Regenerative Shocks

We've all heard of regenerative braking, but there's been a technology lurking about that could both aid a car's handling characteristics while recovering energy at the same time: the Power-Generating Shock Absorber. Recent news articles, like this one at AutoBlog.com, tout this as a new and recent discovery or invention. The fact is, this technology was patented LONG ago. Simply attach a coil of wire to one half of the shock and a magnet to the other. As the shock bounds and rebounds, the magnet moves relative to the coil generating electricity as Michael Faraday first demonstrated back in the 1830s! BTW, you can pick up a flashlight that works on this principle from Amazon.com for $1.99!


The patent for the Power-Generating Shock Absorber was first issued to researchers at Tuft University in 2005 after the application was submitted back in 2001. Although, I do admit to being annoyed with the current articles out on the net promoting this as as new, that doesn't mean that this technology isn't super cool. It is!! The only real surprise is that this notion wasn't thought about before. This process of using suspension movement as a means for generating electrical power is perfect for applications to hybrid cars, such as the proposed Toyota LMP1 hybrid racer targeted to debut at Le Mans in 2010, or in F1 cars which use a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS).

How does this apply to IndyCar racing? If the series is serious about promoting an image of green racing and the follow F1 down a KERS path for 2011, it might make a lot of sense to use these PGSAs, especially for the ovals. There's not much braking on most ovals, so there's not much opportunity to recover energy lost through braking. At many tracks, there are bumps and irregularities on the racing surface. The repeated high-frequency movement of the suspension could charge up an electrical KERS system in much the same way a regenerative braking system would. This stored energy could then be transferred through an electric motor to the gearbox providing a time-limited increase in power. Think of this as a type of "push-to-pass" system. Its certainly not going to happen soon, but in 2011 or so, who knows?