The bumpers on a car decrease MPG

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Bumpers and shock absorbers play a significant role in a car's performance by applying friction to the suspension, which can lead to energy loss and decreased fuel efficiency. The discussion highlights that regenerative shock absorbers can potentially harvest energy while driving, offering a fuel efficiency increase of 1-4% for conventional vehicles and up to 8% for hybrids. This energy harvesting could mitigate losses by utilizing energy that would otherwise be wasted. The impact of bumpers on MPG is linked to their interaction with suspension systems and road conditions. Overall, optimizing these components could enhance vehicle efficiency and performance.
Low-Q
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Hi,

I have thought about how the bumpers affects the performance of the available power in a car engine. The bumper applies friction to the suspension so the car doesn't jump off a bumpy road. However, that friction will be a sort of energy loss. The questions is: How much energy loss is it at a given car weight and suspension travel pr. time? By how much will that decrease MPG?

Vidar
 
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Oh you mean the shock absorbers...

http://blogs.discovery.com/files/energy-harvesting-shock-absorber-june-2011.pdf

Energy Harvesting Shock Absorbers

snip

We estimated that for a middle-size vehicle, 100W, 400W, and 1600W of average power is available for harvesting from the regenerative shock absorbers while driving on Class B (good), C (average), and D (poor) highways at 60 mph.

snip

This represents a potential of 1-4% fuel efficiency increase in conventional cars and up to 8% for hybrid vehicle.
 
I think they absorb energy which would be lost anyway - just in other parts of the car. They can even reduce losses, if they keep the whole car from bumping around.
If that energy can be extracted: Even better.
 
CWatters said:
Oh you mean the shock absorbers...

http://blogs.discovery.com/files/energy-harvesting-shock-absorber-june-2011.pdf
Yes that's correct :-) I used google translate from Norwegian...
Well, thanks for the link :-)

Vidar
 

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