Regenerative Suspension System for Electric Vehicles

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The global transition from internal combustion engine to electric drive vehicles is well on its way, and is inevitable. According to a document by the Electric Vehicle Technology Roadmap (evTRM) for Canada [1], "by 2018, there will be at least 500,000 highway-capable plug-in electric-drive vehicles on Canadian roads." This strategic vision for highway-capable battery-electric, plug-in and other hybrid-electric vehicles has identified many challenges and opportunities for Canadian universities, industry and government to meet this goal. While Canada, with abundance of renewable electric power, is in a race with other countries towards adopting electric cars, according to evTRM, it has not maintained a competitive advantage in research and commercialization. United States, European community and Asian countries have overtaken Canada in setting aggressive goals and investments to achieve them-in getting electric vehicles on the road and establishment of a new auto industry. In order to gain a competitive advantage in this area, a coordinate effort is required that starts from academic research, moving all the way to successful commercialization to realize the full benefits of this growing industry.*Global R&D efforts focusing on enhancing the performance of electric drive vehicles have identified battery performance as the key bottleneck, hindering the complete or immediate embracement of this technology. Today's battery packs are expensive and are only able to store a relatively low amount of energy. In the current setting, an electric car does not meet the North American long haul daily commute demands, and this, in the PI's opinion, has been the key reason for demise of GM's Chevrolet Volt. GM's current effort is to redesign and launch this vehicle in 2015-2016 [2].*While research effort into improving battery power is in full gear through the development of new materials, the energy harvesting technology can play a crucial role in extending battery power and vehicle operational range. The key energy harvesting technology currently exploited is based on regenerative braking. Although this technology makes more sense for city driving where brakes are more often used, regenerative brakes are less effective in charging the battery during steady-state highway operation-the main portion of an average North American daily commute.*My vision for the current proposal is to develop - through a viable research program - a unique and innovative energy harvesting technology by efficiently capturing the vibratory energy in the suspension system that otherwise is wasted. The system is envisaged to harvest sufficient power to charge a battery while being also used as an actuator for active ride, handling and stability control when necessary. My particular interest is to arrive at a hardware/software intelligent system to harvest energy from the suspension during long haul (low-amplitude high-acceleration) highway driving. *The proposed research will utilize my mechatronic research expertise in sensors and actuators, as well as my well established theoretical background in nonlinear dynamics and control systems, to arrive at a bandwidth enhanced regenerative suspension system. The proposed research program will include various interconnected projects that support HQPs and ultimately assist the Canadian start-up companies in this area (three in Vancouver alone), with good ideas but limited resources. The ideas discussed herein represent original and innovative concepts that will ultimately lead to groundbreaking advances. The outcome of this five year research program is a pre-commercialization prototype suspension system that efficiently switches between energy generation and control modes.