Yahoo Autos Audi Is Developing Electric Dampers That Harvest Energy From Road Bumps
French carmaker Citroën forever changed the automotive world when it debuted its hydropneumatic suspension system first in the 1954 Traction Avant, and in its more advanced form in the 1955 DS. Traditional suspension systems use coil springs and dampers to absorb bumps, but Citroen radically replaced that with chambers filled with hydraulic fluid. It was like nothing else of its time.
Audi has now announced that it's developing a radical new suspension system, and it sounds like it could be as revolutionary as Citroën's once was. It's called eROT, and while that's a fairly uninspiring name, the tech behind it is rad.
The eROT system replaces traditional hydraulic dampers with electromechanical units powered by a 48-volt battery mounted to the car's axle. Audi says it can tune the damper's compression and rebound strokes independently of one another, contributing to better handling and a more comfortable ride.
The fact that the eROT dampers are electric also allows for electric energy to be recovered from the compression and rebound strokes. Where the heat energy generated by traditional dampers is simply dissipated, these electromechanical dampers can generate energy to be used for other vehicle functions. This essentially applies the same concept as regenerative braking, to your suspension system.
As an added bonus, Audi also says these dampers increase interior space in the rear because they're mounted horizontally, not vertically like traditional units.
Audi doesn't have any definitive plans to install this system on a production car yet, but because many of its future cars will utilize a 48-volt battery for other functions, the company says usage of these dampers is "certainly plausible." We hope "certainly plausible" means, "yeah, we're totally going to put this in production" because it sounds like these could be gamechanging.
