A Feasibility Analysis of an Electric KERS for Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles

In this work, the authors evaluate the energetic and economic advantages connected to the implementation of an electric Kinetic Energy Recovery System (e-KERS) on an internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV). The e-KERS proposed is based on the use of a supercapacitor (SC) as energy storage element, a brushless motor generator unit (MGU) for the conversion of the vehicle kinetic energy into electric energy (and vice versa), and a power converter properly designed to manage the power transfer between SC and MGU. The low complexity of the system proposed, the moderate volume and weight of the components selected for its assembly, together with their immediate availability on the market, make the solution presented ready for the introduction in current vehicle production. A widely diffused passenger car, endowed of a gasoline fuelled spark ignition engines, was selected for the evaluation of the advantage connected to the implementation of the e-KERS. The attainable energy saving, together with the related fuel economy, were evaluated on the basis of standard driving cycles by means of simulation performed using MatLab Simulink employing a model properly developed by the authors. It was found that the proposed KERS could allow substantial energy savings, to which correspond important fuel economy improvement together with a reduction of CO₂ emissions. The achievable fuel economy and the cost of the KERS components allowed also to estimate the economic advantage of its implementation.