KERS is a technology which is in it’s infancy, but once it has developed sufficiently, it could be one of the best things to have happened in the automobile world. KERS stands for Kinetic Energy Recovery System. Basically, it’s working principle involves storing the energy involved with deceleration and using it for acceleration. That is, when a car breaks, it dissipates a lot of kinetic energy as heat. The KERS system tries to store this energy and converts this into power, that can be caled upon to boost acceleration.

At the present state of research, there are two ways in which KERS can be implemented – energy can be stored as mechanical energy(as in a flywheel) or as electrical energy(as in a battery or supercapacitor). The electrical system uses a motor-generator incorporated in the car’s transmission which converts mechanical energy into electrical energy and vice versa. Once the energy has been harnessed, it is stored in a battery and released when required. The mechanical system captures braking energy and uses it to turn a small flywheel which can spin at up to 80,000 rpm. When extra power is required, the flywheel is connected to the car’s rear wheels. Since there is no transforming the form of energy invloved, the mechanical KERS is more efficient in comparison. A concern involved with the KERS is in the safety-front. A high voltage battery could be dangerous, although surely this can be dealt with and a solution reached which promises adequate safety levels as well.

The KERS is used by some of the participating teams in the Formula1 2009 season. Once the KERS develops further, it would feature in road cars as well. This wouldn’t be to provide a ‘power-boost’ for a road-car driver to overtake other vehicles(as in Formula1). KERS could help improve fuel-efficiency of cars, by powering them without burning fuel. A typical example could be in case of stop-start driving situations when real-world fuel economy is often at its worst. In these conditions, KERS-power could assist the launch of a vehicle which has slowed down or come to a standstill, by utilising the kinetic energy stored in the flywheel. In heavily congested traffic, where a car is frequently stopped and restarted, the system can help alleviate the heavy fuel consumption and emissions of greenhouse gasses normally associated with these conditions. If things move according to plans, ‘KERS’ could be a boon to the automotive world!

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