Research on the Use of Multifrequency Excitations for Energy Harvesting in a Combustion Engine

Abstract

Research conducted around the world shows that energy harvesting (EH) systems can be used in modern vehicles powered by combustion, hybrid or electric engines. The efficiency of modern combustion engines is about 40%, the rest of the energy is lost and can be recovered to some extent. Therefore, the search is ongoing for systems that will use this part of the energy to power specific systems or micro-sensors installed in the vehicle. The article presents the possibilities of energy recovery from such vehicle systems as: energy recovered during braking, damping energy in the vehicle suspension, energy recovery from the exhaust system of an internal combustion engine and energy from the vibrations of the internal combustion engine. Based on the analysis of the literature on the presented research of various scientific centers and the author's experiment, it can be concluded that there is a huge potential for obtaining thermal energy from the engine exhaust system and the vehicle suspension system. A field that has not been explored much, but according to the authors also has energy potential, is energy recovery from the combustion engine suspension system in the vehicle's engine compartment. Preliminary research shows the possibility of mounting the energy recovery system in the engine compartment and the potential possibility of obtaining electricity in certain operating states of the combustion engine.

Keywords

• diesel engine
• energy harvesting
• electricity consumption
• waste energy
• mechanical vibrations