Latest Invention: Shock Absorber that Powers a Car Using Pothole Power

One of the latest invention in technology was recently revealed by a team of researchers led by Shakeel Avadhany at Boston's Levant Power Corporation. The mechanical engineers managed to develop a system called GenShock, which represents a shock absorber that has the ability to partially power a vehicle driving through pothole-plagued locations. The device can also smooth the ride.

The invention is installed on a car. When hitting a small pothole in the road, hydraulic fluid spurts into a turbine, which afterwards starts rotating as fluid runs through it. In such a way the turbine powers a small electric generator. Scientists believe that their latest invention could someday be useful for hybrid vehicles.

Electronics incorporated in the system make the ride of a car through bumps smoother. Simultaneously it can generate electricity which the vehicle can use.

The first to test the system will be the U.S. military. With improved fuel efficiency the military cars will consume less fuel when driving through war zones. Besides, with a smoother ride it would be easier to handle the vehicles, making it possible for the soldiers to drive them faster through the areas.

According to Avadhany, an undergraduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, currently Levant Power Corporation is working on the development of a regenerative shock absorber, which will be used in the next-generation Humvee. If successful, the system will be incorporated in the heavy trucking and then be available for those who are into hybrid vehicles, informs National Geographic.

If the company's latest invention is installed on a military Humvee, the energy recuperated can be used to increase fuel efficiency by 3 to 10 percent, which corresponds to up to a 4 mile-per-gallon increase in fuel saving.

Karl Hedrick, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, who did not take part in the research, mentioned that the system works just like the regenerative braking technique, which is applied in some hybrid cars to generate power from energy discharged when a vehicle brakes.

"One could dump the extra energy in a battery instead of in the atmosphere. I don't know how significant this will be but it sounds good," he said.