Allow me to clarify my previous post.
I meant 5 meters/second, not 5 milliseconds.
My weight budget is theoretically unlimited as long as the final machine fits into a 30cm x 30cm x 60cm box.
The motor voltage is somewhere in the neighborhood of 3volts. So, a final output voltage from the capacitor of 6volts should be doable. The amperage as well. 9A discharge from the supercap that I would like to use should be more than enough.
Choosing the capacitor isn't too much of a problem for me, unless the supercap battery link I posted earlier has some property which I am not aware of.
You're right, the motor is nowhere near 100% efficiency, but neither are my competitor's motors (we all use the same one). So for comparison purposes, I think I'm fine.
So far Al, you have provided me a wealth of information. Thank you for that.
However, I need to design a circuit which performs as follows:
- The fuel cell charges the capacitor before a race
- At the start of the race, the capacitor dumps its power into the motor, giving me a boost of speed similar to using NOS on a car.
- Once the capacitor is depleted, the circuit then directly routs the electricity from the fuel cell to the motor, so no energy is wasted charging the capacitor.
I have very little experience designing these kind of circuits, and that is where I need help. The supercapacitor's properties seem to be sufficient to provide just the power I need in order to get the car to jump out of the starting gate, and then pretty much coast to the finish line.
I hope my intentions are clearer.