Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS)

One of the most significant technical introductions for the Formula One Race is the KERS. Formula One has always lived with an eco- unfriendly image and has lost in the race to road vehicle technology. Hence the introduction of KERS. It is a hybrid that is all set to revolutionize the F1 with eco- friendly, easy on the road, cutting edge technology.

KERS is an energy saving device that is fitted to the engines to transform some of the waste energy produced during braking into the most useful form of energy. The system stores the energy produced under brake in a reservoir and then lets out the stored energy under acceleration. The key purpose of the introduction was to improve the lap time and help to overtake. KERS is not to improve fuel efficiency or reduce a weight of the engine but is mainly introduced to improve the racing performance.

KERS is the brainchild of FIA president Max Mosley. An initiative was taken by F1 to display eco-friendliness and road relevance of the modern F1 cars.

The 3 main components of KERS:

• An electric motor positioned between the fuel tank and the engine is connected directly to the engine shaft driven by the crank to yield additional power.
• High voltage lithium-ion batteries used to store and deliver quick energy.
• A KERS control box supervises the working of the electric motor when charging and releasing energy

Working Principle:

Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems or KERS works on the basic principle of thermodynamics that states, Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but it can be converted from one form to another.

When a car is being driven it has kinetic energy and the same energy is transformed into heat energy on braking. It is the rotational force of the car that comes to stop in case of applying the brake and at that time some portion of the energy is wasted too. With the introduction of KERS system, the same not yet used energy is stored in the car and when the driver presses the accelerator the stored energy again gets converted to kinetic energy.

As per to F1 regulations, the KERS system gives an extra 85 bhp to the F1 cars in less than a few seconds.

This system takes the waste energy from the car’s braking process, store it and then reuse it to temporarily increase engine power. This and the diagram below shows the typical placement of the main components at the base of the fuel tank and illustrate the system’s basic functionality — a charging phase and a boost phase. In the charging phase,

kinetic energy from the rear brakes (1)

is captured by an electric alternator/motor (2),

controlled by a central processing unit (CPU) (3),

which then charges the batteries (4).

In the boost phase, the electric alternator/motor gives the stored energy back to the engine in a continuous stream when the driver presses a boost button on the steering wheel. The location of the main KERS components at the base of the fuel tank reduces fuel capacity by around 15kg, enough to impact the race strategy, particularly at circuits where it was previously possible to run only one stop.

Mechanical KERS, as opposed to the electrical KERS, illustrated here, work on the same principle, but use a flywheel to store and again use the waste energy.

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