Recovering Energy from Shock Absorbers (Levant Power)

In the past, I’ve written about harvesting power from human motion, including the idea of generating power from vibrational energy imparted from vehicles to road structures like overpasses. Some former MIT students, now entrepreneurs, have hit on a smart variation of this idea: They harvest power not via the road structures but via the vehicles’ shock absorbers.

From their company’s Web site:

Levant Power Corp. has identified an alternative energy source previously
untapped by vehicles: the suspension system. The energy of a vehicle traversing varying roads and terrain is significant and currently dissipated as heat through conventional shock absorbers.

Our product, GenShock, recovers this energy and utilizes it for fuel economy gains, providing additional onboard electricity. In addition to extending a vehicle’s range, GenShock improves ride quality via an adaptable, variable-damping suspension. GenShock is a turnkey replacement for standard shock absorbers, requiring minimal installation time and little to no maintenance.

File that under, “Ideas, Good.”