People believe their favourite automotive manufacturers are the trailblazers constantly developing and evolving the four-wheeled dream machines they covet, but the deeper you scratch below the surface the more you realise it’s actually the automotive suppliers that push the boundaries of new technology and what is and isn’t possible.
We’re all familiar with the superb work ZF Friedrichshafen AG, known simply as ZF to you and me; are doing with automatic gearboxes these days. They supply anyone and everyone from Chrysler and Jeep with a new nine-speed gearbox – to Jaguar, Land Rover and BMW with the popular eight-speeder that’s taken the fight to the Volkswagen Group’s double-clutch DSG.
But did you know ZF are teaming up with a Massachusetts-based company called Levant Power Corp to develop the next generation of shock absorber technology? Forget regenerative braking, ZF have recognised the benefit of something called regenerative suspension. Called ‘GenShock,’ the regenerative suspension system will recuperate energy from frequencies transmitted through the road, communicated through the suspension and back to the vehicle’s power supply.
ZF and Levant say the active system is a compact and functional unit, containing valve technology fitted to the outside of the damper. This unit has an electric motor, an electrohydraulic gear pump and its own computer control unit. The electric motor drives the gear pump, which controls the flow of oil in the damper to adjust its rate. Energy regeneration then occurs in the opposite direction. When driving over a bumpy road, the valve system guides oil in the damper to drive the electric pump motor, acting as a type of generator. Kinetic energy from the damper piston is converted back into electricity and fed into the vehicle’s battery. Simple really…
ZF and Levant also say the suspension can raise each of the vehicle’s wheels individually, meaning jack-free tyre changing, which is very clever going forward. When will we be able to buy a car with GenShock regenerative suspension? At present, ZF and Levant can’t say when the GenShock technology will be production ready, but we doubt it’ll be too long before such an innovative advancement isn’t snapped up by auto manufacturers.
