Why one-way clutches, and why sprags

A suspension never stops changing direction, and a generator hates that. Spin a generator one way, then the other, and most of what you gain on one stroke you lose reversing it on the next.

A one-way clutch solves half the problem. Two of them, mounted in opposition, solve the other half.

We chose sprag clutches because they engage with almost no backlash and carry high torque in a compact ring, which matters when the whole assembly has to fit where a coil spring used to be.

What we are asking of them is harder than their usual job: they must engage and overrun again and again for years, inside a vehicle, through heat and grit. How they hold up is one of the first things the bench will tell us.