A technical seminar report on

A high-efficiency energy regenerative shock absorber using

Super capacitors
In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Bachelor of Technology
In
Mechanical Engineering
Submitted By
B.PRITISH KUMAR
(14B81A03C2)

Department of Mechanical Engineering

CVR COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

(UGC Autonomous Institution)Affiliated to JNTU Hyderabad
Vastunagar, Mangalpalli (V), Ibrahimpatnam (M),
Ranga Reddy (Dist.), Hyderabad – 501510, Telangana State

(2017-18)

1
 CVR COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
(UGC Autonomous Institution)
Affiliated to JNTU Hyderabad
Vastunagar, Mangalpalli (V), Ibrahimpatnam (M),
Ranga Reddy (Dist.), Hyderabad – 501510, Telangana State

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the seminar topic entitled A high-efficiency energy

regenerative shock absorber using super capacitors being submitted by
‘B.PRITISH KUMAR (14B81A03C2)’ for Partial fulfilment of the
requirement for the award of ‘Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical
Engineering discipline. The above seminar topic is selected from the reputed
International Journal/Conference for the purpose of understanding the state of
art of current research in the field of Mechanical Engineering.

Seminar Supervisor Head of the Department

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 CVR COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
(UGC Autonomous Institution) Affiliated to JNTU Hyderabad
Vastunagar, Mangalpalli (V), Ibrahimpatnam (M),
Ranga Reddy (Dist.), Hyderabad – 501510, Telangana State

DECLARATION

I “B.PRITISH KUMAR (14B81A03C2)” student of IV B.Tech II Sem in

Mechanical Engineering, CVR College of Engineering, Hyderabad, Telangana
State, hereby declare that the work presented in this seminar report titled “A
high-efficiency energy regenerative shock absorber using super capacitors”
is selected from a reputed International Journal/Conference for the purpose of
understanding the state of art of current research in the field of Mechanical
Engineering. Further, I certify that the presented seminar work is not under
consideration for publication in any Journal/Conference/Workshop.

B.PRITISH KUMAR
Date: 12/02/2018 (14B81A03C2)

3
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank Dr. M. Venkata Ramana, Head of Department, Mechanical Engineering
Department for giving me the opportunity to do the technical seminar.

I would like to thank Dr. G. Venkatesha Prasanna, Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department for
his guidance on the topic selection.

I would like to thank Dr. K. Kishore Kumar, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department
for his guidance on report organisation.

I would like to thank Mr. M. Kishore Kumar, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department
for his guidance on report organisation.

4
 ABSTRACT

The energy source of vehicles is changing rapidly and significantly in recent

years with the increase in renewable energy technologies especially in the case
of electric vehicles (EVs). A smart solution has emerged in which the wasted
energy in a vehicle’s shock absorber is converted to an alternative energy for
the cars themselves, and this is called an energy regenerative shock absorber.
Whereas existing regenerative shock absorbers mainly focus on the methods of
energy harvesting, there is no such regenerative shock absorber for use in
extended range EVs. In this paper, we present a novel high-efficiency energy
regenerative shock absorber using super capacitors that is applied to extend the
battery endurance of an EV. A renewable energy application scheme using
regenerative shock absorbers for range extended EVs is designed and proposed
for the first time. This system collects the wasted suspension power from the
moving vehicle by replacing the conventional shock absorbers as these energies
are normally dissipated through friction and heat. The proposed system consists
of four main components: the vibration of the suspension input module,
transmission module, generator module and power storage module. The
suspension vibration induced by the road roughness acts as the system
excitation to the energy regenerative shock absorber. The vibration is then
transmitted through the mechanical transmission

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 INDEX

 Introduction 8-10

 System design 11-17

 Modelling and analyses 18-27

 Experimental details 28

 Result and discussion 29-34

 Conclusion 35

 References 36-37

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 LIST OF FIGURE

Fig No Description Page no

1 Flowchart of the proposed energy 12
regenerative shock absorber.
2 Installation of the energy regenerative 13
shock absorber.
3 Suspension velocity between the sprung 13
and unsprung masses on a hot blacktop
road at 54 km/h.
4 Comparison between the 3D model and 14
the actual prototype.
5 Illustration of the transmission mechanism 15
module performing bidirectional to
unidirectional motion conversion.
6 The prototype of the generator with a 16
planetary gearbox.
7 Electrical rectifying circuit. 17
8 Three-phase rotary generator connected 18
to a simulated charging circuit (resistors
Re).
9 Regenerative shock absorber under 23
general input excitation.
10 Force–displacement loops based on the 26
simulation for amplitudes of 2.5 mm, 5
mm, and 7.5 mm at different frequencies.

11 Damping coefficients with different 27

external loads.
12 Bench tests of the proposed energy 30
regenerative shock absorber.
13 Force–displacement loops based on the 32
test for amplitudes of 2.5 mm, 5 mm, and

7
 7.5 mm at different frequencies.
14 Voltage of each external resistor at a 33
frequency of 2 Hz with amplitude of 7.5
mm.
15 Instantaneous electrical power in each 34
resistor at a frequency of 2 Hz with an
amplitude of 7.5 mm.

INTRODUCTION

Electric vehicles (EVs) are considered to be a clean and effective solution with respect to the
fossil fuel crisis and excessive emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2). The United States,
Europe, China and Japan have led policymakers and the automobile industry to seek
alternative fuels and to improve energy efficiency for transportation through the development
of EVs. However, the Development and application of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) has
long been obstructed by their extremely limited mile range due to limitations of materials,
capacity, reliability and consistent characteristic of the battery systems, which is referred to
as ‘‘range anxiety”. The solutions focus on battery management strategies (BMS), fast
charging and charging station site selection. These solutions could be summarized as energy
conservation methods for applications in extended range EVs. As another solution, a number
of studies focusing on energy harvesting and alternative energy sources may be a better and
more thorough solution.
The shock absorber is a key component of the vehicle
suspension and is combined with the suspension spring to filter vehicle vibration when
driving on rough roads. Typically, energy from vibration sources is dissipated through
hydraulic friction and heat in shock absorbers. To reduce the energy cost of vehicles, the
energy wasted in the shock absorbers has been investigated and characterized in several
studies. Fundamental research has examined and analyzed the feasibility of harvesting energy
from the shock absorber since the 1980s, and a regenerative shock absorber was proposed to
harvest the kinetic energy dissipated by the suspension vibration in the shock absorber,
described and analyzed how energy lost in a car shock absorber corresponding to different
vehicles’ speed and road roughness. Karnopp inspected the possibility of replacing the
hydraulic shock absorber with electromagnetic damping using permanent magnetic motor and
variable resistors. This study indicated that an electromagnetic damper is practicable though
the performance of response time is degraded. Recent studies further uncovered the potential
of energy harvesting from the shock absorber, simulated a regenerative electro-mechanic
suspension based on a quarter car model and predicted that a maximum power of 150W can
be harvested at 90 km/h, made a significant improvement in the energy harvesting and ride
comfort of regenerative vehicle suspensions over existing techniques. They presented a
regenerative shock absorber and estimated a power range of 100–400W at 100 km/h
depending on the road profile. Huang et al. proposed an analytical methodology based on
ground–tire interface analysis and ride comfort cost function for an energy-regenerative

8
suspension design. This research work aimed to achieve optimal performance and ride
comfort and derive the closed-form solutions of the performance metrics for an energy-
regenerative suspension. Among these initial theoretic studies, the shock absorber was
transformed into an energy harvesting device from an energy dissipating device. Possible
noise and heat in the conventional working progress are eliminated, which is
environmentally, friendly and lifetime extending.
Under the previously basic theory of suspension energy
harvesting, some further studies about the design and optimization of a regenerative shock
absorber have been conducted. With respect to long-term evolution and development,
regenerative shock absorbers can be classified into three categories based on their working
principles: electromagnetic, hydraulic and mechanical designs.
The first category directly uses an electromagnetic method to
generate the electric power including linear and rotary schemes. A linear electromagnetic
regenerative shock absorber converts the kinetic energy of vertical oscillations into electricity
by electromagnetic induction. The structure of linear schemes is simple and kinetic energy is
converted directly, designed and characterized the widely used linear electromagnetic shock
absorber in. Finite element and theoretical models were analytically optimized the magnetic
field in the linear electromagnetic shock absorber. Zhang et al. designed a DC motor- based
regenerative suspension, which consisted of a DC motor stator structure and an armature
winding. This scheme achieved two working modes: energy harvesting and active controlling
by combining the performances of both energy conservation and suspension maneuverability.
Hydraulic regenerative shock absorbers can harvest the vibration energy
and convert this energy into electricity by employing oscillatory motion to drive the power
generator. Many researchers have studied kinetic energy converting methods. They utilized
Commercial DC/AC motors as generators and focused on various methods to drive these
generators. A number of studies reformed the existing hydraulic shock absorber and utilized
the oil in the shock absorber to flow into a side oil circuit. They normally use the flowing
fluid to drive a hydraulic motor, which is connected in parallel to a DC/AC generator. Check
valves are also used to ensure unidirectional fluid flow and unidirectional rotation of the
hydraulic motor. In [30], the authors presented a hydraulic rectifier to integrate the shock
absorber and the energy harvesting. A maximum energy harvesting efficiency of 38.81% was
achieved in the proposed regenerative shock absorber with amplitude
of 8 mm and a frequency of 2 Hz.
The third category is mechanical design, which is developed
rapidly because of a greater efficiency and average power. In previous studies, ball screws
have been used for the transmission of regenerative shock absorbers for the sake of good
stiffness and transmitting efficiency. A hexagon linkage was used in the initial design, and a
two-leg linkage was presented in latter schemes. The algebraic linkage achieved a relatively
high mechanical efficiency between 0.71 and 0.84, which is highly constructive for the
overall efficiency. Gupta et al. compared different electromagnetic shock absorbers and
found that rotary schemes had large power compared with the linear schemes in bench tests.
The results also indicated that rack and gears have the potential to drive a larger DC/AC
motor to achieve greater power density. This model assisted the evaluation and optimization
of the rack-and-gears schemes. Rack-and-gears regenerative shock absorbers based on a
mechanical design were rapidly developed because of their high efficiency and average

9
power. Zhang et al. patented an energy regenerative shock absorber based on a rack-and-
gears transmission and a DC motor in, proposed an energy harvesting shock absorber by
assembling a rack-and-gears transmission and a DC motor. Their bench and road tests
revealed a peak power of 67.5W and an average power of 19.2W at 48 km/h. In the sequent
work, the authors in presented a retrofitted rack-and-gears transmission. With a pair of one-
way clutches, this new transmission converted the reciprocating motion of the shock absorber
into the successive and unidirectional rotation of a DC motor. This improvement resulted in
an efficiency of greater than 60%.

Although the existing approaches have partly covered the energy harvesting
problems in shock absorbers, some facets of regenerative shock absorbers still remain
unclear. There are at least two aspects that need to be improved: (1) the applications of
regenerative shock absorber are rarely studied and the storage system of generated power has
not been designed. (2) The efficiency and structural simplicity are in conflict when
considering both high efficiency and a reliably simple structure.
To tackle these aspects of existing designs, in this paper, we proposed a
high-efficiency energy regenerative shock absorber using a rack and gears transmission with
the storage of a super capacitor, which was used to extend the battery endurance and cruising
range of an EV. The use of regenerative shock absorbers in EVs is clearly structured and
described in this paper for the first time in the field, including the utilization of a super
capacitor. Additionally, the mechanical design of the shock absorbers also achieves high
efficiency and reliability, which transmits the random and bi-directional vibration into stable
and uni-directional rotation for effective power generation.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. The design of the
system is described in Section 2 including the mechanical design and the regenerative shock
absorber principle. Then, the proposed regenerative shock absorber is modeled and analyzed
in Section 3. In Section 4, the experimental detail is presented. Then, in Section 5, the results
are given and discussed to verify the validity of the proposed regenerative shock absorbers.
Finally, the conclusion is given in Section 6.

10
System Design

The general architecture of our energy regenerative shock absorber using

super capacitors, which is applied to extend the battery endurance of EVs, as shown in Fig. 1,
has four main parts: (1) suspension vibration input module, (2) transmission module, (3)
generator module and (4) power storage module. Acting as the energy input, the suspension
vibration input module is shown in the left block of Fig1. When an EV is driving on a road,
the road roughness will induce suspension vibration and there will be a linear motion between
the two cylinders of the regenerative shock absorber. Therefore, the two cylinders of the
energy regenerative shock absorber are defined as the suspension vibration input module.
The function of the transmission mechanism module is to convert the bidirectional vibration
between the two cylinders to unidirectional rotation for the input shaft of the generator, which
greatly improve reliability and increase efficiency. The generator module will be driven in
one direction to generate electricity and to convert the kinetic energy into electrical energy.
The purpose of the power storage module connected to the generator module is to store the
regenerative energy of the shock absorber in the super capacitor, which is applied to an EV to
improve the cruising mileage.

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 Fig.1. Flowchart of the proposed energy regenerative shock absorber.

2.1. Suspension vibration input module

This paper is devoted to the design of a novel energy regenerative shock absorber used to
harvest the kinetic energy caused by suspension vibration. The shock absorber is installed in
a position between the vehicle frame and the chassis, as shown in Fig. 2. The outer cylinder is
connected to the vehicle frame and the inner cylinder is fixed to the chassis. As a result, when
suspension vibration occurs, there will be a linear motion between the two cylinders of the
shock absorber. There are many factors that induce suspension vibration, such as road
roughness, acceleration and deceleration. However, research shows that road roughness is the
main source of excitation of suspension vibration. Road roughness is generally random and
can be modeled as a white-noise velocity input to the tires. In addition, the vehicle speed is
also the main factor influencing suspension vibration, as data recorded in. Road roughness
causes the vibration and the vehicle speed largely affects the performance of suspension.
Therefore, a conclusion can be drawn that the suspension velocity highly depends on the road
roughness and vehicle’s speed. Simulations were performed using the CarSim software to
obtain the suspension velocity between the sprung and unsprung masses. An A Class
hatchback vehicle and hot blacktop pavement model were selected to perform the

12
simulations. Fig. 3 shows the suspension velocity obtained in the simulation at a vehicle
speed of 54 km/h. The instantaneous peak velocity can be 77.5 mm/s, but the root mean
square (RMS) value of the velocity data was only 17.2 mm/s.

Fig.2. Installation of the energy regenerative shock absorber.

Fig.3. Suspension velocity between the sprung and unsprung masses on a hot blacktop road at 54 km/h .

2.2. Transmission mechanism module

The transmission mechanism module is the core of the novel energy regenerative shock
absorber, which is the bridge between the suspension vibration input module and the
generator module. The function of the transmission mechanism module is to convert the up-
and-down linear motion between the two cylinders to a uni-directional rotation for the input
shaft of the generator. The detailed parts of the regenerative shock absorber are shown in Fig.
4(a). The primary parts are two pairs of rack-pinions, two overrunning clutches, two bevel
gears, two cylinders and a generator. The transmission mechanism module, which
overrunning clutches, two bevel gears and a shaft, as shown in Fig. 4(b), can convert the
linear oscillation of the two cylinders to unidirectional rotation for the input shaft of the
generator. The racks are fixed in the end of the outer cylinder, and the assemblies of the
pinions, bevel gears, shaft, clutches, bearings and generator are mounted on the inner cylinder
that is enclosed by the outer cylinder. There will be a linear motion between the outer
cylinder and the inner cylinder when the suspension vibration input occurs. As a result, the
racks will move upwards and downwards along with the outer cylinder.

13
 In the design, two pinions are assembled on the shaft without being fixed,
whereas the overrunning clutches are embedded into the pinions. The overrunning clutch is
connected with the pinion using a key. Moreover, the overrunning clutches are fixed to the
shaft through a key. In the design, the CSK-PP type overrunning clutch is used, which mainly
consists of the outer race, inner race, wedge, roller, spring, end cover, etc. Due to the raceway
that is placed between the inner ring and outer ring with eccentric wedges, the clutch can
transfer torque in one direction and is overrunning in the opposite direction.
When a linear motion between the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder occurs,
both of the racks will move up and down at the same moment. The racks transmit vertical
upward and downward motions to the two pinions. The rack pinion assembly causes the two
pinion gears to rotate in opposite directions with respect to one another. The pinions are fitted
with unidirectional overrunning clutches. Under the effect of dual-overrunning clutches, one
of the
Pinions will engage the input shaft and the other pinion will disengage it. Therefore, the shaft
will always rotate in one direction regardless of whether the racks move down or up.

Fig.4. Comparison between the 3D model and the actual prototype.

Fig. 5 illustrates the working principle of the bi-directional conversion to a unidirectional

conversion mechanism. Red arrows indicate the pinion disengaged from the shaft. And green
arrows indicate the engaged pinion and other transmission, which show the transmitting route
of motion from vertical to rotational. Two bevel gears are used to transfer the rotational
motion of the shaft by 90_. In addition, the bevel gears can add a transmission ratio if
necessary. In this manner, the transmission mechanism module of the energy regenerative
shock absorber based on dual overrunning clutches can convert the linear oscillation of the
suspension vibration to a unidirectional rotation for the input shaft of the generator.

14
 Fig.5. Illustration of the transmission mechanism module performing bidirectional to unidirectional motion
conversion.

2.3. The generator module

The generator, which is one of the most important parts of the shock absorber, converts the
suspension vibration energy into electrical energy.
To improve the installation of the energy regenerative shock absorber, the
generator should have a small volume and a light weight. To improve the energy harvesting
efficiency, the rotor inertia of the generator should be low and the copper loss should be
small. Therefore, it is most suitable to select the brushless DC motor as the energy harvesting
generator. Brushless DC motor can be utilized as generator directly, the similarity and
difference between its usage of motor and generator is analyzed in Ref.
In this prototype, a brushless DC motor (model 57BLDC125) is selected as a
generator. The planetary gearbox with a 1:30 transmission ratio is used to magnify the
motion. The prototype of the generator with a planetary gearbox is shown in Fig. 6, and the
main parameters of the generator are shown in Table 1.

15
 Fig.6. The prototype of the generator with a planetary gearbox.

Table 1
The parameters of the 57BLDC125 motor.

Parameter Value

Rated voltage 24 V
Rated speed 3000 rpm
Rated torque 0.4 N m
Internal inductance 0.55 mH
Rotor inertia 0.4 kg cm2
Max. Permissible speed 9000 rpm
Rated power 125W
Rated current 5.5 A
Internal resistor 0.45 X
Gearbox inertia 0.16 kg cm2
Back electromotive voltage constant 0.0458 V s/rad
Gearing ratio of the planetary gearbox 1:30

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2.4. The power storage module

The frequency and amplitude of suspension vibration depends highly on the road roughness
and the vehicle’s speed. When these condition changes rapidly, the rotating speed of the
generator changes drastically, so that the current generated becomes unstable. A brushless
DC motor was used as the generator in this regenerative shock absorber, and the brushless
generator will generate three- phase alternating current. Therefore, the current produced by
the generator is unconscious and unsteady. This current is neither suitable for electrical loads
nor battery charging before the current rectifier and voltage regulator. To rectify the three
phase alternating current into a pulse-like current, an electrical rectifying circuit was
designed, as shown in Fig. 7(a). The super capacitor could be rapidly charged and had a high
power density and is suitable for the rapid storage of a pulse-like current, so a super capacitor
was selected to store the electric energy. The voltage regulator was built using stabilivolt to
achieve better power stability for loads. Fig7(b) shows the circuit board of the proposed
Circuit.

Fig.7. Electrical rectifying circuit.

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18
3. Modeling and analysis

The energy regenerative shock absorber has several parts, such as the
generator, planetary gearbox, bevel gear, and rack pinion. The objective of this session is to
investigate the influence of these components and the parameters on the dynamics of the
system. The damper in the shock absorbers is analyzed in this section and is influenced by
friction damping between meshing gears and electromagnetic damping in the motor. Then, a
dynamic analysis was also conducted based on the damper analysis to determine out the
properties of the regenerative shock absorbers and the ride comfort, which is important to
consider when determining whether the regenerative shock absorbers are able to replace the
conventional shock absorbers.

3.1. Rotary damping analysis of the generator connected to a charging circuit

The main function of a shock absorber in a suspension system is to provide a damping

force to the system characterized by the linear damping coefficient. The source of linear
damping provided by the proposed regenerative shock absorber is the rotary damping
provided by the generator connected to a charging circuit. A brushless DC motor was used as
a generator in this regenerative shock absorber, and the brushless generator will generate a
three-phase alternating current. The generator with a three phase charging circuit provides
rotary damping and stores energy in super capacitor. Because the generator has three phases,
the charging circuit was modeled as three controllable external resistors. The electric circuit
used in the dynamic modeling of the system is shown in Fig. 8.

Fig.8. Three-phase rotary generator connected to a simulated charging circuit (resistors Re).

19
20
 The generated voltages for a brushless generator are approximately an AC sinusoidal
three-phase voltage, so the induced voltage of the generator in each phase can be written as
the following:
e1= Emsin(ωet)
e2 = Emsin(ωet -120) (1)
e3 = Emsin(ωet +120)
Where en (n = 1,2,3) is the induced voltage of the generator in each phase, and Em and ωe are
the amplitude and angular frequency of the generator induced voltage, respectively. The total
instantaneous electrical power PE, which includes the part captured in the charging circuit
Pcaptured and the part lost in the internal resistance Plost of the generator, can be expressed as
the following:
𝑒2 𝑒2 𝑒2
PE = Pcaptured + Plost + 1 + 2 + 3 (2)
𝑅𝑒+𝑅𝑖 𝑅𝑒+𝑅𝑖 𝑅𝑒+𝑅𝑖

Where Ri is the internal resistance of each phase of the generator, and Re is the controllable
external resistor.
Substituting 1 into 2, the equation can be simplified to the following:

2
1.5×𝐸𝑚
PE = (3)
𝑅𝑒+𝑅𝑖

The relationship between the generator shaft rotary speed xg and amplitude of
the induced voltage Em is given by

E m = ke . ω g (4)

Where ke is the back electromotive voltage constant. Substituting 4 into 3 results in

1.5×ke2 .ωg2
PE= (5)
𝑅𝑒+𝑅𝑖

The relationship between the generator shaft rotary speed xg and the
electromagnetic torque TE applied to the shaft is the following:

TE =CR .ωg (6)

where CR is the rotary damping coefficient of the generator connected to the charging circuit.
Considering the power balance equation between the mechanical domain and the electrical
domain, we can obtain the following equation:

PE = TE .ωg (7)

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Substituting 6 into 7 results in the following:

PE= CR.ω2g (8)

By comparing Eqs.7 and 8, the following expression can be obtained:

1.5×𝑘𝑒2
CR = (9)
𝑅𝑒+𝑅𝑖

Eq. 9 describes the rotary damping coefficient of a brushless generator connected to charging
circuit based on the parameters of the generator (ke; Ri) and the charging circuit (Re).

3.2. The linear damping coefficient provided by the regenerative shock absorber

To obtain the linear damping coefficient CL provided by the regenerative shock

absorber, the regenerative shock absorber is excited by displacement x, as shown in Fig. 9.
The input power to the shock absorber is given by

Pinput =CL .x2 (10)

Where x is the excitation speed. The input power includes two parts. The term Pf is the
power loss due to friction in the rack pinion, bevel gear, planetary gearbox and generator; and
the term PE is the generator power connected to the charging circuit. Therefore,

Pinput = Pf+PE (11)

(12)

Where ηrp is the efficiency of the rack pinion, ηb is the efficiency of the bevel gear, ηpg is the
efficiency of the planetary gearbox and ηg is the efficiency of the generator. Substituting 8
and 10 into 12 results in

(13)

22
The rack pinion transforms linear motion into rotational motion according to the following
relationship:

Where ωp is the rotary speed of the pinion, r is the pinion radius, and i is the gear ratio of the
planetary gearbox. Therefore, the linear damping coefficient CL provided by the regenerative
shock absorber can be written as the following:

3.3. The dynamics of the regenerative shock absorber under general input excitation

In this section, the dynamics of the proposed regenerative shock absorber under
general input excitation are presented, as shown in Fig. 9. Let us define the exciting force F,
and using the Lagrangian formulation, the equation of motion for the system is obtained as
follows:

(17)

Where x is the excitation displacement, and T and D are the energies due to kinetic and
damping effects, respectively. The term T can be written as the following:

Where mc and mr are the mass of the outer cylinder and the rack, respectively; and Jp, Js, Jb,
Jpg, Jg are the inertia of the pinion, shaft, bevel gear, planetary gearbox, generator,
respectively.
Substituting 14, 15 into 18 and the expression can be simplified as follows:

23
 (19)

The damping effect D is given by

(20)
Therefore, substituting 19 and 20 in 17 leads to

(21)

Therefore, the equivalent mass of the energy regenerative shock absorber can be
obtained as the following:

(22)

According to the definition of the shock absorber damping force, the damping force
Fd can be written as the following:

3.4. Power analysis

24
 The objective of this section is to investigate the influence of the system parameters
on the power output and efficiency of the system. By defining the mechanical efficiency of
the energy regenerative shock absorber as the following:

(24)

Fig.9. Regenerative shock absorber under general input excitation.

and by substituting 24 into 12, we obtain

25
 (25)

The electrical power PE, which includes the part captured in the charging circuit Pcaptured and
the part lost in the internal resistance Plost of the generator, can be expressed as follows:

(26)

Whereas, the part captured in the charging circuit Pcaptured is given by

(27)

Therefore, the electrical efficiency of the energy regenerative shock absorber is

obtained as follows:

(28)

Considering the mechanical efficiency and the electrical efficiency, the total
efficiency of the regenerative shock absorber is obtained as follows:

(29)

26
3.5. System simulation

One method of evaluating the functionality of a shock absorber to excite it using

a sinusoidal displacement and obtain the force– displacement loops. To evaluate the
performance of the system, a prototype regenerative shock absorber was manufactured, as
shown in Fig. 4. The shock absorber primarily includes two pairs of rack-gears, two
overrunning clutches, two bevel gears, two cylinders and a generator. Table 2 shows the
parameters of this prototype. The system simulation of the novel energy regenerative shock
absorber under sinusoidal vibration was introduced in Sections 3.5, the prototype was
characterized using bench tests and a sinusoidal displacement to obtain the force
displacement loops. The mechanical efficiency of the energy regenerative shock absorber was
obtained by bench tests.
According to Eq.23, the damping coefficient provided by the shock absorber
can be obtained. All of the parameters in this equation can be obtained by using Table 2
except for the mechanical efficiency of the system, which was obtained through
measurements. The mechanical efficiency of the shock absorber is comprised of the
mechanical efficiency of the rack pinion, the bevel gear, the planetary gearbox and the
generator. However, to observe the performance of the shock absorber under Sinusoidal
vibration simulation, we estimate the mechanical efficiency of the rack pinion ηrp=0.97, the
bevel gear ηb= 0.96, the planetary gearbox ηpg= 0:92 and the generator ηg= 0.9. Therefore,
the mechanical efficiency of the shock absorber is estimated be equal to 0.771. Next, three
external resistors of Re= 3X were connected to the rotary machine, as shown in Fig. 8.
According to Eq. (16), these external resistors correspond to a linear damping

Table 2
The parameters of the energy regenerative shock absorber.

27
Coefficient of CL=1637.2 Ns/m, which is close to the damping coefficient of a typical
passenger car.
Based on the modeling and analysis of the novel energy regenerative shock
absorber, the system simulation subject to sinusoidal vibration can be performed using
MATLAB. The damping characteristic of the energy regenerative shock absorber is the first
concern.
Fig. 10 shows the force–displacement loop of the shock absorber under different
vibrational input. This loop shows if the regenerative shock absorbers meet the demand of
conventional shock absorbers, especially in damping and elasticity. Fig. 10 shows that the
orientation of the loop is not horizontal, and the negative slope is due to the effect of mass
inertias, as indicated by Eq.19. Therefore, under the premise of satisfying performance, the
rotor inertia of the generator selected should be as small as possible.
Eq.16 indicates that the linear damping coefficient of the energy regenerative
shock absorber depends on the electrical loads given that the mechanical efficiency is
constant. The simulation of the linear damping coefficient with different external loads is
shown in Fig. 11.
Based on the simulation results, the linear damping coefficient of the shock
absorber can be controlled by changing the external loads. Moreover, according to Eq.16,
there are various ways to change the damping coefficient of the energy regenerative shock
absorber. Therefore, the energy regenerative shock absorber designed can be applied to
different types of vehicles.

28
Fig.10. Force–displacement loops based on the simulation for amplitudes of 2.5 mm, 5 mm, and 7.5 mm at
different frequencies.

29
Fig.11. Damping coefficients with different external loads.

30
4. Experimental details

The experimental setup for the bench test of the energy regenerative shock absorber is shown
in Fig. 12. The bench tests were conducted on a Bionix 858 material testing system from
Mechanical Testing and Sensing (MTS), shown as Fig. 12(a). The prototype of regenerative
shock absorbers is manufactured for the test in Fig. 12(b) and (g). A UTD2102CEX-EDU
digital oscilloscope from UNI-T was used to record the voltage signal from the generator.
Force and displacement signals were measured using a displacement sensor and a load cell
(integrated in the Bionix 858 MTS testing system as shown in Fig. 12(c)). Due to the limited
height, the greatest amplitude of excitation tested in the prototype was 7.5 mm. Because the
suspension vibration was over a broad spectrum, which was primarily 1–10 Hz, we also
investigated the performance at different frequencies from 1 to 2.5 Hz. Therefore, the
prototype was tested with sinusoidal displacement inputs for different amplitudes and
frequencies in the above ranges. Next, three external resistors of Re=3X were connected to
the generator, as shown in Fig. 12(e). The signal of generated power is recorded in a digital
oscilloscope, as shown in Fig. 12(f) and (h).

31
5. Results and discussion

For sake of convenient comparison, the hydraulic servo generated

the sinusoidal, and the displacement function can be written as follows:

(30)

Where x is the sinusoidal displacement inputs, A and x are the amplitude and angular
frequency of the sinusoidal vibration, respectively.
Fig. 13 shows the force–displacement loops for different amplitudes and frequencies
when a sinusoidal vibration was used. The area of each loop represents the mechanical work
input of the shock absorber DW in one cycle. Therefore, the linear damping coefficient can
be calculated as follows:

(31)

Using 31 for the various loops shown in Fig. 13, the experimental average linear
damping coefficient is obtained as CLE=1511.8 Ns/m, which is very closed to the calculated
linear damping coefficient of CL=1637.2 N s/m.
It can be observed from Fig. 13 that the loops are not horizontal. By increasing the
excitation frequency, the negative slope of the loops increases, which matches with the
results of simulation. The existence of this slope is due to the mass and the inertia of the
moving parts, as predicted by Eq.23.
To evaluate the mechanical efficiency of the shock absorber experimentally, we first
defined the total efficiency of the system as follows:

(32)
32
Where Pout(ave) is the average of output electrical power and Pinput(ave) is the average input
mechanical power over one cycle.
According to Eq.29, the mechanical efficiency of the shock absorber is given by

(33)

In addition, referring to Eq.28, the electrical efficiency of the shock absorber is obtained as
ηe=0.87.
The area of each force–displacement loop is the input mechanical work ΔW over one
cycle; hence, the average of the input mechanical power over one cycle is given by

(34)

33
 Fig.12. Bench tests of the proposed energy regenerative shock absorber.

Where T is the period of sinusoidal excitation. Fig. 13 shows the force–displacement loop at
different amplitudes and frequencies. Utilizing Eq.34 in Fig. 13, the input mechanical power
of different amplitudes and frequencies are shown in Table 3. The instantaneous electrical
power in each external resistor is calculated based on the recorded voltage and the resistor
value as follows:

(35)

Where V is the instant voltage of each external resistor. Then the average of the output
electrical power from the three external resistors is given by

(36)

34
Fig.13. Force–displacement loops based on the test for amplitudes of 2.5 mm, 5 mm, and 7.5 mm at different
frequencies.

Table 3
The input mechanical power of different amplitudes and frequencies.

35
Fig 14and 15 show the instantaneous voltage and electrical power of each external resistor at
a frequency of 2 Hz with an amplitude of 7.5 mm, respectively.
Therefore, the average of the output electrical power at different amplitudes and
frequencies are shown in Table 4.
Referring to Tables 3 and 4, the total efficiency of the energy regenerative shock
absorber is obtained. Table 5 shows the simulation results of output electrical power. The
average output power of simulation is 0.873W which is 21.98% less than the average
experimental result of 1.119 W. The difference of internal resistance between simulation and
prototype’s generator is largely corresponding to the power difference.
Furthermore, the electrical efficiency of the shock absorber is obtained as η e= 0.87, so
we can obtain the mechanical efficiency of the shock absorber, as shown in Fig. 16. The
mechanical efficiencies range from 22.51% to 54.98% and increase with an increase in the
frequency at the same amplitude. Moreover, larger amplitude will result in a greater
mechanical efficiency under the same frequency. The average value of the mechanical
efficiency is 44.24%. As shown in Fig 17, the regenerative shock absorbers are installed in
the EVs when the vehicles are driving on roads. The vibration of vehicles actuates the
regenerative shock absorbers, which are collecting the dissipated energy of vibration and
store this energy in the super capacitor. The storage system recharges the battery by the super
capacitor when the vehicles are simultaneously consuming energy from the battery.

Fig.14. Voltage of each external resistor at a frequency of 2 Hz with amplitude of 7.5 mm.

Table 4
The output electrical power of different amplitudes and frequencies.

36
 Table 5
Simulation of output electrical power of different amplitudes and
frequencies.

Fig. 15. Instantaneous electrical power in each resistor at a frequency of 2 Hz with an

amplitude of 7.5 mm.

37
6. Conclusion

An energy regenerative shock absorber is able to harvest the kinetic energy from the
vehicle suspension vibration. This paper presented the design, modeling, simulation and test
of a novel energy regenerative shock absorber based on dual-overrunning clutches for
electrical vehicles. The shock absorber consists of four main components: the suspension
vibration input module, the transmission module, the generator module and the power storage
module. The suspension vibration input module is used to obtain a relative linear motion, and
the function of the transmission mechanism module is to convert the up-and-down linear
motion of the suspension vibration to a unidirectional rotation for the input shaft of the
generator. The generator will be driven in one direction to generate electricity and convert the
kinetic energy into electrical energy. The power storage module is used to store the power in
the super capacitor and will be used by the EV to improve the cruising mileage.
A prototype shock absorber was manufactured, and its performance was evaluated
on a bench-test subject to sinusoidal displacement. The results demonstrate that the energy
regenerative shock absorber can provide damping for a typical passenger car. Furthermore,
vibration energy can be regenerated with a measure average mechanical efficiency of
44.24%. An average power of 4.302W was attained by this prototype shock absorber at a
vibration input of 2.5 Hz and an amplitude of 7.5 mm. The prototype can achieve 54.98%
efficiency at a frequency of 2.5 Hz and an amplitude of 7.5 mm. In addition, the energy
regenerative shock absorber can provide variable damping coefficients by changing the
external loads, i.e., this novel shock absorber can be applied to different types of vehicles.

38
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