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KEEPING IT KINETIC
The ability of flywheels to store energy is explained by the
principles of inertia, angular velocity, and kinetic energy.
The equation for the energy (1) stored in a flywheel reads as
follows:
1
E= I 2
2
is energy (Joules),
(1) [1]
is the inertia of
1
2
2
I = m ( r 1r 2 )
2
(2) [1]
University of Pittsburgh
Swanson School of Engineering
Nathan
Harlow
Robert Scott
Johnson
The materials of the flywheel play a big role in
determining the efficiency of the system. In the past,
flywheels were often made of heavy materials such as steel.
Since the angular velocity affects the energy of the flywheel
more than the mass, it makes sense to decrease the mass,
because any excess mass increases the weight of the
vehicle, requiring more energy to move it, resulting in lower
efficiency. Also, with the flywheel rotating at speeds
exceeding 60,000 rpm, the material needs to be very strong
and durable. For these reasons, flywheels are made of a
carbon fiber filament wound rim that surrounds a steel hub
[1]. The following is a list of system specifications for the
kinetic energy recovery system that has been used in
Formula 1 cars:
Power 60kW
System Weight 25 kg
Flywheel Weight 5 kg
CVT Weight 5 kg
Nathan
Harlow
Robert Scott
Johnson
first high-tech flywheels were developed and tested in
Formula 1 cars as a way of recovering energy. This
increased the performance of the cars and gave them a small
boost coming out of turns [4]. Although they have not
reached consumer or public transit vehicles there are several
companies that have been testing and producing systems for
these applications. One of the main leaders in flywheel
technology is Flybrid Systems. They currently develop
KERS for commercial vehicle use. Volvo has been testing a
carbon fiber flywheel-based KERS that they are hoping to
release in the next few years. They claim that it can reduce
fuel consumption up to 20% and offer an extra 80
horsepower during initial acceleration [5].
Nathan
Harlow
Robert Scott
Johnson
FIGURE 1
ILLUSTRATION OF VARIOUS POSITIONS OF THE TOROIDAL CVT AND THEIR
OUTCOME [9]
FIGURE 2
PICTURE SHOWING THE DESIGN OF A MAGNETIC BEARING [10]
MAGNETIC BEARINGS
In contrast with conventional bearings that use balls to
reduce
rotational
friction,
magnetic
bearings
electromagnetically suspend a shaft eliminating contact
between the shaft and the bearing. Systems that use
magnetic bearings typically have two radial bearings and a
thrust bearing. The radial bearings consist of two main
parts. They have a stationary component called the stator
and a rotating component called the rotor. The stator is
comprised of a buildup of laminations shaped with poles.
The poles are then wound with coils of wire and an electric
current is passed through the coils to produce an attractive
force on the rotor which fits over the shaft.
Nathan
Harlow
Robert Scott
Johnson
energy between the flywheel and the shaft connected to the
transmission. Using a complete vacuum eliminates the need
for a vacuum pump and reduces the overall size of the
system. Ricardo, a company that develops flywheel-based
KERS, has taken this approach in their Kinergy system.
They use an array of permanent magnets to transfer the
energy between the flywheel and shaft. There is one
magnet that is attached to the shaft that the flywheel rotates
about and another that is attached to the external shaft. The
magnetic fields of the two magnets interlock with each
other producing an effect similar to that of two gears. This
enables the shaft that is connected to the transmission to
transfer energy to the flywheel without directly entering the
vacuum [4].
FIGURE 3
THE FLYBUS SYSTEM ATTACHED TO THE BUS TRANSMISSION. THE
BROWN COMPONENT IS THE FLYWHEEL CHAMBER, BLUE IS THE CVT,
AND GRAY IS THE EXISTING TRANSMISSION [12].
FLYBUS
Should anything happen to the actual flywheel module, it is
designed to be easily removed and replaced by a new one.
The system is much cheaper than its electrical counterpart
and because of the stop and start pattern of buses the
FLYBUS system would have a dramatic effect on fuel
consumption of city buses [11].
Nathan
Harlow
Robert Scott
Johnson
Another advantage is the ability of the flywheel to store
energy efficiently. As mentioned earlier, there is no
transformation to electrical or chemical energy as there is
with an electrical kinetic energy recovery system. This
greatly reduces energy losses in the system. Tests have
proven that flywheel-based KERS can recover and store
over 70% of the vehicles energy [1]. The only losses that
remain are those due to friction and air resistance. However,
the magnetic bearings and vacuum chamber mentioned
previously have been developed to minimize these effects.
Energy is transferred from the driveline to the KERS
during the deceleration of the vehicle. When this energy is
given to the flywheel, the flywheel acts as a brake, slowing
down the vehicle as it recovers the energy. Instead of
releasing the energy as heat, the energy is recovered. This
process reduces break wear. As a whole, the flywheel-based
KERS is designed to last the lifetime of the vehicle. In
addition, the system is low maintenance.
Another one of the concerns with a flywheel-based
KERS is safety. The flywheels found in a kinetic energy
recovery system can store up to 400 kJ of energy, which
means that failure while rotating at 60,000 rpm could cause
immense amounts of damage. To address this concern, the
flywheel housing doubles as a containment chamber in case
of failure. Efforts have been made to ensure the safety of the
system by conducting tests of system response time,
structural safety of the components, and crash test safety.
These tests have concluded that flywheel-based KERS are
safe and even meet the strict standards of Formula 1 racing.
It is important to manufacture each and every part of the
system to safety standards and thoroughly test the product
before it goes on the market. Engineers need to make sure
that the gyroscopic forces of the flywheel do not affect the
handling of the vehicle. This technology relies on specific
conditions in order to avoid catastrophic failure. For
example, if defective flywheel housings are put on buses
full of people, the passengers are put in serious danger. An
accident using this technology in early stages of
development could terminate further research and
production.
The flywheel-based KERS is not designed to be a standalone source of power for a vehicle like batteries are in
electric cars. It is designed for temporary energy storage
that is to be used frequently and in smaller amounts. Its
Nathan
Harlow
Robert Scott
Johnson
Any vehicle could be designed with a flywheel-based
kinetic energy recovery system, but the area most affected
by this technology would be any vehicle with a start-stop
cycle of driving. This includes a wide variety of vehicles,
both large and small. For example, this technology has
already been tested in FLYBUS, a flywheel hybrid system
developed for buses. Buses run routes that contain frequent
stops, so a KERS could make those routes more efficient.
This extends to all public transportation, such as school
buses, shuttles, and even taxis. The flywheel-based KERS
also has applications in delivery trucks, mail trucks and
garbage trucks that make frequent stops. As for other
vehicles, many smaller city cars could be outfitted with
these systems, which would far outnumber the vehicles in
other categories.
Better yet, it could be possible to retrofit existing
vehicles with a kinetic energy recovery system. This
includes the millions upon millions of cars, trucks, and
buses on the roads today. It could be proven to be cheaper to
install a flywheel-based KERS in a whole line of buses than
replace each bus with an entirely new model.
The overall energy saved in these groups would make a
huge impact on fuel consumption. By reducing fuel
consumption,
the
flywheel-based
KERS
lowers
environmental impact by decreasing harmful CO 2
emissions. It has been found that the amount of CO2 emitted
during the manufacturing of one flywheel KERS is made up
for within the first 12,000 km of driving [14]. In addition, as
opposed to a hybrid electric vehicle, a flywheel-based
mechanical hybrid does not have the harmful chemicals to
dispose of that are found in batteries. Sustainability is an
increasingly mentioned term that automobile manufacturers
focus on within the vehicle and outside the vehicle in the
environment.
REFERENCES
[1]Brockbank, C., & Cross, D. (2008) Mechanical Hybrid system
comprising a flywheel and CVT for Motorsport & mainstream Automotive
applications.
Torotrak.
[Online].
Available:
http://www.torotrak.com/pdfs/tech_papers/2009/sae_wc_2009_09pfl0922_kers.pdf
[2]Kaufmann, Rachel. (February 23, 2011) Upgrading the Electric Grid
with Flywheels and Air. National Geographic. [Online]. Available:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2011/2/110223-electricgrid-flywheels-compressed-air/
[3]Ragheb, M. (3 November 2010) Kinetic Energy Flywheel Energy
Storage.
UIUC.
[Online].
Available:
https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/mragheb/www/NPRE%20498ES%20Energy
%20Storage%20Systems/Kinetic%20Energy%20Flywheel%20Energy
%20Storage.pdf
[4](December 3, 2011) Reinventing the wheel.
The Economist.
[Online]. Available: http://www.economist.com/node/21540386 Accessed:
25 January 2012
[5](May 31, 2011) Volvo shows off KERS flywheel tech. Autoblog.
[Online]. Available: http://www.autoblog.com/2011/05/31/volvo-showsoff-kers-flywheel-tech-w-video/
[6] Boretti, Alberto. (8 June 2010) Comparison of fuel economies of high
efficiency diesel and hydrogen engines powering a compact car with a
flywheel based kinetic energy recovery systems. Sciencedirect. [Online].
Available:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360319910009663
[7]Johnston, Christopher. (August 11, 2010) High-Pressure Hybrids: FuelEfficient Hydraulic Vehicles Come of Age. Scientific American. [Online].
Available:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=hydraulichybrid-vehicle
[8]Harris, William. (April 27, 2005) How CVTs Work.
HowStuffWorks.com.
[Online].
Available:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/cvt.htm
[9]Vivani, Steffani. Toroidal System. What Would DaVinci Drive?
[Online]
Available:
http://www.odec.ca/projects/2007/viva7s2/toroidal2.htm
[10]Mraz, Stephen. (September 16, 2004) Magnetic Bearings Come of
Age.
MachineDesign.com.
[Online].
Available:
http://machinedesign.com/article/magnetic-bearings-come-of-age-0916
[11]Fuller, John, Atkins, Andrew. (2011) Hardware Development of
FLYBUS Flywheel Based Mechanical Hybrid Systems for Bus &
Commercial
Vehicles.
Torotrak.
[Online].
Available:
http://www.torotrak.com/pdfs/tech_papers/2011/Flybus_Paper_final.pdf
[12](November 16, 2010) Low-Cost Hybrid System Wins Award For
Heavy Goods Vehicle CO2 Reduction Technology. Newspress. [Online].
A TECHNOLOGY OF POTENTIAL
The flywheel-based KERS is certainly a technology of
importance and potential. With some work, this system
could increase the efficiency of hybrid vehicles. It would
reduce fuel consumption, and help preserve the
environment. Lower CO2 emissions may reduce air
pollutions in congested cities. It could be developed by
automotive companies worldwide for a fraction of the cost
7
Nathan
Harlow
Robert Scott
Johnson
Available:
http://www.newspress.co.uk/public/ViewPressRelease.aspx?
pr=25576
[13](6 September 2011) Flybus to start testing first flywheel hybrid bus.
Torotrak. [Online]. Available:
http://www.torotrak.com/pdfs/rns/2011/TOR7168%20Flybus%20LCV
%202011%20FINAL.pdf
[14] Hilton, J., Cross, D. Flybrid systems: breakthrough technology for
greener driving. The Royal Academy of Engineering. [Online]. Available:
http://innovationnow.raeng.org.uk/innovations/default.aspx?item=6
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First, we would like to thank the Hillman Library for
providing a great place to work. We would also like to thank
Beth Newborg for providing assistance on the paper.
Finally, we would like to thank Ryan Soncini, Matt
Castiglia, and Franklin Preuss for mentoring us about
writing technical papers.
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