16-01-2013, 03:16 PM
Kinetic Energy Recovery System
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What is ‘kers
The acronym KERS stands for Kinetic Energy Recovery System.
Kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS) store energy when the vehicle is braking and return it when accelerating.
During braking, energy is wasted because kinetic energy is mostly converted into heat energy that is dissipated into the environment.
Vehicles with KERS are able to harness some of this kinetic energy and in doing so will assist in braking.
By a touch of a button, this stored energy is converted back into kinetic energy giving the vehicle extra boosts of power.
KERS Explained
KERS is a collection of parts which takes some of the kinetic energy of a vehicle under deceleration, stores this energy and then releases this stored energy back into the drive train of the vehicle, providing a power boost to that vehicle.
For the driver, it is like having two power sources at his disposal, one of the power sources is the engine while the other is the stored kinetic energy.
Principle of working
A standard KERS operates by a ‘charge cycle and a ‘boost cycle’. As the car slows for a corner, an actuator unit captures the waste kinetic energy from the rear brakes. This collected kinetic energy is then passed to a Central Processing Unit (CPU) and onto the storage unit. The storage unit are positioned centrally to minimize the impact on the balance of the car.
Electronic kers
In electronic KERS, braking rotational force is captured by an electric motor generator unit (MGU) mounted to the engines crankshaft.
This MGU takes the electrical energy that it converts from kinetic energy and stores it in batteries. The boost button then summons the electrical energy in the batteries to power the MGU.
The most difficult part in designing electronic KERS is how to store the electrical energy. Most racing systems use a lithium battery, which is essentially a large mobile phone battery.
Super-capacitors can also be used to store electrical energy instead of batteries; they run cooler and are debatably more efficient.