FLYWHEEL Energy Storage Systems

Well put Boston.

All the power to 'em!

-Tom

 

I say go Brian and best of luck with it
if it works I want one for my VAWT

 

I'm not really working on such a project,...I'm just trying to keep a running record of what might be possible, and what new developments might make this a more viable idea.

I've been intrigued with these flywheel energy devices for years. I first suggested this alternative 'flywheel generator set' way back in 1974...wow that's 36 years ago.... Guess I forgot my age, and some of those technologies that looked so promising in my youth.

Happy New Years everyone

 

I am working with a fellow named Dave Paden, one of the principals of LaunchPoint, http://www.launchpnt.com/portfolio/energy-storage-flywheel.html, on an unrelated project. The stuff they do is mostly for defence - Boeing, Nasa, places like that but when this type of technology is leading edge, expect them to be near it or a part of it. A nice flywheel like what I think you would want, exists in their lab now. It would now be cheaper to burn dollars for energy but when it makes it to market, I think you'll like it. The pics might give you an idea of what one system can look like.

 

Formula 1 Racing...Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems

The rule changes we're most interested in are those concerning the introduction of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) that will eventually make every future Formula One race car a hybrid. KERS is not mandatory in 2009 but will be in 2010 and as a result some teams who have no chance of challenging for the world championship have opted not to use KERS immediately. To remain competitive in 2009, the usual race winning teams will all be running KERS this weekend and for the full season.

The FIA rules governing KERS are fairly simple but very restrictive. From this season teams are allowed to use KERS to draw 60 Kw of energy from the rear axle on the car, which can be stored up to a total of 400kJ (111 watt hour) of energy per lap, to be reused in the form of a 'boost' button. In effect the system uses regeneration to collect and store energy during braking which allows the drivers to use 60 Kw (82 hp) for 6.6 seconds per lap. The teams are free to choose between either mechanical or electric hybrid systems. Of the ten teams in Formula One, all bar one have chosen the electric hybrid system with only Williams pioneering a flywheel mechanical system.
........

.....Williams have decided to take on the task of being the only team in the field to develop a flywheel system and to do so without the resources of a major manufacturer behind them. Williams will run Toyota engines, but more on Toyota in a moment. They acquired of a minority shareholding in Automotive Hybrid Power Limited, a company developing high-energy composite flywheels for use in energy recovery systems. The Williams Hybrid Power system will use a flywheel spinning at up to 40,000 rpm. It has been reported that the flywheel systems is still being bench tested and has not been track tested as yet. This may result in Williams not debuting their KERS until Round 7 of the 2009 world championship which takes place in Turkey in early June.

http://www.gizmag.com/formula-one-kers/11324/

 

Boeing's Flywheel Work

An overview of Boeing flywheel energy storage systems with high-temperature superconducting bearings:
http://iopscience.iop.org/0953-2048/23/3/034021/pdf/0953-2048_23_3_034021.pdf

 

After reading the Boeing paper I am not optimistic about the future for flywheel storage, but to be honest I felt the same before reading it.

A 3 kW electrical storage system with a net weight of 132 kg. isn't exactly what the world has been waiting for.

 

Flywheels Land in Stephentown, New York

I read some interesting news recently that has to do with the power grid. A $69 million dollar battery farm was officially inaugurated on July 12th in Stephentown, New York. This is not your usual battery farm. No lithium-based batteries here.

Instead, the farm is using 200 flywheels from Beacon Power Corporation to store excess power on New York’s electrical grid, which can be restored to the grid within seconds when needed.

You may recall that in December 2010, Popular Mechanics named flywheel energy storage as one of the 10 Tech Concepts You Need to Know for 2011. As for myself, I have not come face-to-face with a flywheel since around 2003, when I used to attend the Power Electronics Technology show. How does flywheel energy storage work? A cylindrical assembly called a rotor (flywheel) is accelerated to a very high speed, maintaining the energy in the system as rotational energy. How do you get the energy back? By slowing down the flywheel, of course...

http://electronicdesign.com/Blogs/JoeDespositosBlog/tabid/727/entryid/187/Flywheels-Land-in-Stephentown-New-York.aspx


http://www.beaconpower.com/products/smart-energy-25.asp

 

Volvo is working on KERS flywheel tech

Volvo Car Corporation, Volvo Powertrain and SKF want to re-capture the energy that's normally lost as heat during braking and use it to reduce fuel consumption by up to 20 percent. Need a quick shot of muscle? Volvo's Flywheel Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) is hooked up to the rear axle to augment the conventionally driven front wheels with up to 80 horsepower to the back tires. This technology isn't new, but this consortium's implementation is the first time a system like this has been fitted to a car's rear axle while a conventional power unit drives the front wheels.

The KERS system's quick buildup and dissipation makes it most effective in urban driving, which, conveniently, is highly inefficient. The flywheel is made out of carbon fiber and spins in a vacuum at speeds up to 60,000 rpm. That stored energy allows a four-cylinder-powered car to step off the line with more authority, and since it's a through-the-road style system, a complex and expensive torque-split device isn't needed to reap the fuel economy benefits of supplementing (or even shutting off) the gasoline engine at opportune moments.

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/05/31/volvo-shows-off-kers-flywheel-tech-w-video/

 

Another Electric Powered Race Car

Not a flwheel energy storage one, but electric drive and regeneration

Drayson Racing Technologies and the Lola Cars group have just revealed what is intended to be the fastest electric-powered racing car in the world. The Lola-Drayson B12/69EV features Drayson's brand new 4X2-640 electric drivetrain, inductive charging, composite battery power, moveable aerodynamics and electrical regenerative damping. Its four electric motors are said to deliver a whopping 850 horsepower and a top speed of around 200 mph

...more here:
http://www.gizmag.com/lola-drayson-b1269ev-electric-racing-car/21212/

 

I think we are underestimating the safety issues here. In the examples of biggish flywheels listed above, all have given a lot of thought to where the energy ends up in the event of a failure. A jet engine can transfer a lot of heat to its environment with mass flow and ablation of the housing. The flywheel farm has its units mounted in concrete silos for thermal containment. A car's rear axle can absorb a lot of heat. If the flywheel in the differential was surrounded by some hdpe, it would get squirted down the axle tube when it vaporised. Once you get to energy densities greater than a lead acid battery, you have to give serious thought to where the heat is going to go and to how fast it gets there. You have to either take advantage of your environment, use existing heavy structures that can be used for a secondary heat sink, or you have to add weight to absorb heat and keep peak temps acceptable. The most fundamental difference between chemical potential energy and kinetic energy is the ability to fuse the former. Where are you going to put one of these on a boat? In a pod would work ok. Maybe inside a deck post supporting a mast step. Inside a diesel or gearbox would work if you are prepared to sacrifice them in the event of a failure. I guess you could build it into the keel ballast. If you put one in a catamaran, you could use it to right the boat in case of capsize. Just engage clutch

 

Chrysler had that race car years ago..promised all sorts of wonderful things etc etc but

"The Chrysler Patriot was a turbine-electric hybrid sports-prototype racing car utilizing flywheel energy storage, built by Chrysler in 1993 as a concept car but with the express intent of winning the Le Mans 24 Hour Race.[1]
The traction engine was a four-pole, three-phase, 525-volt AC induction motor, weighing 143 pounds (65 kg), with a maximum speed of 24,000 rpm; it had an aluminum housing, was lubricated by oil, and had an 8:1 motor to final drive ratio. Electrical power was supplied by a water-cooled, three-phase alternator which was built into a two stage gas turbine, fueled with liquified natural gas, running at 50,000 rpm at low speed and 100,000 rpm at high speed, weighing 186 pounds. Additional energy for acceleration was provided by a 147 pound SatCon composite flywheel housed in a vacuum chamber running at 58,000 rpm, coupled to the drive train via three-phase permanent magnets in a Halbach array.[2]
The Patriot as first designed was different in many details from the final design, which had numerous compromises, according to its creator, Chrysler engineer Ian Sharp, who wrote that similar designs appear to be under consideration for Formula One racing in 2012.[1]
Although introduced with much fanfare as a great leap forward in alternative energy storage and efficiency, press releases regarding the Patriot faded away. It was later revealed that serious problems with the mechanical integrity of the flywheel could not be overcome, and protection from a shattering flywheel would exact too much of a weight penalty.[2]

 

Audi's Hybrid System uses a flywheel for energy storage

AUDI R18 E-TRON QUATTRO WITH WILLIAMS HYBRID POWER TECHNOLOGY MAKES STRONG START IN WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP



Williams Hybrid Power designed an entirely new, ultra-lightweight electric flywheel and associated power electronics for the Audi R18 e-tron quattro, delivering 150KW of power with a top rotor speed of 45,000 rpm. The key benefits of the WHP system are a high power density and correspondingly low mass, the ability to continuously deep power cycle, high efficiency energy transfer to and from the e-storage, and an insusceptibility to performance or life degradation over a wide range of operating temperatures. These defining features are highly suited to endurance racing and made the WHP flywheel the prime candidate for Audi’s project when compared to other technologies such as batteries, ultra-capacitors or mechanical flywheels.

http://www.williamshybridpower.com/news


....one key to the newer flywheel technology
"The next evolution was electrically-driven flywheels which do not require a CVT system thus avoiding added weight and reduced efficiency. Electrically-driven flywheels have another important advantage over their mechanically driven relatives in that vacuum integrity is easier to maintain as no high speed mechanical seal is needed. WHP's MLC flywheel is electrically driven."
**********************************************
Audi hints at production plans for flywheel tech

http://www.just-auto.com/comment/audi-hints-at-production-plans-for-flywheel-tech_id123019.aspx

***************************************************




This weekend, Audi’s R18 e-tron quattro hits the track at the World Endurance Championship (WEC) in Spa, Belgium. Not enough that the race car is powered by a V6 diesel engine. It also uses a flywheel as energy storage. Why should we care? Audi makes noises that this technology could soon show up in production cars.
Says just-auto:

“In the R18, a V6 diesel engine sends drive to the rear wheels, while for the front axle, the energy is electrically recuperated and fed into a flywheel. This can then be returned to the front wheels during acceleration. Of interest here is that Audi has chosen this technology over batteries. Why? According to Wolfgang Ullrich who heads up Audi’s Motorsport division, even the most advanced cells would have been too heavy.”

Ullrich says that this it not just tinkering with race toys:

“I can safely state that the things we’re testing with flywheel energy storage are of interest to our production colleagues too. The combination of different systems is an aspect that will have to be considered in various applications in the future.”

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/05/audi-vorprung-durch-flywheel/

...more here
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/articles/f1/flywheel-hybrid-systems-kers/

 

Flywheel is a great idea , the Swiss have been at it for 7-8 decades for some trolly cars.

At this point in time batteries seem a dead end , as do fuel cells.

With less than 500 years of oil left , we need to get started!!.

FF

 

Newly Found Reference Article on Chrysler's Patriot Project Race Car

This reference paper(s) came up per a link over on the 'Batteries Technology' subject thread.

Interesting summation for project failure by Ian Sharp (project director), and others:
http://www.allpar.com/model/patriot.html