73metalman

Imagine if your alternator could become an electric motor during acceleration? Was just reading about the BAS (belt alternator starter) GM has now and an aftermarket application would be cool.

I picture just changing the back half of the alternator to have a controller, Maybe run a thicker power wire. Might need a split off harness to read the TPS signal. Most GM and Ford alternators are pretty standard so wouldn't need too many configurations.

hint hint wink wink vendors? Call it the smart alternator? For all the other effort we go through for more HP, you would think someone would've come up with this by now.

gofastwclass

iTrader: (2)

Most people here are more concerned about performance, cool factor and reliability than straight fuel economy (mostly in that order with the first two trading spots from person to person) and these vendors know that or they wouldn't still be in business. I'm also not sure it would work for a high compression V8 or give the operator enough benefit to not be annoying as hell.

A friend has a hybrid that turns a gas engine on and off at random times and I can't stand riding in it - but it is quiet. Each time the engine starts there is a noticeable "clunk" feel in the driveline. Nothing is loose, but a car guy can feel it. The fuel economy for city driving is OK, but highway can be beaten by one of my 12 year old cars when it was in factory trim - go figure.

I've been kicking around building an E-85 only GEN III / IV engine to see what kind of power / economy I could get from it. If I do, I'll post up the build.

chrisfrost

iTrader: (8)

The only thing I see with that that would be kind of costly is the fact that the modern time tested , proven alternator produces 3-phase a/c , then the rectifier bridge and the diode trio turn it into a mildly pulsed D/C , so to use it as an electric motor would require first an inverter , then a phase converter .

73metalman

I guess where I'm going with this is that if people will pay $100-$150 for a CAI, and hundreds of dollars on exhaust and it only gives them 5-10hp (usually only on the top end anyhow), when why not $100 extra for 3 or 4 HP for almost a full RPM range? In fact if you add in the fact that it could otherwise be dead weight during accel, you might be gaining 5 or 6 HP. In fact at some point in the life of the alternator you'd have to replace it.
Of course you'd need to factor in your battery, where either you'd need a slightly larger battery, or one that can take a little more abuse.

This would be nothing like a hybrid. It would only give a little extra power during accel, and otherwise be charging. It would only help assist a little almost like you just had a tailwind, you really wouldn't notice it. But yes, on a big enough V8, I doubt you'd notice. There's no reason it couldn't be reliable. I dunno, I think if someone designed it and actually tried it, you'd be surprised. Heck, you wouldn't even need to get a CARB number for it either, which often soaks up a lot of money of a manufactorer.

snketr

iTrader: (3)

Why not just go buy an electric compressor motor and bolt it up to your engine? Probably have the same benefit.

73metalman

The idea is to make something thats marketable and semi universal. GM and Ford have been using the same style alternators for years. In order to keep costs' down, the idea is to use the existing factory rotor and stator, just the electrics to it are changed.

And if you just hooked up an electric motor, now it's one more thing on your system you need to turn using up HP while you drive. Also you'd have to integrate it into your system.

I was talking to a friend of mine and the subject came up that you'd need two batteries. If you only had one battery system voltage would drop when the unit became a motor. So it would have to pull from one battery, but charge...to both the original and your extra battery.

The more I think about this, it would probably be more popular to the 4cyl tuners.