Patent ID: 6885170

Claim:
A connection-switched capacitor storage system comprising: a plurality of capacitors; parallel monitors connected in parallel with said capacitors, respectively, each of said parallel monitors acting to limit increases of a terminal voltage of a respective one of the capacitors by bypassing a charging current for the capacitor when the terminal voltage exceeds a given set voltage, the parallel monitors having a function of initializing terminal voltages of the capacitors to their initial state; switching means for switching connections of said capacitors from a series combination to a parallel combination or vice versa; and control means for controlling the initializing operation of each parallel monitor to initialize the terminal voltage of a respective one of the capacitors to its initial level based on an overall voltage of the capacitors or on the terminal voltage of a certain capacitor typical of said plurality of capacitors, said control means also acting to control operation of said switching means to switch the connections of the capacitors, wherein said voltage at which the connections of the capacitors are switched by said switching means is within a ±10% range about the voltage at which the connections of the capacitors are switched, and wherein said control means causes said parallel monitor to initialize the capacitor voltages to their initial level near a voltage at which the connections of the capacitors are switched by said switching means.