Quote:
Originally Posted by elhigh
Link to MTSU's Green Energy Management page, including an update on the Hybrid Kit concept:
Green Energy Management (GEM) Updates | Middle Tennessee State University
I wouldn't do the alternator thing. This is just me talking, but the quickest way to get maximum uptake from buyers is to make the system as no-brainer easy as possible. I wouldn't balk at switching in alternators but a lot of people might - and the big thing with motors is in order to get any kind of speed out of them, you need voltage. The alternator in your car is NOT designed to provide that. The motors on the wheels, however, ARE already designed for high voltage, and with a simple flip of a switch a motor can become a generator - and in the case of these motors, they'll make way better generators than the alt in your car. So: when the battery needs recharging, simply pull a vanishingly small amount of current out of the motor/generators as they are pulled down the road. The motor management computer can be programmed to hold off such operations until the TPS is below a certain threshhold, when the taillights are on (lots more under those conditions), when the car is pointed downhill, etc. Not too difficult to find plenty of situations where the battery recharging can be done for a minimum of fuel burn. |
I see what you are saying. Well, couldn't we also hook up the drive wheels powered by the gasoline motor to electric motors serving as generators only? This way, if I understand you correctly, we can reduce parasitic drain by the engine mounted alternator and replace it with generators running off the drive wheels powered by the same gasoline engine, and for braking or decelerated fuel cut-off, the electric motors on the non-drive wheels can contribute to power generation.
The point I am trying to make is that I would prefer not to have to charge up this system. I want for it to be able to charge itself and the only way to do this is by using the gasoline engine to help charge it up! Even better would be to have the ability to operate all four wheel mounted electric motor/generators in tandem with the gasoline engine, making it work even less and possibly using solar panel films on the upper portion of the car to help recharge the system as well!