Energy-Regenerative Shock Absorber for Transportation Vehicles Based on Dual Overrunning Clutches: Design, Modeling, and Simulation

Abstract

This paper presents the design, modeling, and simulation of an energy-regenerative shock absorber based on dual overrunning clutches for transportation vehicles, to enable energy harvesting from suspension vibration. The energy-regenerative shock absorber consists of three main components: the suspension vibration input, the transmission module, and the generator module. The innovative design of the shock absorber uses dual overrunning clutches, which can convert oscillatory vibration into unidirectional rotation of the generator. The dynamic modeling of the shock absorber is presented to analyze damping characteristics. Simulations were performed to demonstrate the performance of the proposed energy-regenerative shock absorber. A peak output power of 44.73 W and an average power of 22.34 W were attained from this proposed shock absorber at a vibrational input of 2-Hz frequency and 20-mm amplitude. The prototype can achieve 69.19% efficiency at 1-Hz frequency and 15-mm amplitude. The results show that variable damping coefficients are achieved by changing the external load of the shock absorber. As a result, the energy-regenerative shock absorber can be applied to different types of transportation vehicles.