MIT Team Creates Shock That Recharges Your Car

An anonymous reader writes "If you had a GenShock, you may not mind those potholes in the road any longer because this new prototype shock actually harvests energy from bumps in the road to save on fuel. A team of students at MIT have invented a shock absorber that harnesses energy from small bumps in the road, generating electricity while it smooths the ride more effectively than conventional shocks. Senior Shakeel Avadhany and his teammates say they can produce up to a 10 percent improvement in overall vehicle fuel efficiency by using the regenerative shock absorbers. They also already have a lot of interest in their design, specifically the company that builds Humvees for the army are already planning to install them in its next version of the Humvee."

Comments

Re:In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamic

[Ogive17]

I take it you don't live in a cold weather climate or in a large city. Snow/ice + salt + plows = pot holes. Large cities have notoriously bad roads, it's too hard to repair them with so much traffic.

And it's not just bumpy roads that shocks help with. Every time you turn a corner the shocks are used to keep the car stable.

Personally, I think it's a brilliant idea. The easiest way to become more efficient is to turn the wasted energy into something useful.

Re:Shock absorbers are just a part of the equation

[fprintf]

Generally speaking you have more handling and fuel performance issues with having too *little* air in the tires. 27% of cars, according to the US DOT, have at least one underinflated tire.

http://www.dot.gov/affairs/nhtsa4601.htm

So what's the problem? Well, as you say, you get a harsher ride from an overinflated tire, but you get far many more problems with underinflation, which is probably far more common. Some of those problems include poor braking, slow steering, poor handling/road grip, and worse fuel economy... worse than can be made up by funky new regenerative shocks.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/225/could-we-conserve-gasoline-by-putting-more-air-in-our-tires

I know lots of people made fun of Barack Obama during the Presidential campaign for his plea to check the tire pressures, but the reality is that drivers the world over could save millions of gallons of oil annually by simply keeping tires inflated properly. In cold climates this also means double checking the pressures when the outside temperature drops by 10 degrees.

Better to pump up the tires than not.