Posted: July 30, 2008 Post Expires: January 30, 2009
Cool Earth Engineering
We are working with a KERS system that has been tested and will be used in Formula 1. Basically the system captures energy lost when braking ultimately leading to a 30% petrol saving. One of our partners in the project is SANTACO the national taxi association which runs 120,000 cars all of which would be fitted with this fuel-saving technology. The opportunity to roll out the technology into all emerging markets is enormous due to the potential to retro-fit the unit.
An abbreviated explanation fo the technology:
KERS stands for "Kinetic Energy Recovery System". Kinetic energy is the energy of "motion". When a vehicle is moving forward it has kinetic energy. To stop the vehicle a braking force must be applied. This is conventionally done by friction brakes that create wasted heat with the kinetic energy dissipated.
The KERS uses the braking energy to speed up a high speed flywheel instead of heating the brakes. In this way the energy is not lost to heat and can be re-used by using the speeded up flywheel to accelerate the vehicle up to speed again. In simple terms the forward energy of motion is exchanged between the flywheel and the vehicle.
Instead of boosting performance as it does in Formula 1 it is employed to save fuel. The flywheel is about 250mm diameter 250mm long and rotates at up to 60,000 rev/min. It is manufactured from carbon fibre.
Energy stored in a flywheel is proportional to the square of the speed. This is why a low weight, high strength, high speed flywheel is best.
The flywheel transmits its rotational energy to the taxi's prop shaft through a variable ratio transmission called a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT). This CVT has been developed by UK Listed company Torotrak www.torotrak.com <http://www.torotrak.com/>
The advantages the Flybrid KERS has over a hybrid chemical battery KERS is that it is more cost effective and lasts forever. It is significantly more cost effective because it drives mechanically through the CVT without the need for expensive copper motor and controller wiring and does not need expensive chemical batteries.
It lasts longer because it can be discharged and recharged an infinite number times while a chemical battery can only be discharged and recharged around 1500 times before it is dead. Mini bus taxis have been measured in Cape Town to stop and restart up to 100 times/hour. A chemical battery KERS would only last, therefore, for 15 hours of driving in this application.
Contact Information:
Marc Immerman Marketing Director/Fundraising Cool Earth Engineering Modder House, 1 High Rd Moddercrest Office Park Johannesburg, Gauteng 1609 South Africa 0027 82 9034607
