Regenerative shock absorber

[night9]

I just thought this was a very cool idea and wanted to share. I didn't/haven't seen any disscussions on this type of energy producing system on this forum. I would love to have something like this to hook up to an insight or a pruis or even my elantra. Hopefully one day something like this will be made available for aftermarket applications.

Regenerative shock absorber to bump up car energy capture capabilities

[Viturro]

If i remember good there was a post of this, but long time ago, maybe I'm wrong.
With that on my car driving the streets of my country i could charge the battery 2 times at full charge hahaha

[NeilBlanchard]

Yes, regenerative shocks have been discussed. There is an company that spun off of MIT called Levant Power that builds a hydraulic regenerative shock absorber, and the Illuminati Motor Works X-Prize team built some (similar to the article you posted) along the way to the contest; though they discarded the idea because they were not providing enough dampening.

I think that regenerative shocks would be even more effective if you used them in conjunction with more rigid tires; that were non-inflated. Normal tires absorb most of the small bumps, so having a rigid tire (similar to the Energy Return Wheel) that had lower rolling resistance, and it would pass more motion through to the shocks. So, the ride would be similar, but the dampening work would be mostly done by the shocks, so you could regain more energy, as well.

This is the second stage of efficiency improvement that I hope to be able to try on my CarBEN EV5 project: rigid airless tires combined with regenerative shock absorbers.

[IamIan]

Another pic of concept Here

Also , BOSE produces a system as well ... Link ... very small scale ... but their system not only works passively to recover wasted suspension dissipated energy , but AFAIK it also works dynamically which consumes power but allows for better suspension than a conventional passive system... I think their tiny niche market is for the use more energy for luxury side.

YouTube Video

A Paper on the concept ... Link

Another Write up Article on Concept ... Link

[pete c]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Yes, regenerative shocks have been discussed. There is an company that spun off of MIT called Levant Power that builds a hydraulic regenerative shock absorber, and the Illuminati Motor Works X-Prize team built some (similar to the article you posted) along the way to the contest; though they discarded the idea because they were not providing enough dampening.

I think that regenerative shocks would be even more effective if you used them in conjunction with more rigid tires; that were non-inflated. Normal tires absorb most of the small bumps, so having a rigid tire (similar to the Energy Return Wheel) that had lower rolling resistance, and it would pass more motion through to the shocks. So, the ride would be similar, but the dampening work would be mostly done by the shocks, so you could regain more energy, as well.

This is the second stage of efficiency improvement that I hope to be able to try on my CarBEN EV5 project: rigid airless tires combined with regenerative shock absorbers.

We use pneumatic tires because the are a very good, very simple, suspension system. Getting rid of them completely means either putting up with a harsher ride or a considerably heavier suspension system. Maybe I'm wrong about that. Maybe if the tire/wheel is light enough, that won't be the case. Good luck with it.

I think this idea, coupled with a hydro/pneumatic hybrid drive does have potential. I guess it would take some testing to figure out if the added weight of a more robust suspension offsets the increased efficiency of stiffer tires.

[Viturro]

IamIan that video is great and i love that suspension!

[jjackstone]

Here is a link to a paper I found several years ago about this subject.
http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/et...Paz_thesis.pdf

JJ

[IamIan]

Originally Posted by Viturro

IamIan that video is great and i love that suspension!

Now we just need them to include both that active version and the energy recovery version as software options in a mass market version of the product... then I woke up from that wonderful dream.

[Viturro]

...LOL... ferrari did have something like that, the shock liquid have something that with the electricity, steering wheel, velocity, and more... the liquid become more more hard or soft, i saw that on T.V. like 2 years ago. wonderful living dream

[pete c]

GM has the magic variable viscosity fluid. They use it in the vette. Possibly caddies as well.