Hello to all

[R.I.D.E.]

soletek, I sent you a PM with my email addy my photos are too large a file to send to this forum. Shoot me an email and I will send the photos to you directly.

The design of the drive pump allows for variable displacement which basically means with a given amount of pressure and volume you can create a huge range of drive speed (less disp higher speed-more disp lower speed).

Accumulator design is not something I have focused on specifically. A good answer to your questions is contained in the EPA documents which can be located by googling epa hydraulic hybrids.

Accumulators on America's Cup racers operate at pressures of 12,000 PSI. I think the accumulator technology is very mature and due to that I have focused on the pump design.

The EPA design uses a bent axis pump, similar to the swash plate compressors used in air conditioning, but they are reciprocating pumps and their efficiency falls off dramatically at higher speeds, from above 90% to less than 75%.

By moving the drive pumps to all of the vehicles wheels you have 4 wheel regeneration as well as 4 wheel drive, which can be switched to 2 wheel drive almost instantly by adjusting the stroke position to neutral which disengages two of the 4 drive wheels. Two wheel regeneration is a limiting factor in regeneration potential, much the same as trying to drive your car using only the emergency brake.

With all wheel drive the individual drive pumps do not have to handle all the power generated. Charles Gray of the EPA made two statements that I thought were very significant.

"The hydraulic hybrid will revolutionize the auto industry to a greater extent than the assembly line"

"I can hold a 500 HP hydraulic pump in my hand"

Statements like these are almost unbelievable if I had made them. Mr. Gray was directly involved in the hydraulic hybrid research and development.

Calculations of pressure required as well as volume begin with the amount of power that can be applied to each wheel of the vehicle without wheelspin. This varies greatly with vehicle weight and tire traction. Basically you use a combination of stroke length and accumulator pressure and reserves that can provide the maximum torque at the wheels without spinning the tires.

The pressures are not as great as you might think, larger diameter drive pump assemblies allow greater stroke lengths and greater wheel torque. The end result is a vehicle that can accelerate at the limit of all 4 wheels ability to maintain traction with the road surface. This design could out accelerate and F40 Ferrari if it was designed to do so, acceleration distances would be the same as minimum stopping distances.

As vehicle speed increases you have more opportunities to apply pressure to the pistons, so the stroke length would be reduced to keep the volume of moving fluid relatively equal, with that changing somewhat with the pressure reserve variations.

The original engine flywheel configuration could eliminate the need for any accumulator, as long as the efficiency was high enough. That may not be possible with accumulator efficiencies in the 97% range.

The simplest design is called a launch assist axle. Take a Corolla and replace the rear axle with one that stores and releases energy using my pump and a small accumulator, independent of the conventional powertrain. This could be an option on new vehicles or a retrofit on older vehicles.

It's time for the US to treat vehicle efficiency in the same way they treated the development of the atomic bomb in WW2. We need a new Manhattan Project that focuses our resources on making the most efficent vehicles possible, in the shortest period of time. Parallel development of all configurations and combinations of same, instead of the current "my design configuration is best" attitude. The automotive X prize is a step in the right direction, but the best way would be for the Feds to do the same thing they did when they bailed out Chrysler. It may not be my design that is the ultimate successor the the present state of the art, but that is not important. What is important is the fact that Wayne Gerdes can get double the EPA mileage in a Prius, and the future designs will shift that operational tactic from the driver to the vehicle itself.

That is the most basic premise of my design, I know it is possible. The worst problem is most people do not even believe that is possible.


regards
gary