Design of Energy Harvesting Suspension System

Abstract

The advent of mass production of vehicles in the early 1900s has led to a rise in fuel consumption globally. Hence researchers have been constantly trying to improve the fuel efficiency in automobiles. Automobile manufacturers have to spend a great deal of money in designing a vehicle to be aerodynamic and lightweight. Also, the use of fuel injectors which are controlled by costly ECUs is being used instead of carburetor. All these practices prove to be very costly even to improve the fuel efficiency by a very small percentage. But considering the number of vehicles globally a small percentage improvement in the fuel efficiency can make a huge difference in the amount of non-renewable energy saved. A very small percentage of the energy supplied by the fuel is utilized by the vehicle for driving. It amounts to only 16%. 74% of the energy is wasted in overcoming resistance in engine losses, idle and standby, braking losses, transmission losses, and overcoming air drag. The breaking losses which are 5.8 % of the total fuel energy have been able to be recovered successfully when the regenerative braking system was implemented. Another major loss of energy in an automobile while traveling is experienced in the suspension system. It amounts to about 4.2%. This energy is dissipated as heat through the vibrations. This paper focuses on harvesting this loss of energy which takes place through the vibrations of the suspension system. This project focuses on designing a regenerative suspension system. Using this system there is a scope to recover about 100 to 500 Watts of power which will improve the fuel efficiency of the vehicle by about 3-12%.