Quote:
Originally Posted by gwyllion
It is not clear to me to what extent Audi will use the Porsche/Williams system. Will they connect the electric motors to the front wheels or to the gearbox? Will they only use the flywheel battery or also additional components (electronics, electric motor/generators, ...)?
Personally I doubt that it will be connected to the front wheels, because there is not enough space in the nose.
One of the motivations for the V6 TDI engine was that it is short enough to fit a hybrid system between the engine and the gearbox. On the spy pictures from Sebring a bulge can be seen in the engine cover, presumably because this is where the flywheel is positioned: http://www.mulsannescorner.com/AudiR...2011-anon1.JPG
It makes no sense to recover and store more energy than you are allowed to release. So fully discharging the battery after every braking zone seems the way to go.
That means that the battery capacity should be only slightly bigger than 500 kJ. Coincidence or not, but the specification of the Flybrid CFT KERS quotes "540 kJ of storage"  |
When you're able to store more energy you don't have to have that 2 seconds of braking to get it fully recharged because there is still a bit left... That means once it's charge has been released you only need to recharge with a sub 2 second brake event to get the maximum useable amount again.