Potholes, sinkholes, speed bumps and jumps have historically been one of the greatest enemies of drivers. Especially those who drive cars with a certain sporty approach and hard suspensions. In the worst case, a sinkhole can even cause a blowout, and serious damage to tires and rims. To the point where we have already told you what we can do if the bad condition of the road causes damage to our car.
Car manufacturers have spent decades managing to prevent these irregularities in the asphalt from being transferred to the occupants of the vehicle. Maintaining a compromise between agility and comfort. We have told you about the revolutionary suspensions from Bose, which today have been perfected with the sensors, cameras and adaptive systems that modern cars use to achieve suspensions that literally pave the road.
But the idea we know today goes further. Why not create a suspension that not only cushions those bumps but also recovers energy from them?
BMW registered representation of its regenerative suspension system.
Recharge electricity with potholes
According to publish CarBuzzwhich has had access to the design of this technology in the German patent register, BMW has devised a suspension system that is capable of transforming the vertical movement that occurs in the shock absorber when driving over potholes, speed bumps, and jumps, into energy.
The system would transform the linear movement that occurs in the extension of the spring into a rotary movement applied to a flywheel, which would in turn be transformed into electrical energy with an alternator. And that you could store that energy in a 12 V, 48 V system, or in the high voltage system of an electric car. According to the description that CarBuzz provides of this system, the decision to take advantage of the spring extension, and not the compression, is due to the fact that it is designed to work more effectively with movements that are prolonged in time and not as fast and unexpected as those that they compress the spring, which would require storing a lot of energy in a short time.
However, Does the automotive industry really need shock absorbers that regenerate energy?
It is important to note that this type of invention registered in the patent registry does not always reach production and not even reach the prototyping phase. I would even go so far as to say that it is normal for this suspension energy regeneration system not to be applied in a car. For it to be applied, BMW would have to consider that there really is a need for suspensions that regenerate energy and, above all, that energy regeneration compensates for the cost, and that the system is robust and reliable enough.
Although modern cars need to recover energy – and above all avoid consuming energy – from any possible source, it is difficult to imagine that such a system can recover much energy and above all that it is viable and profitable, considering its cost. In any case, we have already seen how modern cars are increasingly effective in recovering energy from engine retention, braking, or minimizing energy consumption, not only by creating more efficient engines, but also by improving the performance of electrical systems. board and even the compressor and the heat pump of the air conditioner.
