10 Kinetic Energy Recovery System As a mechanical engineer, have you ever cared to think that how much enes wasted when you put your foot on the brake pedal of your vehicle? Ever wondered if we could actually harness that energy to use it constructively? K.ERS is the answer. As an advanced form of regenerative braking, it promises to store the energy usually lost during braking, in batteries or use t thereupon to help in accelerating Though regenerative braking was developed in 1967 for the AMC Amitron (American Motor Company's concept car whose batteries were charged entirely by regenerative braking), KE.RS asa system was recently developed and implemented in F1 racing cars Energy can be stored in the form of mechanical energy (as in a flywheel) or in form of electrical energy (asin a battery or capacitor)In the electrical mechanism, during decel- eration of the car, the rotational energy of the car is used to run a dynamo (and sometimes a motor itself, which acts as both motor and dynamo) or a ‘motor/dynamo system (MGU) which is attached to the crankshaft and converts this mechanical energy into electrical energy which can be stored in batteries for future use, This mechanism even aids in the braking as the dynamo magnets exert a force on the wheels which acts as another retarding force for the wheel Using batteries also has a flip side - they can get extremely hot and most cars ‘which use it require extra cooling mecha- nisms to make it work smoothly. To resolve this, BMW came up with the idea fof using super-capacitors, instead of batteries to store the energy. ‘According to experts, the Mechanical KERS system provides a more efficient and environmentfriendly solution for the problem - partly because there is no change in state of the energy being re-used, It uses a flywheel to store the kinetic energy of the wheel which is then fed back to the wheels during accelera- tion on the press of a button. Like any flywheel system, to make it small, compact and energy efficient, the speed should be very high -somewhere in the ‘order of 50000-10000 rpm. The only way this can be done, minimizing windage losses and without considerable losses in heat is to run the whole system in vacuum, The components within each variator (je. each system) include an input dise and an opposing output disc Each disc is formed so that the gap created between the dises is ‘doughnut’ shaped; that is, the toroidal surfaces on each dise form the toroidal cavity. ‘Two or three rollers are located inside each toroidal cavity and are positioned so that the outer edge of each roller is in contact with the toroidal surfaces of the input dise and output dise. As the input dise rotates, ‘power is transferred via the rollers to the ‘output disc, which rotates in the opposite direction to the input disc. ‘The angle of the roller determines the ratio cf the Variator and therefore a change in the angle ofthe roller results in a change in the ratio, So, with the roller at a small radius (near the centre) on the input dise and ata large radius (near the edge) on the ‘output dise, the Variator produces a low" ratio, Moving the roller across the discs toa large radius at the input dise and corre- sponding low radius at the output ‘produces the ‘high’ ratio and provides the full ratio sweep in a smooth, continuous manner. The transfer of power through the contacting surfaces of the discs and rollers takes place via a microscopic film of a specially developed long-molecule traction fluid, This fluid separates the rolling surfaces of the discs and rollers at their contact points. The input and output dises are clamped together within each variator ‘unit, The traction fluid in the contact points between the dises and rollers becomes highly viscous under this clamping pressure, thereby increasing its ‘stickiness’ ‘and creating an efficient mechanism for transferring power between the rotating ddises and rollers. The energy from this, second roller is then tapped and used for accelerating the car. ‘A third approach is a hydraulic recovery system. The principle behind hydraulic KERS units, by contrast, is to reuse a vehicle's kinetic energy by conducting pressurized hydraulic fluid into an accumulator during deceleration, then 11 Indian Insttue of Technology Guwshat\12 This technology is, currently under development for domestic cars and if successful can improve energy efficiency and fuel consumption of automobiles, contributing toa greener and brighter future for mankind. MESA conducting it back into the drive system during acceleration. But thas its shortcomings too. One is the relatively low efficiency of rotary pumps and motors. Another is the weight of incompressible fluids, And a third is the amount of space needed forthe hydraulic accumulators, and their awkward form factor. None of this matters too much in, say, heavy commercial vehicles but it makes this option not so suitable for road and Mg eae ane racing cars. Thus the Fl teams dropped the idea of (MM using a hydraulic system and relied more on the [Aaa esa) ‘electrical and mechanical systems which make up [gee eae most of the KERS systems used today Thought | had a friend in wat. ‘This is used in FI racing cars asa way to aid the acceleration of the driver, immediately after [UPA Ea EMS braking - like during a turning, when the driver [MAA tena Easy has to decelerate, and again, immediately acceler- [See aS a ea ate. To maintain uniformity in the game, there are [Meo MSS a certain rules regarding how much power can be tapped from this system and how much can be [AER stored. The current rules provide for a maximum of 60kw (approx. S0bhp) to be conveyed from the [Menai system which can be used for a maximum of 6.67 (ia seconds per lap. This can all be used in one go, or | AUGMREE aman in separate intervals. Another limitation in the use of KERS is that its entire equipment set weighs [A aMA i Meg Dg around 35kg, which isa backdrop as it reduces the (Me en eed ballast weight from around 70kg to around 30 kg - (Uae Re reducing the freedom to vary the car's weight et distribution. This has been partly tackled by increasing, the weight limit of cars by 15-20kg in Pa Tey the 2010 season of FL UGI ‘The regulations also stipulate that the release must be completely under the driver's control. There is a boost button on the steering wheel which can be pressed by the driver to activate the system, Also, this technology has been developed by many companies in their own different styles. There is Magneti Marelli, which developed the electric system of using a battery/generator unit to store the energy; another is Ian Foley who developed the Flectro-mechanical system; and Fybrid which developed the ingenious mechanical system which uses a pair of flywheels to transfer the energy. ‘This technology is currently under development for domestic cars and if successful ean improve energy efficiency and fuel consumption of automobiles, contributing to a greener and brighter future for mankind,