|
Meh, KERS is just some electrical engineering business, I'm excited about TERS! That's a good amount of energy they're recovering there, if 33 seconds of boost is accurate.
Somehow I doubt that it's done with thermocouples (Seebeck effect), as even though they have high temperature ones available, their efficiency is still no good (though better than trying to use a 300C generator and limiting the temperature). It would be really good for the auto industry if they got some of the experimental nanoscale materials working, but it seems too soon.
It's probably a gas turbine (steam?) of some sort driven off heat exchanger to the exhaust. I also hear that they have a blowdown turbine stage in the exhaust stream to capture some of the leftover combustion pressure, good for another 7% more power.
It's funny, F1 engines are supposed to be very efficient already because they have very little friction, with heat recovery and blowdown pressure recovery 50% thermal efficiency could be possible! Take that, diesel.
|