active suspension revisited

[joseff]

The F1 tech reg prohibits "powered devices" in the suspension. What about *self-powered* then?

GM has a system called "magnaride" I think... in which a normal shock absorber is filled with hydraulic fluid that changes viscosity with magnetic field application. In other words, this shock absorber changes its damping rate by varying the fluid viscosity instead of the valving. They claim that it uses relatively very little power, and the fluid fully thickens (creating full lock) in 0.1 second or so.

You can see what I'm getting at.

What if you can generate enough electricity from normal shock absorber movements (eg. Seiko Kinetic watch), then you can have what is basically active suspension. Simple electronics will then tailor the shock absorber's reaction. Active suspension - but self-contained. ie, not *powered* in the usual sense; it simply responds to whatever the road throws at it, just like any normal shock absorber.

Granted, it still *is* a powered device and therefore should be illegal. But if you can make this system fully self-contained, it's totally invisible and will pass any inspection.

[shazzman]

hey this is preety cool stuff and new to me, I am really impressed with the time u mentioned it can change its viscosity, that is amazing, I'd love to know more about where u got this from??

[joseff]

The magnaride stuff? Just read american car mags... I read motor trend and R&T.

[RWC]

This IS interesting stuff,isn't it.
Actually some teams may allready have used it in F1 because it was specifically mentioned as being no longer allowed when the new electronic control regs came in this year.
What you say about fully self containing the system is neat.
But to make good use of it would NEED some form of outside control-unless they built a circuit map computor in each damper!
Not impossible.....!