The use of ionistors instead of batteries in solar energy

. Today, the use of solar panels is becoming widely used. At the same time, accumulators act as accumulators of the generated solar energy. The article suggests using an ionistor as a storage option. Unlike a battery, the ionistor is most effectively charged not with a constant voltage, but with a current, and with the maximum, i.e. with everything that is only able to give the source. For an energy source, a discharged ionistor is a short-circuited load. Just solar cells can operate at zero resistance, which means they are able to charge the ionistor from scratch. The analysis of the problem of using this method is carried out. The article provides connection diagrams, as well as formulas for calculating charging characteristics.


Introduction
The increase in demand for electricity leads to the rapid depletion of traditional fossil fuels and exacerbates the problem of environmental pollution.Therefore, there is a need to develop alternative (renewable) energy sources to ensure sustainable energy supplies to consumers, as well as to reduce local and global environmental pollution [1][2][3][4].There are many works in the literature devoted to optimization and increasing the efficiency of photovoltaic converters [5][6][7].
Solar energy is one of the most suitable options for generating electricity, because it is inexhaustible, free (in terms of its availability) and environmentally friendly.Many countries are switching to the use of such systems for the production of electric power, even with their high cost.At the same time, batteries are used to accumulate the solar energy generated during the day.The article suggests using an ionistor instead of a battery.
What is interesting about ionistors?This is, to put it simply, a capacitor of huge capacity -which can be hundreds of farads.A capacitor is a device with which you can store a certain electric charge.One of the types of capacitors is supercapacitors (ionistors), also known as electrochemical capacitors, the principle of operation of which is based on the formation of a double electric layer on the boundary between a semiconductor and an electrolyte under the condition of an applied external voltage.Unlike batteries, ionistors have the following advantages: -they have an almost unlimited number of cycles, -they can be discharged to zero, they are not afraid of discharge, -they can work at negative temperatures, -they can give very high currents, tens or even hundreds of amperes, -they have the main component -activated carbon, which is a very environmentally friendly and "renewable" component.
Ionistors (supercapacitors) are electrochemical energy storage devices.They differ from conventional capacitors in that to conserve electrical energy, not a macroscopic dielectric layer is used between the conductive plates, but a microscopic polarized layer at the interface of the solid-electrolyte interface.Functionally, it is a hybrid of a capacitor and a chemical current source.According to the characteristics, the ionistor occupies an intermediate position between the capacitor and the chemical current source.Ionistors with high discharge currents are used in experimental buses with electric drive (charge at every second stop) and electric vehicles, as well as to smooth out peak loads in autonomous electric generators of renewable energy sources.Due to their unique properties, ionistors are used in various devices.They provide significant energy savings when used in conjunction with conventional rechargeable batteries (batteries) in the automotive industry, which not only improves the characteristics of a hybrid battery, but also allows you to start the engine at extremely low temperatures; they can be used in the active filter system of the power grid, which allows you to raise the indicators of fault tolerance and durability of electrical devices; are used in energy recovery systems, for example, with their help it is possible to recover up to 35% of the kinetic energy of subway cars lost during braking.These and many other applications of ionistors are under experimental development [8][9][10][11][12].
Despite the expanding field of application of ionistors and their active industrial production, the theoretical description of the processes occurring in the ionistor is far from complete.It was established that energy accumulation in the ionistor occurs in a double electric layer at the interface of the electrode and electrolyte.The thickness of the inner part of the layer is about nanometres, which leads to a significant increase in capacitance, which is inversely proportional to the distance between charges.At the same time, the formation of a chemical bond does not occur, that is, this electrochemical system behaves like a capacitor.Due to the smallness of the distances between charges (about the size of an atom) and the vast surface area of the electrode material (for example, activated carbon), the capacity of ionistors can be several Farads, and the density of stored energy is calculated in Watts per kilogram.Based on statistical and experimental data, ionistors of this type have an operating time for failure equal to 15,000 cycles, with a service life of at least 12 years.
Of course, today, ionistors are inferior in energy intensity to chemical accumulators, but the development of ionistor production technology leads to the fact that the energy intensity of these devices will be equal, and then the ionistor will become a full-fledged competitor to the battery in powerful electric power storage devices.Ionistors with a capacity of one farad are used in portable electronics to provide uninterrupted power to low current circuits, for example, a microcontroller.In addition, ionistors with a capacity of tens of thousands of farads are used in conjunction with batteries to power various electric motors.In this combination, the ionistor reduces the load on the batteries, which significantly increases their battery life and at the same time increases the starting current that the hybrid engine power system is capable of delivering.
In this regard, the question arises about the technical possibility of storing solar energy by ionistrom and the further use of stored energy.

Main Part
The principle of operation of the ionistor is the process of potential separation, which consists in the following: when a positive and negative potential is applied to the ionistor electrodes, respectively, they are polarized, as a result of which all free charged particles inside the ionistor accumulate on the electrodes, positive particles are concentrated on the cathode, negative ones on the anode, a double electric layer is formed, thus the charging process takes place (figure 1).After that, the accumulated charge can be used by connecting the load.For an energy source, a discharged ionistor is a short-circuited load.As follows from the volt-ampere characteristic of the solar module, there is a so-called short-circuit current (Isc) (fig.2).This characteristic shows how the current that passes through the circuit changes from the voltage that is applied to it.Therefore, photovoltaic cells can operate at zero resistance, which means they are able to charge the ionistor from scratch.Also on the given graph there is a point with coordinates (Ump, Imp) at which its output power reaches its maximum.Also on the given graph there is a point with coordinates (Ump, Imp) at which its output power reaches its maximum.
At the initial moment, the voltage on the ionistor is 0 V, as a result of which the solar battery is shorted.As the ionistor is charged, the current decreases in accordance with the current-voltage characteristic of the photovoltaic cell.
Figure 3 shows a model of an ideal ionistor: a series connection of a capacitor with a capacity of C and a resistor with an ESR (equivalent series resistance) resistance, caused by the parasitic internal resistance of the ionistor itself.The diode protects the ionistor from discharge through the solar battery in the dark.If the no-load voltage of the energy source exceeds the operating voltage of the ionistor, a shunt voltage regulator will be required to protect it, which acts as an over-current protection of the ionistor.In this case, a resistor is used.In this case, the charging current will be equal to The charge time τ is equal to Supercapacitors on the market today are usually designed for 2.5 V, 2.7 V or 5.5 V. Like a lithium cell, these capacitors must be connected sequentially or in parallel to form high-voltage batteries.In order to efficiently store the energy needed for batteries, it is necessary to limit the charge voltage of the ionistor to a level slightly lower than its permissible voltage.With this in mind, we assume the required number of ionistors is equal to When using supercapacitors as energy storage elements for powering electronic devices, it is important to determine the energy stored in the ionistor in order to predict how long the device can be powered.The stored energy is equal to Now, using this value, it is possible to calculate how long an ionistor can power devices with a power of P P W t  (5)

Conclusions
The work was devoted to the supply of solar energy in ionistors.Due to their unique properties, ionistors are used in various devices.The required number of ionistors has been determined, including their production parameters for the power supply scheme presented in the work.Unlike conventional batteries, ionistors are discharged linearly, so that the voltage on them varies widely, so an LED driver is needed.If possible, the diver should have an adjustable current.
To date, battery technology has advanced significantly and has become more advanced compared to the last decade.But still, for the time being, rechargeable batteries remain expendable, because they have a small resource.The company's needs for electric energy storage are still not satisfied.The emergence and development of alternative electric power industry has increased the demand and technical requirements for electric energy storage devices, which are used as smoothing or accumulating electrical energy devices.
Until recently, various chemical sources of electrical energy were widely used as energy storage devices.With the advent of ionistors with large values of electrical capacity, many low-power consumers of electric energy began to abandon batteries due to their limited service life and the number of recharge cycles.In such devices, an ionistor began to be used, which is charged from an external source, for example, a solar panel, and then the accumulated charge, when the solar panel does not generate electricity, provides power to a low-power consumer.The advantage of such a solution is the long service life of ionistors, ease of maintenance, fast charge / discharge, the ability to work at low temperatures.

Fig. 1 .
Fig. 1.The principle of operation of the ionistor.

Figure 4
Figure4shows one of the possible ionistor connection schemes.