SBIR Phase II: Integrated Hydraulic Suspension Energy Recovery System for Heavy Vehicles

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目旨在为重型公交车和其他商用车辆开发一种功能齐全的交钥匙再生半主动减震器。在典型的悬架中，特别是在重型车辆中，相当数量的能量以热量的形式损失。现有技术无法以具有成本效益的方式有效地捕获这种能量。该项目涉及液压和电子模型优化，车辆准备原型的设计，液压自适应阻尼能量收集系统的制造，实验室测试，安装和操作测试。该项目的目的是展示一个有效的，可调阻尼再生减震器的公交车上的实际效益与市政交通机构。重点将放在提高效率、半主动行驶控制和特定应用的集成要求上，以确保无缝安装和操作。工作将最终在一个完全实地试点示范和量化的再生能源（提高燃油效率）和乘坐改善效益使用再生半主动减震器。 如果能够克服低成本、可靠和有效地捕获悬浮能量的挑战，该项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将是巨大的。该技术有可能每年为大型车队节省数百万美元的燃料，并显着减少美国和国外的碳排放。有效地整合售后市场或OEM可改造的再生能源捕获系统可以为运输和汽车行业的许多新再生技术打开大门，从而促进浪费能源的显着减少。此外，该研究可能会导致在多个工业应用中实现紧凑，密封和高效的液压执行器和能量采集器的技术。这可能在其他领域中具有应用，例如离网海洋（流体动力学）能量、航空航天致动器、重型机械阻尼器、矫形器/假肢和机器人。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project proposes to develop a fully functional turnkey regenerative semi-active shock absorber for heavy-duty transit buses and other commercial vehicles. An appreciable amount of energy is lost in a typical suspension as heat, especially in heavy vehicles. Existing technologies have been unable to efficiently capture this energy in a cost-effective manner. This project entails hydraulic and electronic model optimization, design of vehicle-ready prototypes, fabrication, lab testing, installation, and operational testing of a hydraulic adaptive damping energy harvesting system. The objective of the project is to demonstrate real-world benefits of an efficient, adjustable damping regenerative shock absorber on a transit bus in operation with a municipal transit agency. Emphasis will be on efficiency improvements, semi-active ride control, and application specific integration requirements to ensure seamless installation and operation. Work will culminate in a fully fielded pilot demonstration and quantification of regenerated energy (improved fuel efficiency) and ride improvement benefits using the regenerative semi-active shock absorber. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is significant if the challenges of inexpensively, reliably, and efficiently capturing suspension energy are overcome. The technology has the potential to save millions of dollars per year in fuel for large fleets, and significantly reduce carbon emissions in the United States and abroad. Effectively incorporating an aftermarket or OEM retrofit-able regenerative energy capture system may open doors to many new regenerative technologies in the transportation and automotive sector, facilitating significant reductions in waste energy. In addition, the research may lead to enabling technology for compact, sealed, and efficient hydraulic actuators and energy harvesters across several industrial applications. This may have applications in other fields such as off grid marine (hydrokinetic) energy, aerospace actuators, heavy machinery dampers, orthotics/prosthetics, and robotics.