Hydraulic Regenerative System for a Light Vehicle

Abstract: The thesis is based in a constructed light vehicle that must be improved by adding a hydraulic energy recovery system. This vehicle named as TrecoLiTH, participated in the Formula Electric and Hybrid competition (Formula EHI) 2009 in Italy -Rome- and won several awards. This system consists in two hydraulic motors hub mounted which are used to store fluid at high pressure in an accumulator when braking. Through a valve the pressure will flow from the high pressure accumulator to the low pressure one, and consequently the vehicle will get extra acceleration. This thesis consists in finishing the assembly and testing it, as the main idea was already thought and some of the necessary parts were acquired before. Firstly, a quick overview of the bike is done and the current state of it at the end of the thesis is discussed. After that, the mechanism used to actuate the system is developed and explained, with which some CAD software was used to design and make some FEA. Straight afterwards the work focused on the tests and its development. A quick discussion about what tests should be done, the preparations and also the way that some measurements were done is commented. In order to do these measurements a data acquisition device and some software to deal with it was used. Thereupon, calculations to know if the system auto-compensates the weight added, causing more rolling resistance, and the oil frictions are done. In this part the performance and reliability of the system is discussed, as well as the feelings of the driver. Finally, improvements and possible modifications are listed with the aim of upgrade the vehicle, the system and the way of work.