1. NEW HORIZON COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
TECHNICAL SEMINAR ON
: KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY
SYSTEM (KERS)
DEPARTMENT OF AUTOMOBILE
ENGINEERING
Department of Automobile Engineering
NHCE
SUBMITTED BY
HARSHITH R SHETTY
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2. CONTENTS
 INTRODUCTION TO KERS
 KERS-HISTORY
 WORKING PRINCIPLE
 BASIC ELEMENTS OF KERS
 TYPES OF KERS
 KERS IN FORMULA ONE
 FEATURES OF KERS IN F1
 ADVANTAGES OF KERS
 LIMITATIONS OF KERS
 CONCLUSION
 REFERENCES
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3. INTRODUCTION TO KERS
 The acronym KERS stands for Kinetic
Energy Recovery System.
 KERS is a collection of parts which takes
some of the kinetic energy of a vehicle
under deceleration, stores this energy and
then releases this stored energy back into
the drive train of the vehicle, providing a
power boost to that vehicle.
 For the driver, it is like having two power
sources at his disposal, one of the power
sources is the engine while the other is the
stored kinetic energy.
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4. KERS-HISTORY
 In development since 90’s . It was first
introduced to the general public through
the 2009 series of Formula one motor
sport.
 KERS builders, Flybrid Systems
demonstrated a working Formula One-
spec device at the Autosport International
show. (24kg , 400kj energy capacity,
power boost-60kw).
 FIA introduced KERS in 2009 series to
Increase Overtaking and also as defensive
tool to block faster car
 But many F1 teams Opposed it , as it was
an Expensive system, so it was banned in
2010 season
 But with improvements and increase in
manufacturers for KERS it was
reintroduced in 2011.
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5. WORKING PRINCIPLE
 Basically, it’s working principle involves storing the energy
involved with deceleration and using it for acceleration. That
is, when a car breaks, it dissipates a lot of kinetic energy as
heat. The KERS tries to store this energy and converts this
into power, that can be used to boost acceleration.
 A standard KERS operates by a ‘charge cycle and a ‘boost
cycle’. As the car slows for a corner, an actuator unit captures
the waste kinetic energy from the rear brakes. This collected
kinetic energy is then passed to a Central Processing Unit
(CPU) and onto the storage unit. The storage unit are
positioned centrally to minimize the impact on the balance of
the car.
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7. BASIC ELEMENTS OF KERS
In essence a KERS systems is simple, you need a component for
generating the power, one for storing it and another to control it
all. Thus KERS systems have three main components:
1. The MGU (Motor/Generator Unit)
2. The PCU (Power Control Unit)
3. The batteries/flywheel. (Power Storage Unit)
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8. BASIC ELEMENTS OF KERS
 Its a single unit which has both motor-
generator rotor coils wound around a single
rotor, and both coils share the same outer
field coils working in two modes.
 The MGU both creates the power for the
batteries when the car is braking, then
return the power from the batteries to add
power directly to the engine, when the
KERS button is deployed.
The MGU (Motor/Generator Unit)
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9.  It serves two purposes, to invert & control
the switching of current from the batteries
to the MGU and to monitor the status of
the individual cells with the battery.
 Managing the battery is critical as the
efficiency of a pack of Li-ion cells will drop
if one cell starts to fail. A failing cell can
overheat rapidly and cause safety issues.
As with all KERS components the PCU
needs cooling.
The PCU (Power Control Unit)
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10. It stores power for immediate usage
and gives power as and when
required. Flywheel used in
Mechanical KERS and Batteries are
used in Electrical KERS
The Batteries/Flywheel (Power Storage Unit)
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11. TYPES OF KERS
The KERS can be divided in the way they convert the energy and
how that energy is stored within the vehicle. Depending on this,
KERS has two types:
1. Mechanical Kinetic Energy Recovery System
2. Electrical Kinetic Energy Recovery System
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12.  The mechanical KERS system has a flywheel
as the energy storage device and it does
away with MGUs by replacing them with a
transmission to control and transfer the
energy to and from the driveline.
 The system utilizes a flywheel as the energy
storage device and a Continuously Variable
Transmission (CVT) to transfer energy to
and from the driveline to the rotating
flywheel.
 The transfer of the vehicle kinetic energy to
the flywheel kinetic energy reduces the
speed of the vehicle and increases the speed
of the flywheel. The transfer of the flywheel
kinetic energy to the vehicle kinetic energy
reduces the speed of the flywheel and
increases the speed of the vehicle.
Mechanical Kinetic Energy Recovery System
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14.  In electrical KERS, braking rotational force is captured by an electric motor /
generator unit (MGU) mounted to the engines crankshaft.
 This MGU takes the electrical energy that it converts from kinetic energy and stores it
in batteries. The boost button then summons the electrical energy in the batteries to
power the MGU which in turn powers boosts the driveline
Electrical Kinetic Energy Recovery System
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16. ADVANTANGE OF MECHANICAL KERS OVER
ELECTRICAL KERS
 In electrical KERS , energy has to be converted twice , where as
in Mechanical no need of conversion. Hence electrical energy
conversion efficiency is 31- 34 % where as in mechanical KERS
its 70%
 Energy lose in Electrical KERS is more , Whereas not so much in
Mechanical KERS
 Lithium-ion batteries take 1-2 hours to charge completely due to
low specific power hence not good for F1 , so they use Super
Capacitor.
 Chemical batteries heat up during charging process and could
cause the batteries to lose energy over the cycle or worse even
explode.
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17.  KERS was introduced by the International
Automobile Federation (FIA) with a view to
increase overtaking during Formula One Grand
Prix races, as the boost button provides extra
power. In effect, the KERS has also been used
to act as a defensive tool to block a faster car,
inhibiting overtaking.
 In the 2009 season KERS was not a huge
success, the system had a FIA cap on the
amount of energy that could be re-used, only
400kJ could be stored, which when used for
6.7s per lap, the car gained some 80hp. Thus
although a 0.3s boost to lap times was
achieved, the system was ultimately limited in
its potential to improve lap times.
KERS IN FORMULA ONE
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The original CVT based Formula One KERS

18.  The original Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) was a
small and light device designed to meet the FIA regulations for
the 2009 Formula One season.
The key system features were:
 A flywheel made of steel and carbon fibre that rotated at over
60,000 RPM inside an evacuated chamber
 The flywheel casing featured containment to avoid the escape
of any debris in the unlikely event of a flywheel failure
 The flywheel was connected to the transmission of the car on
the output side of the gearbox via several fixed ratios, a clutch
and a Continuously Variable Transmission
 60 kW power transmission in either storage or recovery
 400 kJ of usable storage (after accounting for internal losses)
 A total system weight of 25 kg
FEATURES OF KERS IN F1
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19. ADVANTAGES OF KERS
 Reduced CO2 Emissions/Pollutants
 Enhanced Performance
 High power capability
 High efficiency Storage and Recovery
 Long system life of up to 250,000 kms
 Low embedded carbon content
 Low fuel consumption.
 Very high speeds can be achieved.
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20. LIMITATIONS OF KERS
 Weight, particularly important in F1 cars
 The energy recovery system is functional only when
the car is moving.
 The recovery system must be controlled by the
same electronic control unit.
 It is very costly. Engineers are trying hard to make
it more cost effective.
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21. CONCLUSION
 It’s a technology for the present and the future because it’s
environment-friendly, reduces emissions, increases
efficiency and is highly customizable and modifiable.
Adoption of a KERS may permit regenerative braking and
engine downsizing as a means of improving efficiency and
hence reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
 The KERS have major areas of development in power
density, life, simplicity, effectiveness and first and foremost
the costs of the device. Applications are being considered
for small, mass-production passenger cars, as well as luxury
cars and Trucks.
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22. REFERENCES
 saeindia.org
 autosport.com
 Shell Engineering
 Formula One
 Torotrak
 Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems for Racing Cars, by Alberto Boretti
 Sorniotti, Aldo, and Massimiliano Curto . "Racing Simulation of a Formula 1 Vehicle
with Kinetic Energy Recovery System."
 http://www.oxbridgewriters.com/essays/engineering/kers.php
 http://f1.wikia.com/wiki/Kinetic_Energy_Recovery_System
 http://formula1.about.com/od/drivers/a/Driver_Weights.htm
 http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2009/01/11/kers-explained-how-a-mechanical-kinetic-
energy-recovery-system-works/
 http://www.racecar-engineering.com/articles/f1/flywheel-hybrid-systems-kers/
 http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/understanding_the_sport/8763.html
 http://www.sportinglife360.com/index.php/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-
kers-in-a-formula-one-car-6650
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23. THANK YOU
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