Regenerative braking system

A regenerative braking apparatus for a motor vehicle, comprising:

• at least one bank of springs including a plurality of springs in mechanical communication with a drive train of the motor vehicle;
• a coupler for selectively coupling and decoupling each of the plurality of springs of the at least one bank of springs with the drive train;
• and
• a control arrangement including a controller operable to select predetermined ones of the plurality of springs of the at least one bank of springs to be selectively coupled or decoupled with the drive train such that the predetermined ones of the plurality of springs are selectively compressed and decompressed in parallel.

A regenerative braking apparatus for a motor vehicle, comprising:

• a plurality of springs in mechanical communication with a drive train of the motor vehicle, wherein each of the plurality of springs has a predetermined spring constant;
• a coupler configured to selectively couple and decouple each of the plurality of springs to the drive train;
• and
• a control arrangement including a controller and a sensor, the controller operable to select predetermined ones of the plurality of springs to be coupled by the coupling means, wherein the control arrangement operably selects the predetermined ones of the plurality of springs such that a desired resultant spring constant is obtained, the desired resultant spring constant being determined by the controller and based upon a signal received from the sensor, wherein the sensor senses an acceleration and a deceleration of the motor vehicle.

A regenerative braking apparatus, comprising:

• a plurality of springs in mechanical communication with a drive train of the vehicle;
• a coupler configured to selectively couple and decouple predetermined ones of the plurality of springs to the drive train, the coupler operable to couple the predetermined ones to the drive train such that the predetermined ones of the plurality of springs are compressed during a deceleration of the vehicle and decompressed during an acceleration of the vehicle, wherein the coupler selectively maintains the predetermined ones of the plurality of springs in a compressed state;
• and
• a control arrangement operable to select the predetermined ones of the plurality of springs and operate the coupler to selectively couple and decouple the predetermined ones of plurality of springs to the drive train.

A method for storing and releasing energy generated during deceleration of a motor vehicle, the method comprising:

• incrementally storing excess energy generated during braking in a storage medium;
• maintaining the stored energy in the storage medium;
• and
• releasing the stored energy from the storage medium such that the stored energy is converted to at least one of mechanical energy to propel the motor vehicle or converted to electricity to supply electrical power to the motor vehicle.