I'm toying with a project idea, but I've never worked with hydraulics
before. The project is a simplified version of the EPA's new
hydraulic-hybrid system they're testing out in a couple UPS trucks in
the near future. What I want to do is recover wasted energy from
braking and store the energy in a pressure tank. That energy would
then be pushed back onto the axle upon acceleration. Very similar to
how most gas/electric hybrids work nowadays.
My first hurdle so far is understanding how a hydraulic pump works. I intend to mechanically gear the axle to the input shaft of the pump. The pump would then draw fluid (gas or liquid, don't know yet) from a reservoir and pressurize a tank. What I would like to know is: If I then allow the flow to reverse back into the resevoir through the pump (say, during acceleration), will this in turn force the input shaft of the pump - which is connected to the axle - to rotate? And more generally, are there any serious flaws to my hypothetical design so far?
Thanks, Dan
My first hurdle so far is understanding how a hydraulic pump works. I intend to mechanically gear the axle to the input shaft of the pump. The pump would then draw fluid (gas or liquid, don't know yet) from a reservoir and pressurize a tank. What I would like to know is: If I then allow the flow to reverse back into the resevoir through the pump (say, during acceleration), will this in turn force the input shaft of the pump - which is connected to the axle - to rotate? And more generally, are there any serious flaws to my hypothetical design so far?
Thanks, Dan