Mazda's Regenerative Braking System

[tonyzoomzoom]

http://www.autos.ca/general-news/mazda-announces-new-regenerative-system

Mazda has announced the world’s first passenger vehicle regenerative braking system that uses a capacitor rather than a storage battery. Called i-ELOOP, the system will begin to appear in Mazda vehicles in 2012.
 
The company said that in real-world driving conditions with frequent acceleration and braking, i-ELOOP improves fuel economy by approximately 10 per cent.
 
The capacitor is an electrical component that temporarily stores large volumes of electricity. Unlike batteries, capacitors can be charged and discharged rapidly and are resistant to deterioration over prolonged use. The i-ELOOP system converts the vehicle’s kinetic energy into electricity as it decelerates and uses the electricity to power the climate control, audio system and numerous other electrical components.
 
Regenerative braking systems, which are becoming popular as a fuel-saving technology, use an electric motor or alternator to generate electricity as the vehicle decelerates, recovering a portion of its kinetic energy. In hybrids, the systems generally use a large electric motor and dedicated battery.
 
The Mazda system uses a new 12-25V variable voltage alternator, low-resistance electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC), and a DC/DC converter. It starts to recover kinetic energy as soon as the driver lifts off the accelerator pedal and the vehicle begins to decelerate. The variable voltage alternator generates electricity and sends it to the EDLC for storage. The capacitor, which has been specially developed for vehicle use, can be fully charged in seconds. The DC/DC converter steps down the electricity from 25 to 12 volts before it is distributed directly to the vehicle’s electrical components. The system also charges the vehicle’s battery when necessary.

The i-ELOOP system operates whenever the vehicle decelerates, reducing the need for the engine to burn extra fuel to generate electricity. It also works in conjunction with Mazda’s idle-stop technology to extend the period that the engine can be shut off

[M Speed]

Great tech! However not impressed with "i" this and that. Marketing team has to work harder.

[tonyzoomzoom]

LOL.  When I first saw the name, i think they were using eneloop batteries   

[zoomerboomer]

Does this do away with the regular alternator?

[theurgy]

I don't think so, however I suspect it would make the built-in alternator much smaller.

That aside, I wonder how this will react to a nice stereo with full sub and amp?

[En4cer]

Sounds expensive to fix lol

[zoomerboomer]

I'd like it designed so that if another vehicle or it's door hits my Mazda it discharges and fries the computer in the other vehicle or, if someone breaks in, it tazers the fool!  Just an idea.

[Monster J]

Dont most of the hybird vehicles have that already?

[theurgy]

They do, but not in this way. They grab the power from their regen braking and put it back into a battery, which is then reused for powering the vehicle.
This stores the power into a capacitor for use for things like the internal electronics, AC, etc.. this is mainly a strategy for generative braking for purely gasoline powered engines.