New hybrid transmission for Formula One cars revealed
For the past several years the governing body of Formula One racing has been pondering rule changes that would, among other things, make the sport more environmentally friendly. One of the proposals that has popped up several times is using hybrid drivetrains. Transmission builders Torotrak and Xtrac have agreed to a license agreement that will let Xtrac build continuously variable transmissions based on Torotraks design for Formula One hybrid drive systems. Unlike the hybrid electric drive systems used in production cars, kinetic energy captured by the regenerative braking system wouldn't be stored in electro-chemical batteries. The proposed Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) would store energy in a mechanical flywheel system. The flywheel system would be lighter and able to capture more energy quickly making it better suited to the repeated deceleration rates of a race car.
[Source: Torotrak]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
MikeW 11:41AM (6/06/2007)
Why doesn't F1 just utilize an 8th forward gear.
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Peter 12:56PM (6/06/2007)
Chrysler built a flywheel hybrid race car in the early 90s which was set to contest Le Mans before the project was cancelled. They claimed that the gyroscopic effects of the flywheel and the potential for catastrophic failure caused them to abandon the flywheel design. I wonder how this new system will overcome these problems.
See this article from 1994:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.11/patriot_pr.html
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George Krpan 3:47PM (6/06/2007)
Brilliant. A hybrid that doesn't use batteries.
Got to be a lot cheaper to buy and no batteries to replace. The article makes the point that it has the potential to be used in mainstream cars.
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hashiryu 12:43AM (6/07/2007)
CVT....F1.....
Oh dear God.......
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
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MikeW 1:05PM (6/07/2007)
The CVT is to control the angular velocity of the flywheel. (plus how much is given and taken)
This doesn't make any sense, traction control was just banned. So how will this integrate.
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Tom Smith 5:42PM (1/28/2008)
Garrett Corp had a flywheel bus design many years ago (in the 60s or 70s). One little problem was what happens in an accident. Imagine the destruction the flywheel would cause if it is damaged or comes loose.
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