Avaliação da eficácia de suspensões regenerativas em veículos comerciais

Abstract

The growing increase in hybrid and electric vehicles on the market has stimulated the development of sources of energy generation and storage, by the vehicle subsystems, aiming at a better performance and autonomy of these kinds of vehicles. The vehicle suspension is a subsystem that can generate energy by converting the kinetic energy produced by dampers and springs into electrical energy. This paper presents an experimental evaluation of the potential of the power generation through regenerative suspensions applied to commercial vehicles. To accomplish that, the principles of operation and variables associated with the kinds of regenerative suspensions found in the literature were evaluated. For the experimental evaluation, a commercial vehicle suspension of the Full Air type was selected and evaluated when subjected to a certain road circuit. To collect the displacements and efforts on the suspension, the LVDT instruments (linear variable displacement transducer) and strain gages were installed in the shock absorber. The data acquisition was on a 34.5 km of RS-453, a highway also known as Rota do Sol. Based on the data acquisition, it was possible to calculate the energy dissipated by the system and get to know the energy available in the suspension when subjected to these driving conditions. As a result, an available energy of 4.9 kWh per wheel was obtained for the section covered and the corresponding energy can be stored in batteries of hybrid or electric vehicles on a constant basis. This energy can be used in the propulsion of these vehicles or for some of its electrical system. [resumo fornecido pelo autor]