Flywheel

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For other uses, see Flywheel (disambiguation).

Trevithick's 1802 steam locomotive used a flywheel to evenly distribute the power of its single cylinder.

G2 Flywheel Module, NASA

Flywheel movement
An industrial flywheel

A flywheel is a mechanical device specifically designed to efficiently store rotational

energy (kinetic energy). Flywheels resist changes in rotational speed by their moment of inertia.
The amount of energy stored in a flywheel is proportional to the square of its rotational
speed and its mass. The way to change a flywheel's stored energy without changing its mass is
by increasing or decreasing its rotational speed. Since flywheels act as mechanical energy
storage devices, they are the kinetic-energy-storage analogue to electrical capacitors, for
example, which are a type of accumulator. Like other types of accumulators, flywheels smooth
the ripple in power output, providing surges of high power output as required, absorbing surges
of high power input (system-generated power) as required, and in this way act as low-pass
filters on the mechanical velocity (angular, or otherwise) of the system.
Common uses of a flywheel include:

• Smoothing the power output of an energy source. For example,

flywheels are used in reciprocating engines because the active
torque from the individual pistons is intermittent.
• Energy storage systems
• Delivering energy at rates beyond the ability of an energy
source. This is achieved by collecting energy in a flywheel over
time and then releasing it quickly, at rates that exceed the
abilities of the energy source.
• Controlling the orientation of a mechanical
system, gyroscope and reaction wheel
Flywheels are typically made of steel and rotate on conventional bearings; these are generally
limited to a maximum revolution rate of a few thousand RPM.[1] High energy density flywheels
can be made of carbon fiber composites and employ magnetic bearings, enabling them to
revolve at speeds up to 60,000 RPM (1 kHz).[2]
Carbon-composite flywheel batteries have recently been manufactured and are proving to be
viable in real-world tests on mainstream cars. Additionally, their disposal is more eco-friendly
than traditional lithium ion batteries.[3]

Contents

• 1Applications
 • 2History
• 3Physics
• 4Material selection
• 5Table of energy storage traits
o 5.1High-energy materials
• 6Design
o 6.1Rimmed
o 6.2Shaftless
• 7See also
• 8References
• 9External links

Applications[edit]

A Landini tractor with exposed flywheel

Flywheels are often used to provide continuous power output in systems where the energy
source is not continuous. For example, a flywheel is used to smooth fast angular velocity
fluctuations of the crankshaft in a reciprocating engine. In this case, a crankshaft flywheel stores
energy when torque is exerted on it by a firing piston, and returns it to the piston to compress a
fresh charge of air and fuel. Another example is the friction motor which powers devices such
as toy cars. In unstressed and inexpensive cases, to save on cost, the bulk of the mass of the
flywheel is toward the rim of the wheel. Pushing the mass away from the axis of rotation
heightens rotational inertia for a given total mass.

Modern automobile engine flywheel

A flywheel may also be used to supply intermittent pulses of energy at power levels that exceed
the abilities of its energy source. This is achieved by accumulating energy in the flywheel over a
period of time, at a rate that is compatible with the energy source, and then releasing energy at a
much higher rate over a relatively short time when it is needed. For example, flywheels are used
in power hammers and riveting machines.
Flywheels can be used to control direction and oppose unwanted motions, see gyroscope.
Flywheels in this context have a wide range of applications from gyroscopes for instrumentation
to ship stability and satellite stabilization (reaction wheel), to keep a toy spin spinning (friction
motor), to stabilize magnetically levitated objects (Spin-stabilized magnetic levitation)
Flywheels may also be used as an electric compensator, like synchronous compensator, that can
either produce or sink reactive power but would not affect the real power. The purposes for that
application are to improve the power factor of the system or adjust the grid voltage. Typically, the
flywheels used in this field are similar in structure and installation as the synchronous motor (but
it is called synchronous compensator or synchronous condenser in this context). There are also
some other kinds of compensator using flywheel, like the single phase induction machine. But
the basic ideas here are the same, the flywheels are controlled to spin exactly at the frequency
which you want to compensate. And for synchronous compensator, you also need to keep the
voltage of rotor and stator in phase, which is the same as keeping the magnetic field of rotor and
the total magnetic field in phase (in the rotating frame reference).

History[edit]
The principle of the flywheel is found in the Neolithic spindle and the potter's wheel, as well as
circular sharpening stones in antiquity.[4]
The mechanical flywheel, used to smooth out the delivery of power from a driving device to a
driven machine and, essentially, to allow lifting water from far greater depths (up to 200 metres
(660 ft)), was first employed by Ibn Bassal (fl. 1038–1075), of Al-Andalus.[5][6][7][8]
The use of the flywheel as a general mechanical device to equalize the speed of rotation is,
according to the American medievalist Lynn White, recorded in the De diversibus artibus (On
various arts) of the German artisan Theophilus Presbyter (ca. 1070–1125) who records applying
the device in several of his machines.[4][9]
In the Industrial Revolution, James Watt contributed to the development of the flywheel in
the steam engine, and his contemporary James Pickard used a flywheel combined with
a crank to transform reciprocating motion into rotary motion.

Physics[edit]

A flywheel with variable moment of inertia, conceived by Leonardo da Vinci.

A flywheel is a spinning wheel, or disc, or rotor, rotating around its symmetry axis. Energy is
stored as kinetic energy, more specifically rotational energy, of the rotor:

•
where:

• is the stored kinetic energy,

• ω is the angular velocity, and
 • is the moment of inertia of the flywheel about its axis of
symmetry. The moment of inertia is a measure of resistance
to torque applied on a spinning object (i.e. the higher the
moment of inertia, the slower it will accelerate when a given
torque is applied).

• The moment of inertia for a solid cylinder is ,

• for a thin-walled empty cylinder is ,

• and for a thick-walled empty cylinder is ,[10]

where denotes mass, and denotes a radius.

When calculating with SI units, the units would be for mass, kilograms; for radius, meters; and for
angular velocity, radians per second and the resulting energy would be in joules.
Increasing amounts of rotation energy can be stored in the flywheel until the rotor shatters. This
happens when the hoop stress within the rotor exceeds the ultimate tensile strength of the rotor
material.

•
where:

• is the tensile stress on the rim of the cylinder

• is the density of the cylinder

• is the radius of the cylinder, and

• is the angular velocity of the cylinder.

A flywheel powered by electric machine is really common. The output power of electric machine
approximately equal to the output power of the flywheel.
The output power of a synchronous machine is:

where:

• is the voltage of rotor winding, which is produced by field

interacting with the stator winding

• is stator voltage

• is the torque angle(angle between two voltages)

Material selection[edit]
Flywheels are made from many different materials; the application determines the choice of
material. Small flywheels made of lead are found in children’s toys. Cast iron flywheels are used
in old steam engines. Flywheels used in car engines are made of cast or nodular iron, steel or
aluminum.[11] Flywheels made from high-strength steel or composites have been proposed for
use in vehicle energy storage and braking systems.
The efficiency of a flywheel is determined by the maximum amount of energy it can store per unit
weight. As the flywheel’s rotational speed or angular velocity is increased, the stored energy
increases; however, the stresses also increase. If the hoop stress surpass the tensile strength of
the material, the flywheel will break apart. Thus, the tensile strength limits the amount of energy
that a flywheel can store.
In this context, using lead for a flywheel in a child’s toy is not efficient; however, the flywheel
velocity never approaches its burst velocity because the limit in this case is the pulling-power of
the child. In other applications, such as an automobile, the flywheel operates at a specified
angular velocity and is constrained by the space it must fit in, so the goal is to maximize the
stored energy per unit volume. The material selection therefore depends on the application.[12]
The table below contains calculated values for materials and comments on their viability for
flywheel applications. CFRP stands for carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer, and GFRP stands
for glass-fiber reinforced polymer.

Specific tensile
Material Comments
strength

200-2000 (compression
Ceramics Brittle and weak in tension, therefore eliminate
only)

Composites: CFRP 200-500 The best performance—a good choice

Composites: GFRP 100-400 Almost as good as CFRP and cheaper

The best metal, but expensive, difficult to work with,

Beryllium 300
and toxic to machine

High strength steel 100-200 Cheaper than Mg and Ti alloys

High strength Al
100-200 Cheaper than Mg and Ti alloys
alloys

High strength Mg
100-200 About equal performance to steel and Al-alloys
alloys

Ti alloys 100-200 About equal performance to steel and Al-alloys

 Lead alloys 3 Very low

Cast Iron 8-10 Very low[13]

The table below shows calculated values for mass, radius, and angular velocity for storing 500 J.
The carbon-fiber flywheel is by far the most efficient; however, it also has the largest radius. In
applications (like in an automobile) where the volume is constrained, a carbon-fiber flywheel
might not be the best option.

Angular
Energy Mass Radius Efficiency Energy density
Material velocity
storage (J) (kg) (m) (J/kg) (kWh/kg)
(rpm)

Cast Iron 250 0.0166 1.039 1465 30121 0.0084

Aluminum Alloy 250 0.0033 1.528 2406 151515 0.0421

Maraging steel 250 0.0044 1.444 2218 113636 0.0316

Composite: CFRP
250 0.001 1.964 3382 500000 0.1389
(40% epoxy)

Composite: GFRP
250 0.0038 1.491 2323 131579[14] 0.0365
(40% epoxy)

Table of energy storage traits[edit]

Geometric
shape factor
Angular Energy Energy
Flywheel (k) Mass Diameter Energy density
velocity stored stored
purpose, type (unitless – (kg) (cm) (kWh/kg)
(rpm) (MJ) (kWh)
varies with
shape)

Small battery 0.5 100 60 20,000 9.8 2.7 0.027

Regenerative
braking in 0.5 3000 50 8,000 33.0 9.1 0.003
trains
 Electric power
0.5 600 50 30,000 92.0 26.0 0.043[16][17][18][19]
backup[15]

For comparison, the energy density of petrol (gasoline) is 44.4 MJ/kg or 12.3 kWh/kg.
High-energy materials[edit]
For a given flywheel design, the kinetic energy is proportional to the ratio of the hoop stress to
the material density and to the mass:

could be called the specific tensile strength. The flywheel material with the highest specific
tensile strength will yield the highest energy storage per unit mass. This is one reason
why carbon fiber is a material of interest.
For a given design the stored energy is proportional to the hoop stress and the volume:

Design[edit]
Rimmed[edit]
A rimmed flywheel has a rim, a hub, and spokes.[20] Calculation of the flywheel's moment of
inertia can be more easily analysed by applying various simplifications. For example:

• Assume the spokes, shaft and hub have zero moments of

inertia, and the flywheel's moment of inertia is from the rim
alone.
• The lumped moments of inertia of spokes, hub and shaft may be
estimated as a percentage of the flywheel's moment of inertia,

with the majority from the rim, so that

For example, if the moments of inertia of hub, spokes and shaft are deemed negligible, and the

rim's thickness is very small compared to its mean radius ( ), the radius of rotation of the rim
is equal to its mean radius and thus:

•
Shaftless[edit]
A shaftless flywheel eliminates the annulus holes, shaft or hub. It has higher energy density than
conventional design[21] but requires a specialized magnetic bearing and control system.[22]
The specific energy of a flywheel is determined by

•
In which is the shape factor, the material's tensile strength and the density.
Typical flywheel has a shape factor of 0.3. Better designs, such as the shaftless flywheel, have a
shape factor close to 0.6, the theoretical limit is about 1.[23]

See also[edit]
• Dual-mass flywheel
• Flywheel energy storage
• Accumulator (energy)
• Diesel rotary uninterruptible power supply
• List of moments of inertia
• Clutch
• kBox
• Fidget Spinner

References[edit]
1. ^ "Flywheels move from steam age technology to Formula
1". Archived from the original on 2012-07-03. Retrieved 2012-07-
03.; "Flywheels move from steam age technology to Formula 1";
Jon Stewart | 1 July 2012, retrieved 2012-07-03
2. ^ "Breakthrough in Ricardo Kinergy 'second generation' high-
speed flywheel technology". 2011-08-21. Archived from the
original on 2012-07-05. Retrieved 2012-07-03., "Breakthrough in
Ricardo Kinergy ‘second generation’ high-speed flywheel
technology"; Press release date: 22 August 2011. retrieved 2012-
07-03
3. ^ "10 Need-to-Know Tech Concepts for
2012". popularmechanics.com. 3 January 2012. Archived from the
original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
4. ^ Jump up to:a b Lynn White, Jr., "Theophilus
Redivivus", Technology and Culture, Vol. 5, No. 2. (Spring, 1964),
Review, pp. 224–233 (233)
5. ^ Letcher, Trevor M. (2017). Wind energy engineering: a
handbook for onshore and offshore wind turbines. Academic
Press. pp. 127–143. ISBN 978-0128094518. Ibn Bassal (AD
1038–75) of Al Andalus (Andalusia) pioneered the use of a
flywheel mechanism in the noria and saqiya to smooth out the
delivery of power from the driving device to the driven machine
6. ^ Ahmad Y Hassan, Flywheel Effect for a Saqiya.
7. ^ "Flywheel" (PDF). themechanic.weebly.com.
8. ^ Shabbir, Asad. "The Role of Muslim Mechanical Engineers In
Modern Mechanical Engineering Dedicate to12th Century Muslim
Mechanical Engineer" (PDF). Islamic Research Foundation
International, Inc.
9. ^ Lynn White, Jr., "Medieval Engineering and the Sociology of
Knowledge", The Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 44, No. 1. (Feb.,
1975), pp. 1–21 (6)
10. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on
2012-01-05. Retrieved 2011-12-01. (page 10, accessed 1 Dec
2011, Moment of inertia tutorial
11. ^ "Flywheels: Iron vs. Steel vs. Aluminum". Fidanza
Performance. Archived from the original on 10 October 2016.
Retrieved 6 October 2016.
12. ^ Ashby, Michael (2011). Materials Selection in Mechanical
Design(4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann. pp. 142–
146. ISBN 978-0-08-095223-9.
 13. ^ Totten, George E.; Xie, Lin; Funatani, Kiyoshi (2004). Handbook
of Mechanical Alloy Design. New York: Marcel Dekker. ISBN 978-
0-8247-4308-6.
14. ^ Kumar, Mouleeswaran Senthil; Kumar, Yogesh
(2012). "Optimization of Flywheel Materials Using Genetic
Algorithm"(PDF). Acta Technica Corviniensis-Bulletin of
Engineering. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 November
2015. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
15. ^ "Flywheel Energy Storage, UPS, Battery-Free, Active Magnetic
Bearing, Magnetic Bearings, Kinetic Energy, Magnet Motor
Generator, Bi-Directional Power Converter -
Calnetix". www.calnetix.com. Archived from the original on 1
November 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
16. ^ "Flywheel Energy Calculator". Botlanta.org. 2004-01-
07. Archived from the original on 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2010-11-
30.
17. ^ "energy buffers". Home.hccnet.nl. Archived from the originalon
2010-11-26. Retrieved 2010-11-30.
18. ^ "Message from the Chair | Department of Physics | University of
Prince Edward Island". Upei.ca. Archived from the original on
2010-04-30. Retrieved 2010-11-30.
19. ^ "Density of Steel". Hypertextbook.com. 1998-01-
20. Archivedfrom the original on 2010-11-25. Retrieved 2010-11-
30.
20. ^ Flywheel Rotor And Containment Technology Development,
FY83. Livermore, Calif: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ,
1983. pp. 1–2
21. ^ Li, Xiaojun; Anvari, Bahar; Palazzolo, Alan; Wang, Zhiyang;
Toliyat, Hamid (2018-08-14). "A Utility Scale Flywheel Energy
Storage System with a Shaftless, Hubless, High Strength Steel
Rotor". IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics. 65 (8): 6667–
6675. doi:10.1109/TIE.2017.2772205.
22. ^ Li, Xiaojun; Palazzolo, Alan (2018-05-07). "Multi-Input–Multi-
Output Control of a Utility-Scale, Shaftless Energy Storage
Flywheel With a Five-Degrees-of-Freedom Combination Magnetic
Bearing". Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and
Control. 140 (10): 101008. doi:10.1115/1.4039857. ISSN 0022-
0434.
23. ^ Genta, G. (1985), "Application of flywheel energy storage
systems", Kinetic Energy Storage, Elsevier, pp. 27–
46, doi:10.1016/b978-0-408-01396-3.50007-
2, ISBN 9780408013963

• Weissbach, R. S.; Karady, G.G.; Farmer, R. G. (April 2001). "A

combined uninterruptible power supply and dynamic voltage
compensator using a flywheel energy storage system". IEEE
Transactions on Power Delivery. 16 (2): 265–
270. doi:10.1109/61.915493. ISSN 0885-8977.
• "Synchronous Generators I" (PDF).
• https://pserc.wisc.edu/documents/general_information/presentations/pr
esentations_by_pserc_university_members/heydt_synchronous_mach
_sep03.pdf

External links[edit]
Look up flywheel in
Wiktionary, the free
dictionary.
 • Media related to Flywheels at Wikimedia Commons
• Flywheel batteries on Interesting Thing of the Day.
• Flywheel-based microgrid stabilisation technology., ABB
• PowerStore

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