I know that when you apply the brakes you are using energy. Why not a system of some type that can re-cycle this energy and use it to at least get the car moving again Maybe a combination of electric and AIR PRESSURE used together. A light weight air tank doesnt weigh much, and you get plenty of pumping ability when you apply the brakes.

 

Actually, it wouldn't take any engineering to figure out. It's already been figured out.

What you are proposing is called perpetual motion machine and it cannot exist for a number of reasons.

Even if you only want to generate a small amount of energy from a generator attached to the driveline, while an electric motor is propelling the vehicle, it is pointless. The energy that is created by the generator was used by the electric motor in propelling the motor and turning the generator + the losses in heat (resistance in the wiring) and friction in the bearings of the generator. It is pointless, to say the least.

 

They are testing the hybrid hydraulic vehicles in applications like garbage trucks that drive 100 feet, stop, drive 100 feet, stop, etc etc. It is a perfect application for that type of technology.

 

Changing current and voltage is increadibly easy. You use a transformer. You can take any input current and transform it into any output current you want. The catch is however the total POWER (IE Watts) in the system remains constant. So if you take a small current and make it larger, the voltage will drop. Power = current X Voltage. Power is what does the work in the system.

 

As long as you have AC.

 

there fixxed lol

 

post deleted, I was halucinating.

explanation, I was sure I saw someone run a florescent bulb off a 9V battery once, but can't find any info on how it was done.

 

Chopper (square wave) and a transformer. They do it all the time in DC powered camp lights. The 9V battery probably didn't last long if they were using a regular 40W fluorescent.

 

just to clear things up...I dont know jack about electricity, but my far fetched idea was to take a hypothetical 1watt, and turn it into a hypothetical 10kwatts. That way theres always enough power being created to continue driving the vehicle and charge its battery.

 

Thanks Torque!


Pud,

The first thing to know about creating electricity is that it takes more energy to create it than you get out of it. If you have a 5KW/hr generator producing full power, I'll bet you a gazillion billion dollars that the engine running the gen is burning more than 5Kw/hr worth of energy.

Yes, you can do it, make an electric motor create energy. In a closed system, it will only work until the battery is dead, which will be a shorter time than if the generator was taken off the driveline. Seeing as how the generator would be a net loss on the system.

 

I seem to recal reading a Popular Mechanics many moons ago and there were some possible 'future' ideas in there. One was a flywheel or several flywheels that would get their spinning energy from the braking of the vehicle, the key was frictionless bearings. I wonder how they're doing with that... maglev and superconductors and such. I wouldn't discount the frictionless bearing idea as it appears to be in full function with the maglev trains that are operating.

 

Would be nice, wouldn't it?

In any case, that would be a "perpetuum mobile", and it's been proven for at least a century, that they are impossible.

Note, however, there are some "free" sources of energy, sun light and wind, just to name a few. Alas, they're not practical for production cars.

 

There are several problems with flywheels -- one is their weight, another is that when they spin reasonably fast, they try to preserve their momentum, and that may interfere with the vehicle's movement.

I don't know what's available on bigger trucks, but as far as I know the only type of regenerative braking available on production cars is eletric. Popular Mechanics had many interesting ideas that were not practical for one reason or another.

 

lol well thats what I was sure thinking.

 

THE SOLUTION IS TO BRING BACK THE STEAM ENGINE. Y0U CAN THEM BURN YOUR TRASH, RUN YOUR CAR AND COOK A NICE HOT BREAKFAST AT THE SAME TIME...WHY NOT? and dont say it would cause polution...