Automobile

Braking Conversation Coincidence

Robin Capper

06 May 2005

Coincidence is a strange thing.

Today at work the lunchtime conversation somehow ended up being about an Aussie project to use hydraulics to store energy when vehicles brake, allowing it to be used to power them and supplement the engine. Its not a typical lunchtime conversation and I’m not really sure how we got there.

Tonight the “Treehugger” RSS feed delivers two stories about exactly the same thing!

Back in the 70’s Vincent Carman developed the Inertial Storage Transmission (IST) which stores the engine and braking energy using high-pressure fluid reservoir. Then, based on acceleration, more or less fluid is fed out of the reservoir through a hydraulic motor (like a turbine) to drive the wheels.