A Regenerative shock absorber is designed and analyzed in this project. It converts variable frequency, repetitive intermittent linear displacement motion to useful electrical power. It uses the Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction and produces power through change in magnetic flux interacting with the coil winding. The shock absorber has the ability to convert the wasted vibration energy, which the vehicle encounters into useful power for charging batteries and other vehicle accessories. The device is capable of producing power with high efficiency with minimal weight penalty.
The regenerative shock absorber was mathematically modeled and the designing was done using the Pro E software. The design was then fabricated by using neodymium magnets for the magnetic field and copper coil acts as the conductor and transmits the induced power to the battery and electrical equipment through a rectifying circuit.
The road vibrations were transferred to the shock absorber, which produces a changing magnetic field and the voltage is induced in the coil whose magnitude was found using Lorentz Force calculation. The voltage produced is alternating and highly varying in magnitude. So a rectification and conditioning circuit was constructed whose output can be directly connected to a battery or other electrical appliances attached to the vehicle.
The magnetic field consists of neodymium ring magnets, which are more powerful than normal ferro magnets and spacers are made up of Stainless Steel, which are stacked on a Mild Steel rod. The copper coil is wounded on a stainless steel slotted tube and is given a very small clearance between the magnet stack. An aluminum dust cover prevents the dust and water entering the circuit. The fabrication processes carried out for the above said parts are discussed.
The experiment was conducted by fitting the fabricated shock absorber in a two wheeler vehicle and the analysis of the device was done with the help of a Digital Storage Oscilloscope (DSO). The results and discussions are made in the later part of the report. The optimization done by intuitive and logical basis for better performance of the device is also discussed. The ability of this shock absorber to expand its presence to various domains of the vehicle and ways of increasing the overall power production are proposed in the future works.
