Shakeel Avadhany and Zack Anderson are the CEO and COO, respectively, of Levant Power Corporation, which they co-founded in 2008. The initial product produced by Levant Power is the GenShock. Prior to the foundation of their corporation the two were students at MIT who, along with other engineering students, were studying regenerative braking such as that found on hybrid vehicles.
The brakes of a non-hybrid truck or automobile use friction to absorb kinetic energy and, thus, slow the vehicle. The kinetic energy, via friction, is turned into heat and dissipated. In a hybrid vehicle the kinetic energy, instead of being turned into heat, is transformed into electricity by changing the electric drive motors into generators and adding a load (charging batteries).
Heat is energy and wasted heat is wasted energy. When Shakeel Avadhany looked at the regenerative braking systems he began to wonder how much wasted heat was generated by other devices used to absorb kinetic energy. He turned his attention toward shock absorbers and, along with Zack Anderson and handful of other MIT students, began testing. They were surprised to find that, in the case of Class 8 trucks, as much as 6 to 8 kilowatts of power was being wasted as heat.
To recover that power they've designed a shock absorber, the GenShock, incorporating a small electric turbine, rather than restriction valves, to regulate the flow of hydraulic fluid; providing shock dampening. In initial tests, performed on a Humvee donated to the study by the Department of Defense, they were able to increase fuel mileage by 10%; the amount of fuel that would have been consumed by the engine driving the alternator.
Each GenShock shock absorber is capable of generating up to 1 kilowatt of electricity; the equivalent of 1.34 horsepower.
Further testing has shown a 3% to 5% increase in fuel mileage for Class 8 trucks equipped with the GenShock. Using GenShock shock absorbers on a Class 8 truck generates enough energy to replace the alternator and, possibly, power diesel/electric hybrid refrigeration units.
According to an article in The Economist: "Levant’s first target is the military market. (The) defense department is about to hand out $40 billion for the development of a new light tactical vehicle, and Mr Avadhany hopes the firm’s system will be part of such a vehicle. If that works, then civilian applications beckon, and local authorities will have yet another excuse not to fix the roads."
What I really like about the GenShock is that it's something that can be applied to existing equipment with very little extra effort. Trucking companies that have installed and tested GenShock shock absorbers indicate that their anticipated return on investment is roughly 90%; that's incredible and well worth looking into.





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