FLYWHEEL GYROBUS

SUBMITTED BY:- UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF :

NAME :SUMANTA NAIK Ms. SASMITA JENA
ROLL NO.: 382105 (Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering)
REGD NO. : 1901105328 Mr. SRITAM PARIDA
BRANCH : ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING (Seminar Coordinator,Electcrical Engineering

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

 CONTENTS
 Introduction
 History
 Working principle
 Flywheel
 Contact blades
 Adavantages
 Disadvantages
 Future scope
 Conclusion
 Further developments
 References
 Thank you
 INTRODUCTION
 A gyrobus is an electric bus that uses flywheel energy storage, not overhead
wires like trolleybus.The name comes from the Greek language term for
flywheel,gyros.
 A gyrobus is a special bus which does not use a normal engine .it has a big
flywheel of steel or other materials (weighing about one tone) rotating at
very high speed.By rotating at such high speed ,flywheel stores large
amount of kinetic energy. The flywheel moves the wheels of the bus.
 At special stations,electric engines accelerate the flywheel so the bus can
still run.
 There are not many kind of buses because they are very expensive.
 HISTORY
Concept of a flywheel powered bus was developed and brought to
originality during the 1940s by oerlikon (of Switzerland),with the
intention of creating an alternative to battery – electric buses for
quieter,where full overhead –wire electrification could not be justified

Gyrobus G3,the surviving gyrobus in the world(built in1953) in the Flemish tramway and bus museum Antwerp
[source:deacademic.com]
 WORKING PRINCIPLE
Rather than carrying an internal combustion engine or batteries or connecting to overhead power lines,a gyrobus carries a large flywheel that
is spin at up to 3,000rpm by a “squirrel cage” motor/generator.
Power for charging the flywheel was sourced by means of three booms mounted on the vehicle’s roof.
Fully charged , a gyrobus could typically travel as far as 6km(3.7mi)on a level route at speed of up to 50 to 60km/h.

Gyrobus
[source:gyrobus-proaktiva.eu]
 FLYWHEEL
 A flywheel is a rotating mechanical device that is used to store rotational energy.
 Its work on the principle of conservation of energy.it basically stores energy int the
form of kinetic energy and deliver it whenever required.
 It operates by rapidly accelerating a rotor and retaining the energy in the system as
rotational energy.

Flywheel
[source:flywheel-amusingplanet.com]
The flywheel was positioned in the centre of the
chasis 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 0.7bar to lower “air” resistance .
In idle mode ,the flywheel could continue spinning
for more than ten hours.
Charging a flywheel took between 30seconds and
3minutes.
In normal operation operation the flywheel could
slow down from its initial 3000rpm to 2100rpm.
In emergencies the speed could further be reduced
to 1500 rpm , but this would negatively affect the
performance of the vehicle.

Interior of the Gyrobus G3

Souce:Wikipedia.com]
 CONTACT BLADES
 Power for charging the flywheel was sourced by means of three contact blades
mounted on the vehicle’s roof,which contacted changing points located as
required or where appropriate (at passenger stops en route ,or at terminal ,for
instance)
 Charging a flywheel took between 30 seconds to 3minutes ; in an effort to reduce
the charge time ,the supply voltage was increased from 380volts to 500volts/
 Given the relatively restricted range between charges , it is likely that several
charging stops would have been required on longer routes or in dense urban
traffic.

Contact blades of the gyrobus

[source:amusingplanet.com]
 ADAVANTAGES
 Quiet
 Pollution-free
 No fuel required
 Runs without rails
 No need of over head wire.
 Can operates flexibly at varying distances.
 DISADVANTAGES
 Weight : a bus which can carry 20persons and has a range of 5km(3.1mi) requires
a flywheel weighing 3tone.
 The flywheel which turns at 3000 revolution per minute,requires special
attachment and security because the external speed of the disk is
900km/h(560mph).
 FUTURE SCOPE

 By the help of new technologies we can do more experiments with the gyrobus so
that it can be a good option for our future.
 We have many technologies nowadays but still we are more friendly to use the
petrol diesel engine instead of this gyrobus with zero pollution.
 CONCLUSION

 One of the main obstacle facing the gyrobus was its inability to gain a firm market
presence and so cut down manufacturing costs through economy of scale.
 In today’s environment,many of the factors that disadvantage the gyrobus have
change.
 Fuel pricing are rising and concerns over pollution and smog have led to
experiments with such inefficient and dangerous storage technologies as hydrogen
cells
 Modern power electronics would help reduce power consumption whilst also
enabling faster charging modern materials could help reduce the overall weight of
the bus while retaining the required robustness.maybe the gyrobus is far from dead
 FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS
After the Gyrobus 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 "Autotram", 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
Capabus, which ran at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai. It was charged with electricity at
the stops - just like the Gyrobus was. However, instead of using a flywheel for
energy storage the Capabus utilized capacitors.
 REFERENCES

 Telkamp, H. J. M. Modelling for the control of energies in a switched

electromechanical power conversion system of a gyro bus. No. EMV-88-36. 1988.
[1].
 Plomer, J., and J. First. "Flywheel energy storage retrofit system for hybrid and
electric vehicles." 2015 Smart Cities Symposium Prague (SCSP). IEEE, 2015[2]
 Lappas, V., Richie, D., Hall, C., Fausz, J., & Wilson, B. (2009). Survey of
technology developments in flywheel attitude control and energy storage
systems. Journal of guidance, control, and dynamics, 32(2), 354-365.[3]