The world’s first functional prototype of “electrical type” flywheel KERS developed by HAIKE has been successfully demonstrated via series of severe and systemic tests on the test rig mounted in National Engineering Laboratory of Electric Vehicles (NELEV) of Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) on Dec. 2, 2012.

Photo: HAIKE R&D team with the functional prototype and test rig

The functional prototype is conceived from HAIKE’s own patents on mechanical integration, electrical integration and system control. It is the first time to fully integrate the flywheel and planetary gear set with the adjustable speed motor and controller during the R&D process of flywheel KERS, achieving innovative electrical continuously variable transmission, high-power delivery, and high recovery efficiency of breaking energy.

In order to verify the characteristics of flywheel KERS, HAIKE cooperated with NELEV, the most advanced EV laboratory in China, to test the whole system with sophisticated testing facilities and authoritative technology support. The rotating speed of flywheel achieves as high as 15,000 rpm during the test. HAIKE implemented the test in a systematical, scientific, and cautious way to ensure the success of this unprecedented exploration in automobile drive train history.

The tests of functional prototype started from verifying the characteristics of each key component, followed by the tests of system characteristics and performance. HAIKE R&D team finally mastered the methods of multivariable composite tests in high safety on the status of various & complex working conditions simulated on the test rig with high flywheel rotating speed after the process of trial-and-error. The testing results, which conform well to the earlier analog simulation data and theoretical calculation results, demonstrate its significant capacity on high-power delivery, acceleration boosted and high recovery efficiency of breaking energy. This achievement shall lay a solid foundation for the future commercial production of “electrical type” flywheel KERS and is a remarkable milestone to this cutting-edge technology.

HAIKE’s partners provided valuable assistance during the R&D, assembly, and testing process of the functional prototype especially. BIT provided the most advanced testing facilities for HAIKE to conquer this cutting-edge technology, and many experts contributed to the assembly, debugging, and testing process. Together with its partners, HAIKE marched significantly towards the industrialization of flywheel KERS - a revolutionary technology which shall change the pace of vehicle power train.