Makes sense to me. Combine these shocks with regenerative brakes, solar cells on the exposed surfaces of the vehicle, fuel cells and what have you and we might have something that could compete with a gas fueled car. We'll see. It is getting interesting out there, though.
Won’t work on a smooth road.
Good post. Thanks!
BTTT
With some of the washboard dirt roads around here, I could sell power back to the grid.
Sir, we replaced all four shocks and rotated your tires for free!!!
Here's your bill:
$ 2,500 plus your 25 % carbon tax, 10 % state tax, 15 % federal tax
Total is $3,750
(Tips are appreciated)
What about wind energy that could be captured by turbines as the car is driven?
Just another excuse for the government not to repair potholes.
Any quantitative estimate of how much would be generated? Also, the more you try to recover, the firmer the ride. The more power you try to extract from a generator, the harder you have to turn it (or in this case, push it).
I’m for anything that will allow us to say F*** Y** to OPEC....
Shocking! Ping!.........
This is very interesting. I can see how a hydraulic drive would be much smoother and economical than a mechanical drive with more moving parts.
Approaching shocks is interesting also. I have been involved in racing and know how hot a working shock gets on a rough track. shocks are a very important part of the set up. Thats why NASCAR has shock engineers.
Harnessing the kinetic energy from shocks has a lot of potential. I find it a fascinating approach.
With all these discoveries of sources of power, a truly zero emission vehicle may still be doable in the near future. This past summer, I rode in a Prius taxi in Vancouver, BC. I could see no reason why these types of vehicles wouldn’t be perfect for urban use.
Makes sense to me. Combine these shocks with regenerative brakes, solar cells on the exposed surfaces of the vehicle, fuel cells and what have you and we might have something that could compete with a gas fueled car. We'll see. It is getting interesting out there, though.
Capital cost, weight, and reliability/maintenance are always the tradeoff for regenerative systems or any fuel-saving technologies. My own instinct is that a regenerative shock absorber cries out for some hard numbers on how much energy actually is dissipated in a shock absorber in normal smooth pavement operation. In terms of, say, the power consumption of the typical vehicle's electrical system. Perhaps it would be more practical in a truck than in a light car - and perhaps the actual motive is to give a sports car a tunable suspension with superior handling characteristics.
ping
Hydraulid hybrid ping. No mention of an F150 in the offing, though...
Now this is cool stuff, instead of the sappy enviro weenie make believe things we read about.
I see the day coming when the britches of ADD boys will be fitted with similar devices and all the excess figiting energy will be converted into electricity and stored in hip pocket capacitors.
American boys will be pretty much carbon neutral and will go a long way in solving the fossil fuel snergy crisis.
Bump!