Jacobs Vehicle Systems, a supplier of heavy-duty engine retarding and valve actuation solutions, announced that Jen Tran, New Technology project engineer, will be presenting technical paper SAE 2012-01-0814 titled “Recovering Energy from Shock Absorber Motion on Heavy Duty Commercial Vehicles.” This paper provides an example of the open innovation approach Jacobs is applying to researching new technologies relative to Jacobs’ core competencies and adjacent core markets.
Jacobs says the GenShock system offers the potential for active variable damping control for semi-active ride control, improved driver comfort and rollover mitigation, while recovering energy in electrical form that normally would be dissipated as heat in conventional shock absorbers or suspension dampers. Heavy-duty vehicles, due to their large mass, offer some of the best opportunities for energy recovery, effectively unloading a vehicle’s alternator, and thereby avoiding burning additional fuel to power the vehicle’s electrical systems, the company says.
Jacobs, in cooperation with partner Levant Power, is seeking to commercialize this new type of vehicle system for heavy-duty vehicles of all types, specifically for on-highway trucks. Several prototype systems are currently in operation. Jacobs says this technology is seen as being available in the near term.
On April 25, Jacobs will present this new technology at the SAE 2012 World Congress in Detroit in the “Vehicle Electrification Strategies for Sustainability” session at 11 a.m. Following the presentation, at 1 p.m., representatives from Jacobs and Levant Power will be available at SAE demo booths to show hardware and explain GenShock functionality in more detail.
