Goodyear shows off tires that produce electricity - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Vgkid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2015, 03:45:22 pm
content: QuoteRead more:http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2015/03/07/Goodyear-shows-off-tires-that-can-produce-electricity/1381425766532/#ixzz3ToFDKVY2

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2015, 04:32:00 pm
content: How about reducing frictional heat? That way you use less energy to propel the car, rather than try to recover the wasted energy using a very inefficient and wasteful process that can only add to unsprung mass of the vehicle.Better is a decent tyre monitoring that shows actual tyre pressure so you can detect slight underinflation, which causes the most wear, or make a reliable tyre pressure filling method which allows the tyre pressure to be adjusted on the fly for load and road conditions.

author: Vgkid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2015, 06:26:02 pm
content: Sean: you brought up something that I had mentioned elsewhere, using that power to provide energy to a TPMS system.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2015, 07:30:10 pm
content: There are better ways to power a TPMS that does not rely on making a tyre that is then essentially an OEM part for the vehicle, and designed to fit a particular model. A simple piezo with a mass that drives an energy harvester to charge either a rechargeable lithium coin cell, or a supercap, are both smaller, easier to integrate into a clamp on tyre separation clamp or into a puck on the valve stem.

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2015, 12:26:45 pm
content: Quote from: mojo-chan on March 09, 2015, 10:29:57 amIndeed.And if the tyres are producing enough energy as heat to do such a thing, why not try to reduce that instead...? The only way this scheme might make sense is on low-pressure, soft tyres designed for high traction.

author: rs20
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2015, 12:41:39 pm
content: Quote from: amyk on March 09, 2015, 12:26:45 pmYou could reduce the loss to heat by making the wheels out of solid steel like train wheels, but that has obvious, uh, drawbacks. Rubber pneumatic tyres are used because they absorb bumps in the road, and convert that energy to heat. They are the first line of shock absorption; the actual shock absorberss in the car's suspension are the second line of defence (and the seats, the third). And shock absorbers work by converting unwanted motion into heat. You can't just stop making the heat or reduce it without compromise...Now, is the amount of energy produced actually non-negligible/does it exceed the extra energy required to lug the conversion equipment around? I don't know. But just eliminating the heat isnota sensible option.

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2015, 01:22:45 pm
content: True, you do need traction after all.And tires do get quite warm (enough so that the roads in Chicago are not permanently frozen)So friction for tires is a good thing, specially when you need to stop, or turn or just move, getting energy out of the heat generated? well.. not here in winter, we need those hot tires to warm the roadways.

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2015, 01:25:46 pm
content: Don't you guys think it would be more effective if they placed some peltiers in between the engine and the cooling system to generate electricity that way ?

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2015, 01:34:45 pm
content: That will steal energy from the cooling system, but from the engine to air flowing through a heatsink. that will probably generate something.The problem is that they are talking about electric cars, sure there is heat on those motors but not at the same level as a combustion engine.