Session C10
Paper 242
Disclaimer — This paper partially fulfills a writing requirement for first year (freshman) engineering students at the
University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering. This paper is a student, not a professional, paper. This paper is
based on publicly available information and may not be provide complete analyses of all relevant data. If this paper is used for
any purpose other than these authors’ partial fulfillment of a writing requirement for first year (freshman) engineering students
at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, the user does so at his or her own risk.
KERS: THE METHOD TO IMPROVE FUEL EFFICIENCY OF PASSENGER
CARS
Jiarui Xu, [email protected], Mahboobin, 4:00, Jiachen Wang, [email protected], Mena Lora, 3:00
Abstract— This paper suggests to use the technology of kinetic
energy recovery system, from formula racing cars, on
passenger cars. The idea is inspired by attempt to alleviate the
environmental problem of air pollution and the tradition of
practicing advanced technology on racing cars onto the
massive numbers of passenger cars. We noticed that a large
amount of energy on the cars are wasted and worthy to recycle.
The paper will explain the functionality the two types of kinetic
energy recovery system, flywheel based and electric motor
based. Strength includes saving fuel, reducing air pollution
and CO2 emission, and improving car performance. It also
introduces the problems faced by engineers, and their
solutions to the barriers. With the experiment results from car
companies, we can numerically estimate the benefit on
environment. At last we suggest the importance of this practice
to the automobile engineering field and the positive effect on
the public.
CO2 emission, and improving car performance, while with the
drawback of costing extra money lead to a high retail price for
the passenger. However, as the compared low restriction for
passenger compared with racing cars, it is impossible to
decrease the cost of material fees, and constricted level of
system, and thus efficiency of fuel will increase dramatically.
To demonstrate whether the KERS system will be useful for
change the situation and how it will affect the society. We
analyze the data which how KERS used in the passenger cars
decrease the pollution and increase the car’s performance from
large vehicle factory like Volvo, Ferrari. As to further discuss
the usefulness of the KERS system, we need to consider both
the cost and the new challenge for energy storing battery.
Because the great advantage of dealing with problems related
to the fossil resource and vehicle of KERS and it can widely
raise the attention from the public and modern car companies.
As this technology become impeccable, it will become an
attractive property of new generation’s car which dramatically
influence the modern car market distribution. As the benefit of
KERS, it will also influence the engineering field by changing
idea to get the more power encouraging fuel efficiency.
Furthermore, this technology will also raise the awareness of
public for environment protection, for people will consider not
only the performance of cars but also the environmental
protection ability of cars. As more and more become
concerned about the environment, KERS technology benefits
the society.
Key Words-- Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS),
passenger cars, fuel efficiency, environment, car performance
INTRODUCTION TO THE PRACTICE OF
KERS IN PASSENGER CARS
Vehicle are the main causes of the many widely
concerned problems like environment pollution and the
depletion of energy, researchers are going to pay more
attention to change the situation. However, as the passenger
cars take a great amount benefit to people’s daily life, banning
the using of cars is impossible. Then we take our eyes on the
Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) in the racing car
which are divided into flywheel based and electric motor based.
Same as its name, extra energy will be stored into flywheel and
electric battery and they transferred to the kinetic energy for
the future using. The advantage of high fuel using efficiency
and limit emission are coming from the extreme restriction for
racing car, produce high power within limit emission and
decrease the consumption of reversible natural resource. The
advantage of assembling KERS are reducing air pollution and
MOTIVATION FROM ENVIROMMENTAL
CONCERN
The idea of using Kinetic Energy Recovery System from
Formula 1 racing car onto passenger cars is originated from
the concern about environment and the tradition of practicing
racing car technology on everyday cars. The environment has
become a hot topic because it is related to the living quality
and even the survival of human being in the future. And to ease
the environmental problem, some technology from racing cars
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University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering
Submission date: 03.31.2017
Jiarui Xu
Jiachen Wang
can be considered to use in passenger cars, as the racing car is
supposed to lead the development of car industry.
Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM2.5) which can harm human’s
respiration system.
THE REASON WHY WE CARE ABOUT
ENVIRONMENT
Therefore, the environmental problem is vital to solve. In
order to ease the burden on environment, people should start
by reduce the pollution from cars, since it is one of the major
causes. However, as the most popular method of transportation,
the passenger cars could not be replaced by another tool in a
short time. It would only make life more inconvenient if the
government limit driving or charge more for using cars,
because a huge people need to travel through cities every day,
and the cars are by far the most suitable way. And the main
problem is the exhaust from the burned fuel, so we start
thinking about: if we can increase the fuel efficiency, that is,
even if people still use cars as frequently as they did, they
would consume less fuel and thus less pollutant emission, we
can ease the air pollution problem. As the first part of
engineering, we find the goal of an engineering project:
increase fuel efficiency. And by saying fuel efficiency, we
mean the distance a car can run per unit amount of oil, not the
heat efficiency, or mechanical efficiency.
As vigorously discussed on the Copenhagen Climate
Conference in 2009 and Paris 2015 Climate Change
Conference [1], the environment is facing unprecedented risk
of irreversible damage. An obvious symptom is the level of
CO2 and one of the main source of CO2 emission is the
enormous number of cars. The graph shows that the CO2 is
growing in an exponential pattern, and an exponential pattern
usually means that the balance is broken and the growth is out
of control. Thus, people must take some action to reduce the
CO2 emission and to slow down global warming.
CAR COMPANIES’ TECHNOLOGICAL ATTEMPTS
TO SAVE FUEL
Saving energy is also a prevalent theme among the car
producers, and the car companies come up with various way
to save fuel. The Volkswagen uses turbo charger to increase
the pressure of the cylinder to get more power from same
amount of fuel, and at the same time make the car just big and
powerful enough for everyday use. Toyota, a car company
prospective on saving energy, initiated an assembly line for the
hybrid car Prius in 1997, which uses “clean energy” electricity
combined with petrol. Following Toyota, many car companies
launched their Hybrid version of cars. They are successful and
popular cars, but we believe we can look at this problem from
another perspective. Both Volkswagen and Toyota are looking
at the process of the energy consumption, but we think it is
also meaningful to consider about the recovery of the energy,
which is usually wasted in the form of heat on brakes.
FIGURE 1 [2]
Figure 1 is the curve of CO2 level showing that the level
of CO2 has been growing exponentially since 1800
The environmentalists claimed on the Paris Climate
Change Conference that if the global average temperature
varies over 2℃, habitats of human beings and other animals
would be dramatically threatened. The ice berg would melt
and the food chain in the North pole area would be broken.
The sea level would rise [3] and the people living close to
coastal area, 40% in the US, would be affected, not to mention
the countries that would be completely submerge in sea water.
In physics class, we learn that potential energy and kinetic
energy are convertible to each other, like the roller-coaster, it
can swing from a peak to another without any additional push.
Theoretically, it is possible to make a perpetual motion
machine, if the drag force and friction are negligible; even not,
most of the kinetic energy can be recovered and stored as
potential energy. Thus, we think if we can do the same thing
on the cars, that is to store the excessive kinetic energy in some
other forms. In fact, early in the 1980s, Robert Michel, an
engineer in Renault Vehicules Industriels, published the
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration
[2], “about 19.64 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) are
produced from burning a gallon of gasoline” so the car exhaust
is one of the major sources of the green-house gases. And on
average, 384.74 million gallons of gasoline is used by the cars
every day in the US, and that result in huge amount of CO2
emission. Besides, car exhaust also contains gases and
particles which are harmful to human bodies. One of them is
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Mosley, the former FIA president, pointed out that “the
development of engines has been frozen, meaning that extra
power can only be gained by making better use of energy, or
by getting more useful work from the fuel burned.” [4] His
words showed that the formula 1 racing, with the technology
of KERS, was back on the right track of leading the
development of car industry. According to Mosley, the
development of KERS is almost unlimited in Formula 1, the
only restrictions are: the input and output energy should not
exceed 60KW, the energy released every lap should not
exceed 400KJ; when adding fuel in pit, it is not allowed to add
energy in KERS. Compare to the tedious and comprehensive
restrictions of engine and aerodynamics, the simple two-line
rules show that the governor wishes the producers could create
something to revolutionize the formula racing. [4]
braking energy recovering system with a hydropneumatics
energy reservoir, but at that time, people didn’t realize the
importance of reducing fuel consumption, and the system was
too unreliable to put into massive production, it was forgotten
by the car industry. [12]
Not only the passenger cars, but also the formula racing
car, the tip top of pyramid of car industry, is limited by the
stricter rules due to the environmental concerns. Most of the
developed countries, and China have launched the law limiting
the exhausted gases. [10] Similarly, the Federation
Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) set the standard to limit
the fuel consumption in the Formula 1 [14]. And we can recall
the trend of racing car technology transforming and practicing
on passenger cars. For example, the semi-automatic gearbox,
first introduced by Ferrari in 1989, is now popular among the
sporty version of cars. Likewise, the ceramic and carbon fiber
brakes also largely improve the performance of the brakes on
cars. Besides, the traction control, first design to reduce the tire
spin when starting, is helpful for drivers in rainy and snowy
days.
Thus, the introduction of KERS in F1 is a win-win
solution: the audience could watch more exciting races after
the car power is more strictly limited. The producer team can
develop new technology and earn money by selling it to other
racing teams. The organizer can earn good fame for supporting
environment protection and encourage technology
development.
Kinetic Energy Recovery System is a technology created
in Formula 1 in 8 years ago, and not yet pervasive in other
parts of car industry. We believe that it is the answer to the
question of how to increase fuel efficiency. Because it has
been tested for years on viability and reliability on the racing
cars, and it aims to maximize the performance under a certain
amount of fuel.
HOW DO THE TWO TYPES OF KERS WORK?
Since the restrictions from FIA are relatively loose, the
engineers have much space to practice creativity and
maximize the performance. The engineers generated two
solutions: one based on a flywheel, the other based on batteries
and an electric motor.
INTRODUCTION AND EXPLANATION OF
FUNCTIONALITY OF KERS
The flywheel based solution is suggested by the engineers
from Renault, and several other teams such as Williams
wanted to buy the technology. The idea of flywheel based
KERS is straight forward: store the kinetic energy with a
highspeed rotating flywheel, and release the energy when
needed. [5]
THE BACKGROUND OF KERS
The Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) was firstly
introduced to formula 1 is in 2009. Some people believe that
was because FIA needs to give more excitement in the racing
game by adding more facilities to encourage overtaking, due
to the much stricter rules about engine and aerodynamics
components. This technology is more meaningful than what
they thought. In the past, the formula racing was always the
laboratory of the most advanced car technology, but recently
it became more and more unrelated to the passenger car
industry: the 2.4 V8 engine burns 49 kg fuel, the 19000-rpm
engine [13] is meaningless for the everyday driving, the
aerodynamics designed for every track has no utility value.
The racing sport needed to change and follow the world-wide
trend of car industry, the environmentally friendly theme. The
introduction of KERS encouraged the teams, especial the
factory teams, to develop the technology on saving fuel. Max
As the picture shows, the KERS is consist of: a highspeed
flywheel, two sets of fixed transmission ratio gear, a
Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT), and an extra
clutch. In the braking process, the kinetic energy through the
transmission transfers into the flywheel. The flywheel in the
vacuum box is driven and quickly spin to store the energy.
When the car is accelerating at the end of a corner, the energy
stored in flywheel through the CVT is released smoothly, and
combines with the power from the engine, and transfer to the
rear axle as a pushing power. The whole system is controlled
by the standard ECU program, and the shape and appearance
of the equipment can be redesign according to the team
requirement.
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The electric motor is connected to the axle of engine, and
control by the system program, it can release or absorb torque
from engine according to the different state of the car.
One of the difficulties is the performance of battery. The
engineers from Ferrari built a complicated assembly of 120
cells in eight modules and it generates the equivalent of 40
traditional car batteries, while only weighing 132 pound.
Because on a race track, the car may accelerate and brake
multiple times, it sets high requirement for the longevity
battery, that it needs to be able to charge and discharge many
times. In addition, the Li ion battery is sensitive to the
temperature change, so it needs a special design cooling
system to maintain the temperature change within 2 degree
Celsius. Besides, the needs to be compatible with the engine,
so the engine is also specially designed, that the angle between
the pistons is larger than regular V shape engine. [6]
FIGURE 2 [8]
Figure 2 is a sectional drawing show the inner structure
of a flywheel based KERS system.
The difficulty of this design is that, since every kilogram
for formula racing is significant, in order to reach a higher
energy density ratio, and reduce influence by the system on the
car weight, the flywheel needs to be as small as possible.
Consequently, the flywheel must have a very high rev. The
Renault KERS has the flywheel up to 64500 rpm. [11] But
another problem is that the high rev would lead to massive heat
and drag force. To solve that, the engineers put the flywheel in
a vacuum box, and the pressure can be as low as 10-7 Pa. The
transmission is also special design, different from the
Continuously Variable Transmission on passenger cars which
uses the belt or chain; instead, it uses a pair of tip to tip cones
and use the rolling fraction to transfer energy, so it can convey
more torque and transfer the energy more smoothly. The
transmission system is well compacted and as light-weight as
5kg.
FIGURE 3 [6]
Figure 3 shows how an electric motor and gasoline engine
are combined in a typical KERS system.
The green part on the bottom left is the battery, the green
part on the right is the electric control, and the silver part on
the right is connected to the engine in red. The power from
electric motor is combined with the engine power and transfer
to the rear wheel with the transmission.
The benefit of the KERS on the car performance is
obvious: it gives the car an extra source of power and allow
the cars to accelerate faster without using extra fuel, and it
functions as another brake and can reduce the work of brakes,
so they would be less likely to be malfunctioned due to
overheat, and it saves fuel, and these figures are all important
numbers on evaluating a car.
The electric motor base KERS system is adopted by
Ferrari. The basic idea is the same, but instead, it stores the
energy with the batteries, and transfer back to wheels with
electric motor. As learned in physics class, the inverse process
of electric motor is a generator, when it turns kinetic energy
into electricity. When the driver steps on the brake, the onboard computer turns the motor into generator mode, and
generates electricity to store in battery. After the car passes the
corner, the driver steps on the accelerate paddle, the motor
outputs power with the stored electricity to the rear axle.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TWO TYPES OF
KERS
The difference between the two types of recovery system
is that the electric one involves the change in kind of energy,
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Jiachen Wang
while the flywheel is purely mechanical energy. And change
in type of energy leads to energy loss, so the electric solution
is not as efficient as the flywheel one. Also, the flywheel is
limited by the size and weight, so it cannot generate as much
torque as the electric motor, so for the instant maximum output,
the electric motor is more powerful, and thus, it would be
better at the acceleration at the end of a corner.
condition.
Secondly, the performance style should be design in a
suitable way. The goal of designing a KERS system on racing
car is to maximize the car performance, that is to allow the car
to accelerate and brake faster. However, the drivers don’t need
to accelerate that fast when diving on the street, and the main
point of KERS for passenger cars should be on saving fuel. As
a result, the KERS on the passenger cars should have longer
output, instead of an instant output. Also, the KERS on racing
car is limited by the strict restriction of size and weight and
maximum power storage written in the regulation manual,
while there is no such of numerical restriction for passenger
cars, therefore engineers are allowed to maximize the fuel
economy by adjusting the size and structure of KERS.
The problem for electric motor is the stability and
longevity. Due to its chemical characteristic, the battery would
gradually lose the ability to store charge. The battery could
work well in a three-hour race, but may not in a five-year
everyday driving. So, that’s the strength and weakness that
engineers should notice and put effort on improving.
HOW KERS FITS IN PASSENGER CARS
Third, the structure could be different on the car. Also
because of the less restriction and different structure on
passenger cars than racing car, it can have more combinations
of structure. It can be combined with the engine, such as
Ferrari LaFerrari, or use engine to drive the front axle and the
KERS to drive the rear one. It can be better adjusted according
to the intended purpose and style of car.
THE MODIFICATION BEFORE PUTTING IN
PASSENGER CARS
The first concern is safety. There has already been a
comprehensive system for designing and testing the safety of
cars, but since this is an equipment newly added to cars, it
raises new safety problems for the producers. To increase
energy efficiency and reduce loss, battery of electric base
KERS is design to have high voltage, and thus it has the risk
of shock in an accident or being repaired if not operating
correctly. An accident happened in Formula 1 was that a
BMW-Sauber engineer suffered from an electric shock
because he touched car, which is accidentally charged by the
high voltage KERS battery, during the transforming process
from high voltage to 12V [7]. Also, the battery has the risk of
getting on fire or high temperature if the battery is in shorted.
It may not happen in regular condition, but in a car accident,
the battery may be compressed and distorted.
WHAT DOES THE PRODUCT FEEL LIKE?
Volvo has publicized the experimental car S60 [8],
equipped with the flywheel KERS. It uses the structure that the
engine drives the front wheels, and the flywheel drives the rear
wheels. The Lem Bingley from GreenMotor.co.uk [9] took a
test drive and had these conclusions: besides a humming noise
from the flywheel, most of the time he felt completely normal
as driving a regular car, but when accelerating, at a certain
point, the power would kick in and give an extra 80
horsepower. And statistically, the KERS provides “an extra
80hp performance boost while cutting fuel consumption by up
to 25%, and the CO2 emissions as low as 99g/km.” the sample
product shows that this practice would have a positive future,
because besides maintaining the same functionality of cars, it
largely reduces the waste gas emission, and saves fuel, as we
hope to.
It is the same for flywheel KERS, because the flywheel is
fast revving and the transmission and vacuum box are
sophisticated components, if the system is damaged in a car
accident, the rotating flywheel can be a fatal threat to the
passengers. The producers ought to realize that the condition
on the race track is largely different from the street road.
Compared to the racing cars, passenger cars don’t have as
many sensors on the car that look after if every equipment is
well-functioning. Besides, the protection of drives in
passenger cars is way less than racing drivers, who equip with
crash helmets, monocoques, and six-point safety belt. In
addition, the road condition is much more complicated on the
street road, that it has buildings and bridges, unlike the flat and
empty race track. In the modification process, engineers need
to pay attention to the potential danger from the different road
EFFECTS ON ENGINEERING FIELD,
ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY
POSITIVE INFLUENCE ON THE ENGINEERING
FIELD
Firstly, this is a new technology in the car industry to save
fuel and increase the fuel efficiency of cars. It is meaningful
for the automobile engineering is that engineers now have a
new way to save fuel besides reducing weight, and increasing
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thermal efficiency. It is a milestone that the automobile
engineering is aware that the change in environmental
condition and responsively moving an evolutionary step.
Instead of focusing on the amount of energy we can utilize, we
are now looking at the quality and efficiency of the energy we
are using.
Other than statistical improvement on pollution, the
technology can remind people of saving energy and protecting
environment, and increase the awareness of the whole society
to protect the environment and save energy for the future.
Second, since this modification is closely related to the
market, the monetary investment on car industry technology
development can be quickly redeemed and this will be a
realistic and practical investment. And because it is close to
people’s life, people can see that the engineering is closely
related to life, so it can stimulate the engineers to pay attention
to the details in life which is worthy for engineering.
As mentioned before, it can raise the attention of the
society to protect the energy. For instance, the people would
change their mindset on cars, and they would not value too
much on the size and power of the car. Instead, in the future,
they would be proud of themselves if they have a more
environmentally friendly car, because they have more advance
technology to save energy. It would have the similar effect as
the Toyota Prius, which is popular with the celebrities. As
posted on California Auto Outlook Report, 69,728 Prius were
sold in California in 2013 and make it one of the most popular
cars. They realize that cars are just a tool to travel, but not a
luxury to show off. Therefore, they choose to drive a more
“green” car to show their sense of responsibility on the
environment and the future of human beings.
THE POSITIVE EFFECT ON THE SOCIETY
POSITIVE EFFECT ON THE ENVIRONMENT
Because the number of cars running on the road is
significantly large, any improvement on cars can hugely
change the pollutant level on environment. In fact, the
improvement is multifold.
The first positive effect is that it largely saves fuel: fossil
fuel is a nonrenewable energy, and the environmentalists warn
that the oil on earth may be used up in several decades.
However, the consumption of petroleum is still constantly
increasing. Besides finding substitutional energy sources,
using mechanical component to recover and save energy is the
most realistic and practical way to save fuel and delay the fuel
depletion. A simple calculation on the fuel save: if we use the
sample from Volvo to do the calculation, that is 34 billion
barrel a year minus 25% save and the result is incredibly 8.5
billion barrel a year. By that means, we can extend the time to
use oil by one forth if the technology could be put into practice
quickly.
In addition, since cars are so prevalent that people would
access to every single day, a technology improvement on cars
can let the people realize that advanced technology is not far
away from daily life, and people in general would have more
interest in developing technology. With more attention, the
companies developing the technology can get more funds and
thus continue advance the technology. Therefore, it would
form a healthy cycle of advancement in technology, so
people’s life could be more convenient and comfortable, and
that is the target of engineering and technology.
SUSTAINABILITY
The practice of KERS on passenger cars is a
representative of sustainability-concerned engineering. It
would directly affect the environment by reducing the harmful
gases in the air in cities, and saving fossil fuels. The
environment that human beings rely on is the most important
thing to sustain because once the damage is made, it is not
recoverable. People also need to take steps to reduce the
consumption of the non-renewable resources such as fossil
fuels in daily life, because if we still heavily rely on fossil fuels,
once the resource is exhausted, the energy system on the world
would suddenly break down. Even though KERS couldn’t
completely change the type of energy that cars consume, since
petroleum is still the most economical way to drive the cars, it
largely increases the efficiency of fuels, and it puts off the date
of exhaustion of fossil fuels.
Using KERS generates less heat: because the storage and
release of energy with the KERS produce much less heat than
using the engine to drive, the system can reduce the heat
emission to the air, and that’s one of the major concerns on
climate change conference. Also, since some of the energy
stored in the KERS, the brakes don’t have much heat generated
from friction to stop the car.
KERS reduces the waste gas emission to the atmosphere:
as Volvo describes, the CO2 emission is 99g/km, while the
European cars were still struggle to produce less than 130g/km.
A more than 30 percent reduction is a huge amount
considering the enormous number of cars running on the road.
1.74 million pound CO2 can be reduced from emitting in air
by cars in US.
Besides, the practice of the new technology on cars
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completes the cycle of technology development led by racing
car. It proves that the racing car not only provides excitement
for audience as a sport, but also leads the development of new
technology related to cars. That is the original intention of
racing cars, but it was not implemented in recent years. The
huge fuel consumption and extreme aerodynamics were too far
away from street cars, but now, with new environmentconcerned regulations, racing cars has returned its flag ship
position of car industry development. We can foresee that after
KERS, there will be more technologies from racing car
transferring into passenger cars, and they could enhance the
driving experience and reduce the personal and worldwide
environmental cost of driving.
cars can meet the basic demand for public of safe drive and a
high speed, then public are able to switch their attention to
choosing the cars which are less harmful for environment.
Compare the advantage of KERS with the passenger car,
applying the KERS on the passenger cars is an effective way
to reduce the use of oil and protect the environment.
SOURCES
[1] “Global Response to Climate Change Keeps Door Open
to 2 Degree C Temperature Limit”. UNFCCC Press Office.
10.30.2015. http://newsroom.unfccc.int/unfcccnewsroom/indc-synthesis-report-press-release/
[2] “How much carbon dioxide is produced by burning
gasoline and diesel fuel?” U.S. Energy Information
Administration. 5.6.2016.
http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=307&t=10
Unlike the technology used on space shuttles and rockets,
which is quite far away from most people’s lives, the KERS
can directly benefit people’s lives, and that means the
manufactures can redeem their cost on technology
development. Powered with the funds from marketing, car
industry can progress at a faster pace. On the other hand,
entrepreneur would prefer to invest on this type of technology
development because the cycle of investment and return is
short and predictable. Thus, it is beneficial for engineering
field because it would receive more support in forms of
funding and attention from public. The whole process of
technology development costs a lot, and if the virtuous cycle
of investment and return is not completed, it would finally run
out of engineers’ emotional investment and fund to make all
the improvements.
[3] “Is sea level rising?” National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Admiration - National Ocean Service. December 22, 2016
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/sealevel.html
[4] S. Strang. “Mosley: KERS to revolutionise F1”
3.11.2008. Autosport.com
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/65624
[5] J. Cibulka. “Kinetic Energy Recovery System by Means of
Flywheel Energy Storage”. Advanced Engineering 3(2009)1,
ISSN 1846-5900. semanticscholar.org. 2009. Accessed
1.27.2017
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b9b2/b33dbd1591b3fcc947f
351e3f03b4c2ebca4.pdf
CONCLUSION AND PREDICTIONS ABOUT
THE PRACTICE OF KERS ON PASSENGER
CARS
[6] “Ferrari’s Hybrid: 949 HP of Pure Passion” Ferrari.com
No date. http://auto.ferrari.com/en_US/sports-carsmodels/car-range/laferrari/#innovations-hykers-1
There is no doubt that KERS play an important role on the
car’ s development and will have great influence on both the
public and engineering field. The paper introduces two basic
principles of KERS of racing cars, flywheel based and electric
motor based, to illustrate how this system recycle extra energy.
The high efficiency of fuel using rate relieves the burden for
the whole engineering field for the concern of natural resource
depletion. It will dramatically decrease the unnecessary use to
create extra power. As for a better power system, as the certain
amount of fuel provide more power for the car, it pushes the
car’s development to get cleaner, more efficient cars. As the
total consumption of fossil resource decreases, the pollution
from cars will decrease which directly connect the car
development and the environment. In the future, the new
technology can help raise the public awareness about
protecting environment. As the car technology develops, most
[7] S. Strang “BMW release KERS investigation findings”
8.21.2008
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/69914
[8] “Volvo Car Group and Flybrid Conduct UK Testing of
Flywheel KERS Technology” Volvocars.com. 3.26.2014.
Accessed 1.27.2017
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[9] L. Bingley “Driving Volvo’s road-car KERS prototype”
greenmotor.co.uk
http://www.greenmotor.co.uk/2013/05/driving-volvos-roadcar-kers-prototype.html
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Jiarui Xu
Jiachen Wang
[10] P. Dizikes “Study: China’s new policies will lower CO2
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Accessed 1.26.2017.
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/articles/the-basics-off1-kers/
“Magneti Marelli Kers” racecar engineer. 7.31.2009.
Accessed 1.26.2017.
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/articles/magnetimarelli-kers/
[12] R. Michel “Hydropneumatic energy reservoir for
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[13] “History of the F1 engine” McLaren Honda.
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ADDITIONAL SOURCES
“Audi R18 e-tron Quattro Flywheel KERS Hybrid System”
Technical, F1, directionary. 2012. Accessed 1.26.2017.
http://formula1-dictionary.net/kers_audi_e_tron.html
B. Wojdyla, “Volvo Builds a Different Kind of Hybrid”
popularmechanics.com. 7.15.2013. Accessed 1.26.2017.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/hybridelectric/a9234/volvo-demonstrates-kers-system-15682389/
A. Boretti. “Comparison of fuel economies of high efficiency
diesel and hydrogen engines powering a compact car with a
flywheel based kinetic energy recovery systems”
sciencedirect.com. 8, 2016. Accessed 1.26.2017.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S036031991
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S. Ding, “An energy recovery system of regenerative braking
based permanent magnet synchronous motor for electric
vehicles” .12.29.2016. Accessed 1.26.2017.
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.pitt.idm.oclc.org/document/675446
8/
M. Jones, “Why we need cars with KERS” Top gear.
3.25.2014. Accessed 1.26.2017. http://www.topgear.com/carnews/future-tech/why-we-need-cars-kers
KERS. Technical ,F1,directionary.No date. Accessed
1.26.2017.
http://formula1-dictionary.net/kers_audi_e_tron.html
“KERS” magnetimarelli.com, no date Accessed 1.26.2017.
http://www.magnetimarelli.com/business_areas/motorsport/te
chnological-excellences/kers
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