Regenerative braking and motion recovery
Capturing energy when vehicles, lifts, cranes and motors slow down.
Recovery and reuse · Pressure, motion and waste fuels · No. 132
- Recovery and reuse
- Waste energy: Motion
Every time a container crane lowers a box, up to 89% of the hoisting energy could flow back as electricity.
Chart: Illustration: Regenerative braking and motion recovery
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
When a vehicle slows or a load is lowered, its motor can act as a generator instead of heating friction brakes. In EVs this helps lift overall efficiency to 87 to 91%.
Three things to know
- Braking energy is pure work, not heat, so a motor run backwards can turn most of it straight into electricity.
- On a DC metro, braking energy is wasted unless another train nearby is drawing power at that moment.
- Flywheels in the Gyrodrive bus system spin at up to 36,000 rpm and saved 20% of fuel in trials.
The journey
- 1 Moving massVehicle, lift, crane load or flywheel
- 2 BrakingMotor runs backwards as a generator
- 3 Power electronicsInverter cleans and routes the current
- 4 Store or shareBattery, flywheel, nearby train or grid
- 5 ReuseNext acceleration, lift trip or grid user