Electrocharger / Retrofit hybrid

I'll let everyone here be the judge.

http://www.sigmaautomotive.com/electrocharger/electrocharger.php

By the way, Hi! New to the forums. Currently own a 98 neon r/t 5spd dohc with some mods. Runs high 14's and I still manage 40mpg highway. Hoping to one day own a Golf tdi.. possibly with one of these hybrid motor setups if it pans out. Still doing some research on the vehicle though, not sure if I know what Im getting myself into financially. I'll be lurking and posting interesting things such as this. Nice being here, Joe

I don't get it. What the heck is this thing supposed to do? It's supposed to take the alternator load off of the engine? OOoohhh! That'll add lots of HP! That'll have the same effect of, oh, turning off all electronic equipment in the car if you need that kind of power. I am calling 'Snake Oil' on this product. I doubt that it'll do a heck of a lot. Sure, maybe on the drag strip where a fraction of a second of acceleration boost can help you, but then again, if you are THAT into the drag scene, you probably won't be driving a TDI anyhow. (Yes, I know, some pull off some fantastic numbers with their diesels, but they can't touch the highly modded gassers on average).

Sorry, but I just don't see this item being of that much usefullness.

No, It's a generator/motor. It converts motion from the crankshaft into electricity to charge up a rapid discharge battery. I don't know what means are used to change it to a motor using the stored electricity to add to the crankshaft, perhaps a wide open throttle switch is all that is needed.
What's interesting is that the 48 volt output requires a DC/DC convertor to power the original electrical in the vehicle. THAT supply of 12 volt electricity might be interrupted during the unit's operation as a motor if I understand the text correctly.
The 600 amperes at 48 volts works out to 28,800 watts, or about 38 added HP, not an insignificant amount. I don't see where it states how many "watthours" are available, meaning how long a time that 38 HP is available before the battery is depleted, just that it takes about 8 minutes to recharge.

I just figured out that the 38 HP over 8 minutes means that the engine has to exert almost 5 added HP for each of the eight minutes to recharge the battery. That equates to about 50% added load on a TDI at 60 mph.

Oh, and that 600 amperes requires a HUGE gauge cable.

Integrated Starter Generator (ISG) to be exact. 38 hp is what the motor is capable of, yet, the controller doesnt allow 600 amps of juice to be flowing constantly, it is more than a simple on/off switch. Also, it is substantially more than a 38 hp boost (take a look at the pulley configuration). They claim a "fleet option" is available which probably utilizes a larger pulley on the ISG.

600 amps is a lot of power to push through such a cable, but at 48 volts it shouldnt present to be much of a problem. I took a look in one of my welding text books last night and determined that the 2 gauge cable used to carry the current is more than sufficient.

The initial charge (0% to 100%) of the "super capacitor battery pack" would be an added 50% load (over an 8 min period), indeed. I imagine that it has some circuitry to allow an extended charge. The 8 minute figure they gave was probably going from 85% to 100% charge, which sounds reasonable. If you use the whole 2 minute wide open capability of this system, you could probably care less about mpg.

Look at it from their perspective. This company has been working with SAE, BMW, and a few automotive engineering firms to develop this product since late 1996. I doubt they would showcase this product at SEMA unless it really gives your vehicle some sort of advantage. The only real concern I have for this unit is side loading the engine bearings (They claim auto mfg's are okay with it...) and the period of time the super capacitors are able to hold a charge. Who cares about a 10% mpg increase if you spend an additional $3000 every few years to replace bearings and batteries.

Also, it is substantially more than a 38 hp boost (take a look at the pulley configuration).

Click to expand...

The pulley ratio will change torque into speed (rpm) or speed into torque, but the product of torque times speed will remain constant. The product of torque and speed is power. The power will not be increased above the 28,800 watts or 38.6 HP.

Actually you will loose a bit of HP to the pulley configuration. I don't remember off hand but thought it was about 5%?