Idea Release: vehicle efficiency

[arkain101]

Instead of pursuing a patent and trying to keep these ideas secret I've decided for the cause of good, whatsoever may emerge, to release them for discussion and development.

 

I have posted a previous thread that was the patent summery paper I sent to an invention corperation. Which can be found here:

http://hypography.com/forums/strange-claims-forum/8571-efficient-vehicle-design.html?highlight=vehicle

 

 

In this system is a series of concepts. I will begin with what I see and hope as the most effective and useful concept: "Air Flow Energy Generation"

 

Soon to be posted..

 

Images:

 

http://hypography.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=866&d=1165449024

[arkain101]

Air Flow Energy Generation

 

This part of the system uses the bernoulli effect to transform airflow into energy that the vehicle can use or store for prepullsion.

 

bernoulli effect:

The attatched image is linked from http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/fluids/imgflu/venturi.gif and is fully their work.

 

The concept is to gather the moving airflow via a funnel like tube at the front of the vehicle and transfer this airflow to a specially designed low pressure zone on the outside of the vehicle. Inside the tube a specially designed turbine is placed to transform the moving air into electric energy (this can be placed in the bottom of the vehicle in a horizontal arrangement as to take up no significant space).

 

Both the sides and the top of the vehicle can be designed or modified to generate an efficient low pressure area much like an airplane wing.

 

 

This is the zone where the airflow tube exits the car and returns back into the passing air stream.

 

The oncoming air creates a high pressure and fast moving airflow that enters into the tube and thus turns the turbine. But at the same time the low pressure zone will create a vacuum effect that in turn "sucks" the air out of the tube increasing the performance of the airflow system and also reducing the effects of drag.

 

This can be arranged in such a way as to prevent any excess drag that already exists on the vehicle. In effect it creates energy without slowing the vehicle down.

 

I have built and tested some concept designs using tubing, fan blades, and blowers and the results were impressive. The fan placed inside the tubing spun much faster than I expected.

 

I have not yet taken any measurements or recorded any data to get an idea on the numbers. This is part of the reason why I am sharing this. I plan to acquire the proper equipment to perform some legitimate experiments and record some useful data.

 

The included image illustrates the overall concept.

[arkain101]

Suspension Energy Generation

 

The suspension in a vehicle supports an impressive amount of weight. When a vehicle hits a bump, dip, or even the gas or breaks the suspension compresses, and extends.

 

 

The way a shock is designed today fluid passes through small holes in a piston that is also in a cylinder. This slows the movement of the shock and as such dampens the movement of the overall vehicle for a more comfortable ride and for traction related reasons.

 

This action can be used to generate energy. The concept is to design a shock that pumps fluid out of the cylinder via a hose and through a pump then back into the shock cylinder. Connected to the pump is a generator that creates energy for the car to use. The restriction of the pump and generator act as the damper so that the shock still performs like a shock is meant to.

 

The forces involved are significant. In particular driving conditions the generator would be capable to rotate at very high revolutions per minute and create a substantial amount of electric energy.

 

A system can be designed so that the dual direction of the fluid flow can be used to turn the generator (which can be the same one as the one used for the airflow) in the same direction and each of the four shocks that are on a vehicle can turn the generator, or depending on the design, add to the energy generation of the already turning generator.

 

 

 

 

[arkain101]

Exhaust Flow/Pressure Energy Generation

 

 

This concept is simple and is already in development by some companies.

 

Some vehicles use the exhaust flow to power a turbo. It takes the flow of the exhaust and uses that to pump a positive pressure airflow into the engine which drastically increases the engines power.

 

This concept simply transforms the exhaust flow into electricity.

[arkain101]

Exhaust Heat Energy Generation

 

I will allow this webpage to do the explaining.

 

I just discovered this had already been developed. All the better.

 

Green Steam Energy

[arkain101]

Centrifugal Energy Generation

 

There are several things on a vehicle that rotate at a high speed. The engine and the tires are some of these things.

 

I will display the workings of a snowmobile clutch to help explain this idea.

 

A snowmobile clutch can exert a tremendous squishing force. This occurs from weights being thrown outwards as the clutch assembly rotates. As the weights move outwards a system of slides and rollers causes the clutch to squish closed.

 

This idea would be used in a similar way to use this squishing force to pump fluid or something in a similar manner at a high pressure to create energy for the car to use.

 

 

[chilehed]

Too much complexity, and cost for too little power, plus significant engineering hurdles regarding durability. Each has its own mix of issues.

[alexander]

lol on the snowmobile clutch....

 

I wouldn't call it unreliable, put it this way, it's not the first thing that goes in snowmobiles :doh:

 

Too complex, not really, i've taken the clutch assemblies apart on a few occasions, in fact it's the same in snow mobiles and automatic ATVs, but it's by far not the most efficient device, nor would it prove too too useful in creating pumping force to power a pump of any sort, but it can be used to regenerate power in another manner. A similar system attached to each drive shaft of the vehicle (assuming you have 2wd), could help with recovering energy and charge batteries. a light weight fly wheel with a clutch system that will engage as the car starts moving and will rotate a small generator shaft with a set of high-powered permanent magnets (your basic generator but a rather miniaturized version). The weight will be actually a not-so-bad factor in this equation, because the more weight you give that fly-wheel rotor/stator assembly, will to some extent give you better power regeneration after you stop, this way the car, like hybrids which i think use this idea already, will give you a better gas mileage in stop and go traffic vs high-way use, but will non-the-less regenerate power that is otherwise wasted.

 

I also like that air turbine for exhaust, although i don't know what the cost of that power recovery is, because a turbine will create more back pressure which may lead to some unwanted side effects (such as engine not starting), although if the engine is engineered to have that back pressure, i dunno...

 

And finally on the shocks power generation. Yes, it is an interesting concept, yes, it is something that is yet to be used, yes it can work, but, it would make for a fairly complex design of a couple of elements. First of all, the blades that would ratate when the fluid passes over them in either direction, not saying it's a very hard design concept, however it is something that is not used on most hydro power generation platforms.... Second is a system that will control the exact amount of fluid being passed through this turbine, "why?" you may ask? well, with introduction of a turbine, the way that sock works, will be a little different, for example, a shock absorber is designed such that as the shock compresses, the dampening remains constant (assuming we are discussing car shocks, not bike shocks with built in springs). if you have a rotating element that can create suction, then when a car hits the bump, while the rotors spool up, the car's shocks will remain stiffer, then when the rotors spool, the shock will operate normally, and then finally when the shock reaches either the top or the bottom travel point, and reverses fluid flow direction, there is still centripetal force being produced by a turning turbine which will now contribute to a suction force that will be aiding the action of the piston for a brief moment (i will comment on blade design later)...

 

Another thought on this shock power regeneration valve. You probably can not directly build in the turbine into the flow control valve, because the oil in shocks can get quite very hot (that is why you see the overflow/clooling cylinder on those shocks in the picture, exists on shocks designed for heavy use, such as racing shocks, shocks for heavy or luxury cars, etc). When oil gets really hot, it has a tendency to become flammable (not all oils, so i am not listing this as a definite draw back from making a simpler design), and one thing you don't want is power generator sparking... and another reason for having to isolate the turbine and the generator is that shock fluid, over time, builds up shavings and miniature particles of metal from the surrounding shock material, and that is probably another thing you don't want stuck in your generator :zip: Lastly i wanted to mention that whoever makes this, will need to be quite well versed in thermodynamics, because the design of a blade with decent efficiency (even as high as 40-60%) that will spin at high frequencies, be bydirectional and rotate in the same direction whether the flow is going over the top or the bottom of the blade.

 

Lastly like i said, you will probably have to isolate the turbine from the generator, now in its simplest form, you have a shaft that connects the two, parts, that shaft will have to survive some hefty twisting with turbine constantly speeding up and slowing down, more so speeding up though. And lastly, lastly, this will introduce spinning parts into the shock, making them more complex and heavier (to some extent), which will introduce it's own problems (AKA more things that can break, and cost, as if shocks aren't expensive as they are)

[arkain101]

The pictures are not the literal design concepts. Rather, I included pictures to add to the written explanation.

 

The point of these devices is to engineer them such that they are; 1) non complex, 2)light weight, 3)durable, 4)usefully effective.

 

Assume for a moment that you design a vehicle that runs at an 80% efficiency level at highway speed and level road, using a high quality fuel cell.

 

Now, begin to add some additional energy creating devices that each add 5% efficiency.

 

a)air flow energy 5%

b)solar cell energy 5%

c)regenerative breaks 5%

d)centrifugal force energy 2%

 

adding these to the 80%: 5 + 5 + 5 + 2 = 17

17 + 80 = 97% efficiency on flat level ground.

 

With rough estimates, one could say that it would have over 100% efficiency on downhill grades. This excess energy that can be put to use in uphill grades, or other situations.

 

 

 

The point being is that fuel mileage, or vehicle range, can be significantly increased when additional reproduction devices are included into the system operation.

[Moontanman]

These concepts would not result in a net increase in energy. Every one of them uses an increase in friction to generate energy, this will not result in a net increase in energy. You have to use energy that is being wasted to recover energy. Exhaust gasses being used to generate energy will result in back pressure in the engine and decrease in efficiency of the engine.

 

using air flow means increasing the drag coefficient of the surface the air is going across not net gain here either.

 

 

regenerative brakes are already being used in commercially produced autos.

 

I'm not sure about the shocks or the clutch but I suspect the extra weight or friction would in some ways negate any real net increase.

[alexander]

your gain calculations are wrong too, because even if any of those things worked its not a simple addition of total efficiency, 5% gain does not mean that you go from 80 to 85% total efficiency, 5% gain means that you gained 5% more efficiency then you had. Sound the same? They are not the same!

80%+5% of total of 100% = 85% - your math

80%+5% gain from 80% = 84% - correct math

[alexander]

here's something else to ponder. Any time you increase the complexity of a mechanical system, you sacrifice efficiency. If you were to put a 2lb generator on 4 shocks in your car, you could generate, say 5 watts of power, but now your car has to propell 8lb more, and your shocks, having more moving parts, are more prone to breaking. 5watts will be able to power a small speaker, and 5watts is an optimistic way of looking at the power one can generate.

 

Exhaust, ok interesting idea, you can actually implement it right, you would have to redesign the headers and your cat to compensate for the amount of back pressure your turbine will create, by putting in bigger pipe, you will be able to not sacrifice backpressure part of this problem. You can do this on a small tdi, and build a generator into a ceramic turbo, this is probably your ideal solution, one that ads minimal weight for max bang for the mod. this may be the more probable of the mods one may come up with (if this was made from the ground up, for example with rare earth magnets built into the ceramic blades and thin wire windings on the outside of the turbo) mind you this will not be so as good in a gasoline engine, turbos decrease their efficiency, so i have come to believe... oh adding weight to the blades may cause the turbo to be a bit more latent, but it will still be lighter then old-style turbos :)

[alexander]

oh lastly in terms of airflow energy generator, that would be a no, there is no such thing as free energy, if you measure it, and add a v3 at the exhaust end of that machine, v1 be approximately equal to v3...

[arkain101]

The idea is not to capture free energy. It is to capture wasted energy. The shape of a wing creates lift, a vertical force. Even if your car experiences 100lbs of vertical lift, it does not fly, but that is a force that can be put to use through a unique air pressure engine design.

 

For example, on could produce a windmill with this concept. It takes air flow, transfers it through a venturi and accelerates the air, this turns the windmill faster and with more force. Next, the exit path of the airflow is designed to be substantially a lower pressure, creating a vacuum effect to further increase the pressure exterted on the turbine.

 

In the design of a car, one must try to engineer the concept to reduce drag as much as possible to equal or less than the typical drag of the car.

[Dutchdivco]

Overall, i have to agree with the othe rrespondents.Regarding the first idea, KISS> I am re-constructing my vehicle, to have a tunnel, 16' hx 34" w, running from the firewall to the back.As a part of this, it will have a complete bellypan.The back of the truck is basically and aerodynamically, a brick.This means it will have a large area of negative pressure, or drag, behind it.At the least, my tunnel will carry positive presure air from the front, to the back, greatly reducing drag. POSSIBLY, since the positive pressure air increases proportional to speed, and there is a practical limit to how much air can flow thru the tunnel, and Drag increases at a disproportional rate to speed, I could get a bonus. That is, Drag at 40 mph is not twice what it is at 20mph. its about 3-31/2 times. And it continues to increase at a greater rate than the speed, as you increase.I'm hoping, perhaps, that at some speed, the negative pressure 'bubble', or zone, will actually begin to move up the duct, in effect, giving me a much needed kick in the butt! In researching this, I do see that formula 1 racecars regularly incorporate such a tunnel in there designs. I also see that after someone put a fan in the tunnel, they outlawed putting any kind of mechanical device in there, which leads me to think it must have given an advantage. I find this hopeful.My truck is not anything like a formulae 1 race car, aerodynamiclaay. its about the opposite. As I say, I'm hoping, maybe, thats a good thing. I'll have a significant sized negative pressure zone, with a, I hope, significant amount of negative pressure. Beyond that, we'll see.Oh, by the way, putting a tunnel down the middle of the average car or truck, while do-able, is problematic in terms of passenger compartment.My truck is unusual in that the space is already there, i just have to re-work things a little. Wish me luck, should have it back together w/in 6 mos., I hope.Jim

[Flying Binghi]

Dutchdivco, have you ridden a motorbike on the road and overtaken a large truck ?

[Dutchdivco]

And,.....your point?