6.

Flywheels
 6.1 Introduction

• A flywheel is an inertial
energy-storage device.
• It smoothens out variations in
the speed of a shaft caused by
torque fluctuations.
• It is commonly used in
– IC Engines
– Piston compressors
– Punch presses
– Rock crashers
6.2 Design of Flywheel

• Design Approach

– There are two major stages

1. Determining amount of kinetic energy

fluctuation in a cycle.

2. Calculating the required mass moment of

inertia (I) of the flywheel.
Design Parameters

• Speed fluctuation

• Average Speed

• Coefficient of speed fluctuation

Range of q:
• 0.01-0.05 for Precision
Machinery
• Up to 0.2 for Crashers
Design Equation

• The kinetic energy Ek in a rotating system is

• The change in kinetic energy of a system can be given

as,

It can also be written as

Design Equation (contd.)

• Thus, the mass moment of inertia I needed in the

entire rotating system in order to obtain selected
coefficient of speed fluctuation q is determined using
the relation
Geometry of Flywheel

(a) Solid Flywheel (b) Spoked Flywheel

Stresses in Flywheel

• Radial and Tangential (Hoop) Stresses

• Equations same as those developed for thick-

walled pressure vessels.