the so-called Internet of Things.

A further twenty-odd automotive businesses are interested in the technology – some of these collaborations are close to throwing up licensing opportunities.
These and the deal with a tier-1 vehicle components maker to commercialise the truckStart product (it does as the name suggests), should tell investors the next six to 12 months will provide many more catalysts for share price growth.
'What’s held us back in the past is we have been waiting for the technology convergence to happen,' said CEO Kongats.
'We’ve had our technology ready, but others haven’t. That’s all changed and it is having a profound effect on our prospects.'

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-3233901/SMALL-CAP-IDEAS-CAP-XX-s-tiny-super-capacitors-no-laughing-matter-technology-takes-off.html#ixzz3lktc4cWD

Shares in issue: 269m Ords NPV

47.2% of the shares are not in public hands.