Small electric generator roller brake pads

[jeepsr4ever]

We use alot of energy in our braking. Why not take the energy out of the braking and store it in a battery? What if we could take smaller high speed rollers that can generate electricity and use them in place of brakes? We could use the electrical power to make a gas powered engine more efficient. I believe this is how Diesel-Electric locomotives operate. I wonder if this could be done for everyday drivers.

[Ibby]

It could, but the retrofitting to a vehicle without such a system might be tricky. It's called "regenerative braking". I bought a pair of those little electric scooters for kids to get me around at Burning Man. Like any toy I took it apart to see what makes it tick. I saw a bunch of electronics that didn't look like standard battery charging circuitry, so I explored it a bit. Basically, when you hit the brakes the motor turns into a generator and puts the power it makes back into the battery. I'm certain a design could be made to do the same in a gas vehicle, and you likely wouldn't need to redesign the brakes themselves. You could put the new unit pretty much anywhere in the driveline. You could even use the vacuum disconnect housing in some front axles. If you've taken out that disconnect crap the housing is just sitting there doing nothing anyway.
It's this system that makes hybrids more efficient. If they didn't have it, they'd actually be less efficient than a regular gas powered car, since they induce loss when changing the power taken from the gasoline into electricity. It's not like these cars break the laws of physics.

[Goose]

actually Locomotives us "Dynamic braking" since they have traction motors on each axle driven by a Gennie on the diesel engine.. what Dynamic braking is is essentially a big ressistor across tthe poles of the motor so the Motor becomes a Generator fed into a short (thats what the big fans on the top are for to cool the dynamic brakes..) but same idea.. and i think it would have to help with fuel mileage..

[Mudrat]

That's the concept used in Hybrid cars now. I'm sure you can look at a Pirus and figure it out. But for Jeeps, that's a lot of on-board weight in teh batteries that will also take up trail space.

[Soylent_Green]

Ford was testing super dutys with a similar system, but instead of being at the wheels, it bolted to the back of the transmission. They said that it would charge bateries during braking, then use the bateries to accererate the truck up to 30 mph, where the computer would bring the engine up to speed. I don't know if they couldn't make it cheap enough to be a viable option, or what, but it seemed like a great idea for a heavier pickup.

[ironman_gq]

GM did it with the silverado half ton. they put a motor between the engine and the tranny to make a hybrid 4X4 truck. I think they're expanding it into some of the suv's and other trucks