Research and Development for Inertial Energy Storage Based on a Flexible Flywheel.

摘要

A design concept for a nonrigid energy storage flywheel suitable for home or farm use has been investigated. The distinguishing feature of this flexible flywheel is its construction from high strength fibers (such as synthetic rope) with no bonding agent. The work done to date indicates that the flexible flywheel is self balancing, safe, has a high energy density capability (60 Wh/lb), and should be simple and economical to manufacture. The major thrust of the contract work has been to find a solution to the subsynchronous whirling instability, a problem common to all high speed flywheels, which is especially severe in the flexible flywheel due to the high supercritical speed ratio and the large amount of internal friction. A unique gimbal support system has been designed and analyzed and tested on this contract which stabilizes the flywheel without the need for a squeeze film damper. The conceptual design was developed for a flexible flywheel energy storage system suitable for interfacing with a small scale solar energy source. Cost estimates were prepared for the system in the 10 KWh and 50 KWh sizes.