The flywheel gets an update
One of the oldest and most widely-used forms of storing energy, the flywheel, is getting a much-needed update, making it more applicable to today's energy needs. The same tool that powers the pottery wheel and helps hybrid cars store spare energy could now help trains or buses get an extra boost.A team of engineers at the University of Texas at Austin, under request from NASA (who wanted a more efficient way to help store electricity the International Space Station), have developed a carbon-composite prototype flywheel that reached more than 50,000 rotations per minute. Not only does it have energy-saving benefits for space travel and research, but it can also help alleviate stress on the electric power grid by supplying extra boosts of reserve energy when demand is high, therefore alleviating blackouts.
Meanwhile, a company called LaunchPoint Technologies, based in Goleta, Calif., is improving upon the flywheel design in order to the reduce the centrifugal stress while still maintaining power. Their more hollow design is said to reach a capability of at least 1 megawatt-hour, which is more than 6 times the Austin team's record.
Castelvecchi, David. "Spinning into Control." Science News. 171.20 (2007): 312-313.
University of Texas Flywheel Spins to a Milestone Record
Labels: Advanced Energy
posted by Jessica Berkey @ 2:57 PM
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