Buy your car this shock absorber and you'll be endowed with electricity

Now here's an invention that is truly shocking: an energy-harvesting shock absorber that when installed in a vehicle's suspension system can absorb the energy from road bumps and covert that energy into electricity, potentially improving fuel efficiency by 1 to 8 percent.

Designed by Leo Zuo, mechanical engineering professor at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook, and graduate students Xiudong Tang and Zachary Brindak, the energy-harvesting shock absorber (Download PDF) recently won the coveted R&D 100 award, often referred to as the "Oscar of Invention." The annual award is presented by R&D Magazine to recognize the top 100 technological innovations from the previous year.

Zuo and his team developed and patented two types of shock absorbers: linear and rotational. The linear is composed of a small magnetic tube with high flux intensity that slides inside a bigger, hallow coil tube. The rotational shock absorber uses a compact motion mechanism that magnifies and harvests energy.

The normal bumps and vibrations of driving make the sliding tubes or rotating generator produce an electric voltage. The shock absorbers can generate 100 - 400 watts of energy under normal driving conditions when installed in a medium-sized passenger car traveling at 60 mph. On particularly rough roads, up to 1600 watts can be generated. For larger vehicle such as trucks, rail cars and off-road vehicles, 1 to 10 kilowatts of energy can be generated, depending on road conditions.

Harvested energy is used to charge the vehicle's battery and power the electronics, typically between 250 and 350 watts, not including optional electronic systems. This added energy boost reduces the load on the vehicle's alternator, which normally has a capacity of around 500 to 600 watts.

This harvested energy could also increase fuel efficiency in conventional cars by 1 to 4 percent. In hybrid vehicles, fuel efficiency could increase to 8 percent.

But energy conservation and fuel efficiency aren't the only benefits. The shock absorbers also offer a smoother ride due to adjustable suspension damping and self-powered vibration control.

Zuo says the shock absorbers are not yet commercially available, but the patent is ready for licensing. To accelerate the commercialization, Zuo's team recently received a grant from the SUNY Technology Accelerator Fund.

Dhruv

If You Enjoyed This Post Please Take 5 Seconds To Share It.

Subscribe via Email