International Journal of Power Electronics and Drive System (IJPEDS) Vol. 10, No. 1, March 2019, pp. 568~574 ISSN: 2088-8694, DOI: 10.11591/ijpeds.v10.i1.pp568-574  568 Journal homepage: http://iaescore.com/journals/index.php/IJPEDS A battery-less power supply using supercapacitor as energy storage powered by solar Mohammad Hadin A. Malek, Farahiyah Mustafa, Anis Maisarah Mohd Asry Faculty of Engineering Technology, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Malaysia Article Info ABSTRACT Article history: Received Sep 17, 2018 Revised Nov 29, 2018 Accepted Dec 16, 2018 This paper presents a battery-less power supply using supercapacitor as energy storage powered by solar. In this study the supercapacitor as energy storage, as opposed to batteries, has widely researched in recent years. Supercapacitors act like other capacitors, but their advantage is having enormous power storage capabilities. Maximum charging voltage and capacitance are two variables of storage in the supercapacitor. The supercapacitor is used as energy storage to charge a low power device wirelessly and act as a power supply. The solar energy is used as a backup power supply if there is no electricity in the remote or isolated area to charge the supercapacitor. The time taken to charge the supercapacitor depend on the amount of current rating of the solar panel. The higher the current, the shorter the time taken to charges the supercapacitor. Power supply using supercapacitor can store up to 30 Vdc using a DC-DC boost converter. Keywords: DC-DC boost converter Renewable energy Solar energy Supercapacitor Wireless power transfer Copyright © 2019 Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science. All rights reserved. Corresponding Author: Farahiyah Mustafa, Faculty of Engineering Technology, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Hub Pendidikan Tinggi Pagoh, 86400 Pancur, Johor, Malaysia. Email: farahiyah@uthm.edu.my 1. INTRODUCTION Powerbank is simply an external energy storage that is used to store charges that could carry a high capacity of power. Normally, batteries are used as an energy storage system (ESS) because it has high energy density and low maintenance. Another option of ESS is by applying supercapacitor. This is because supercapacitor has gigantic power storage capabilities. There have been numerous approaches for the supercapacitor since it has fast charging and discharging cycle [1], [2]. There are some research done by applying supercapacitor as energy storage such as modelling of battery-supercapacitor hybrid energy storage system [3]. The researcher combined the supercapacitor with the battery to connect in the system to determine the efficiency of the supercapacitor as energy storage. In the supercapacitor, energy is stored electrostatically on the surface of the material and does not involve chemical reactions [4]. The supercapacitor can be charged quickly, leading to a very high power density, and do not lose their storage capabilities over time [4]. In this study, the supercapacitor is chosen as energy storage for dual functional wireless and power supply unit. Wireless power transfer (WPT), in which electric power is transmitted through the overlapping magnetic fields of a transmitter and receiver, is used as features of this study to charge a lower device wirelessly. WPT is a promising technology based on electromagnetic theory and radiowave theory, representing the combined application of electrical and radio science [5]. In previous research that applying WPT concept such as electric vehicle charging [6], [7], power transmission system [8], wireless charger for mobile phone [9] shows that the important part of the WPT is the transmitter and the receiver. The function of the transmitter coil is to transfer the current by using magnetic flux to the receiver coil. Low power