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Boosting the fuel efficiency of motor vehicles by "harvesting" the energy generated by their shock absorbers and feeding it back into batteries or electrical systems such as air conditioning has become a major goal in automotive engineering. Now, a University of Huddersfield researcher has made a breakthrough by designing a new system and constructing a prototype that is ready for real-world testing.
Ruichen Wang carried out the project to obtain his doctorate at the University and has published his findings. The article, in the journal Energies, is titled Modelling, Testing and Analysis of a Regenerative Hydraulic Shock System. It provides a summary of current progress in the field of vehicle energy harvesting and a detailed account of the theory and the practical development of his device, designed for installation in a heavy good vehicle.
An abstract is available: DOI: 10.3390/en9050386
Why not also a stirling engine to make use of solar gain in parked cars on sunny days?
(Score: 2) by rts008 on Sunday October 30 2016, @10:10AM
I can imagine this turning cars into megawatt generators, considering what good shape, and how smooth our roads are.
Hell, if they combine this with a 'wireless power transmission' function to put excess power into the 'grid', just an occasional trip to the store would make me rich beyond belief the first year. ;-)