Seminar Report on

GYROBUS

Submitted to

Department of Electrical and Electronics

Engineering

By

SREELAKSHMI
(Reg No: 18B91A02L7)

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY

S.R.K.R ENGINEERING COLLEGE(A)

BHIMAVARAM

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the work contained in this seminar

report entitled “Gyro bus” submitted by
V.Sreelakshmi(18B91A02L7) to SAGI RAMA
KRISHNAM RAJU ENGINEERING COLLEGE,
Bhimavaram towards partial requirement of Bachelor of
Technology in SRKR Engineering College has been
carried out by him under my supervision and that it has
not been submitted elsewhere for the award of any degree.

Bhimavaram

534204

18TH MAY 2022

Seminar
Supervisor

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 Contents
S.No. Topic Pg.
Name No
1. Introduction 4
2. History 5
3. Working principle 6
4. Development 7
5. Advantages 8
6. Disadvantages 9
7. Future of Gyro Bus 9
8. Conclusion 10
9. References 11

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 INTRODUCTION

A Gyro bus is an electric bus that uses flywheel energy

storage, not overhead wires like a trolley bus. The name
comes from the Greek language term for fly wheel, gyros.
While there are no gyro buses currently in use commercially,
development in this area continues. A gyro bus is a
special bus which does not use a normal engine. It has a big
fly wheel of steel or other materials (weighing about one
ton) rotating at very highspeed (RPM). By rotating at
such high speed, the flywheel stores substantial amounts
of kinetic energy. This big wheel moves the wheels of
the bus. At special stations, electric engines accelerate
the flywheel so the bus can still run. There are not
many buses of this kind because they are expensive

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 HISTORY
The flywheel uses as a mechanical energy storage device
date back to the 11th century, according to Lynn White [80],
but only in the early 20th century, research on theoretical
stress limitations of rotational disks opened new possibilities
to flywheel design and applications [81]. In 1940s, a Swiss
company named Oerlikon have developed a flywheel-
powered bus, called gyro bus [82]. In 1960–70s NASA
programs have considered energy storage flywheels as a
possible storage medium for space missions

WORKING PRINCIPLE
Rather than carrying an internal combustion engine or
batteries, or connecting to overhead power lines, a gyro bus
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carries a large flywheel that is spun at up to 3,000 RPM by a
"squirrel cage” motor/generator.
The flywheel was positioned in the center of the chassis
between the axles. This disc weighing 1.5t and with a
diameter of 1.6m was enclosed in an airtight chamber filled
with hydrogen gas at a reduced pressure of 0.7 bar to lower
"air" resistance. The flywheel would spin at a maximum of
3000rpm.
Power for charging the flywheel was sourced by means of
three contact blades mounted on the vehicle's roof, which
contacted charging points located as required or where
appropriate (at passenger stops en route, or at terminals, for
instance).
To obtain tractive power, capacitors would excite the
flywheel's charging motor (Electric motor generator)
so that it became a generator, in this way transforming the
energy stored in the flywheel back into electricity.
In normal operation the flywheel could slow down from its
initial 3000 rpm to 2100 rpm. In emergencies the speed
could further be reduced to 1500 rpm.
A recharge from standstill could take 22 minutes.

DEVELOPMENT
The concept of a flywheel-powered bus was developed and
brought to fruition during the 1940s by Oerlikon (of
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Switzerland), with the intention of creating an alternative to
battery-electric buses for quieter, lower-frequency routes,
where full overhead-wire electrification could not be
justified. Rather than carrying an internal combustion engine
or batteries, or connecting to overhead powerlines, a gyro
bus carries a large flywheel that is spun at up to 3,000 RPM
by a "squirrel cage" motor .[1] Power for charging the
flywheel was sourced by means of three booms mounted on
the vehicle's roof, which contacted charging points located
as required or where appropriate (at passenger stops end
route, or at terminals, for instance). To obtain tractive power,
capacitors would excite the flywheel's charging motor so that
it became a generator, in this way transforming the energy
stored in the flywheel back into electricity. Vehicle
braking was electric, and some of the energy was recycled
back into the flywheel, thereby extending its range.
In 1979, General Electric was awarded a $5 million four-
year contract by the United States government, the
Department of Energy and the Department of
Transportation, to develop a prototype flywheel bus.
In the 1980s, Volvo briefly experimented with using
flywheels charged by a small Diesel engine and recharged
via braking energy. This was eventually dumped in favor of
using hydraulic accumulators. During the 1990s, CCM had
developed a flywheel for both mobile and stationary
applications.

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 ADVANTAGES
 Pollution-free (Pollution confined to generators on
electric power grid)
 Runs without rails (An advantage because the route can
be varied at will).
 Can operate flexibly at varying distances.

DISADVANTAGES
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 Weight: a bus which can carry twenty persons and has a range
of 20 km requires a flywheel weighing three tones.
 The flywheel, which turns at three thousand revolutions per
minute, requires special attachment and security because the
external speed of the disk is 900km/h.
 Driving a gyro bus, has the added complexity that the flywheel
acts as gyroscope that will resists changes in orientation, for
example when a bus tilts while making a turn, if the flywheel
has a horizontal rotation axis.
FUTURE OF GYROBUS
After the gyro bus was discontinued in all locations, there
have been a number of attempts to make the concept
work. Recently, there have been two successful projects,
though the original idea of storing energy has been
changed considerably: In Dresden, Germany there is the
“Auto tram,” a vehicle that looks like a modern tram, but
moves on a flat surface, not on tracks. It has run since
2005 and is powered by a flywheel, though the wheel is
small and only used to store energy from braking. The
main source of energy is a fuel cell. The second successful
vehicle was the Cpabus, which ran at the expo 2010 in
Shanghai. It was charged with electricity at the stops - just
like the gyro bus was. However, instead of using a
flywheel of energy storage the cap bus utilized capacitors.

CONCLUSION
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Since 1955 there have been some practical applications
of electro gyro buses. Such buses are equipped with a
flywheel unit consisting of an asynchronous motor and
generator coupled to a flywheel and electric traction
motors. The unwinding of the flywheel of an electro
gyro bus is accomplished with the aid if an electric
motor. The stored kinetic energy is sufficient for
travelling a distance if 4-5km. The efficiency of an
electro gyro bus is not better than 50 percent. The
weight-to-work ratio of the flywheel unit is 322 kg/kWh
(32 times greater than that of the currently used
electrochemical current sources). The unit operational
expenses of an electro gyro bus are 5 percent greater
than those of a trolleybus and 20 percent greater than
those of an autobus, Experimental electro gyro buses
have been operated on some interurban runs, for
instance, between Ghent and Merelbeke (Belgium). The
electrogyrobus is an auxiliary means of passenger
transport on short runs; it is also usable in transporting
dangerously explosive objects.

REFERENCES
*"the GYROBUS: Something New Under the Sun?".
Motor Trend: p. p37. January 1952.
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*Access to Energy Newsletter, Archive Volume:
Volume 7, Issue/No.: Vol. 7, No. 8, Date: April 01,
1980, 03:23 PM, Title: Anniversary of the Grand.

*Disaster, Artide: The Flywheel Bus is Back

*Center View (CTE) Spring 2005

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