Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Automakers Give Flywheels a Spin
MIT Technology Review ^ | Wednesday, July 13, 2011 | By Kevin Bullis

Posted on 07/13/2011 12:44:52 PM PDT by Red Badger

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-40 last
To: Gaffer
Awful hard to create momentum without mass - therefore weight...

They only need to weigh less than batteries. Over a third of a Tesla Roadster's weight is batteries.

21 posted on 07/13/2011 1:41:28 PM PDT by antiRepublicrat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Cboldt

Interesting articles. I think that “Booze in a Bag” has a real future.


22 posted on 07/13/2011 1:44:38 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Just once I'd like someone to call me 'Sir' without adding 'You're making a scene.' - Homer Simpson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Some good back-of-the-cereal-box-reading here: http://flywheel.esmartbiz.com/facts.htm


23 posted on 07/13/2011 1:55:51 PM PDT by Voter62vb
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Charles Martel

I remember those! I had the Black Jack in blue chrome.


24 posted on 07/13/2011 1:58:01 PM PDT by 762X51
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Charles Martel

I had the Black Jack!


25 posted on 07/13/2011 1:58:33 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie (Gore Lauds Romney on Climate Position; 0bamaCare was based on RomneyCare.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

And how will the extra energy needed to spin the flywheel and carry its weight be offset by transferring its reduced spin to power the wheels? Sounds like perpetual motion to me.


26 posted on 07/13/2011 2:03:54 PM PDT by pabianice
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Voter62vb

The E-2A Navy airplane carried a drum data storage drive. It was big and heavy and turned at a high speed. When they test flew it the airplane wouldn’t turn because of the drum’s gyroscopic rigidity in space.


27 posted on 07/13/2011 2:06:19 PM PDT by pabianice
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: pabianice

It’s not a ‘new’ technology. It has been used in the past. Switzerland used it to power trolleys and it has even been used in a Formula one racing engine. The process works and has worked. It seems just right for hybrid cars.........


28 posted on 07/13/2011 2:06:56 PM PDT by Red Badger (PEAS in our time? Obama cries PEAS! PEAS! when there is no PEAS!..........................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: antiRepublicrat

They would still need to mount it like a gyro.
On rotating axis.


29 posted on 07/13/2011 2:09:42 PM PDT by toast
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: E. Pluribus Unum

Those things will act like C4 in an accident.

They’re running them in F-1 and those boys wreck pretty hard.


30 posted on 07/13/2011 2:10:07 PM PDT by nascarnation
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
If you lose the vacuum just hand this back-up to your wife or girlfriend and say you need her to reduce some friction...


31 posted on 07/13/2011 2:16:11 PM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: toast

Think of an electric DC motor, you have the rotor and the stator around it. Make the rotor flat and wide, and make the stator all-enclosing, not even a driveshaft protrudes. Then suck all the air out of the stator.

Apply electricity to spin that sucker up. Then remember that a DC motor is a DC generator, just depends on whether you’re adding electricity to create torque in the rotor, or using the rotor’s existing torque to create electricity.


32 posted on 07/13/2011 2:32:37 PM PDT by antiRepublicrat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: nascarnation
Those things will act like C4 in an accident.

People used to worry about the idea of driving a car that carries ten gallons of a highly flammable liquid.

33 posted on 07/13/2011 2:35:35 PM PDT by antiRepublicrat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Charles Martel
Check this out. They really sell this!
34 posted on 07/13/2011 3:23:30 PM PDT by Cyber Liberty (Oh, well, any excuse to buy a new gun is good enough for me.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

The torque issues are real, no matter how the flywheel is oriented.

But equal counter-rotating wheels will address the issue fully, given a sturdy frame to connect them.


35 posted on 07/13/2011 3:46:24 PM PDT by Atlas Sneezed (Government borrowing is Taxation without Representation)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wuli

I wonder if a “normally sealed unit” - as “sealed” as most ordinary “sealed” units are in cars today, filled with some very slippery but dense liquid..


That would generate *lots* of friction, which is why ships are slower than planes, and space ships are faster (sort of).


36 posted on 07/13/2011 3:47:57 PM PDT by Atlas Sneezed (Government borrowing is Taxation without Representation)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: antiRepublicrat
They only need to weigh less than batteries.

Accompanied by the repeal of the laws of physics that govern gyroscopes.

37 posted on 07/13/2011 3:53:58 PM PDT by Ole Okie (!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Cyber Liberty
Dang, my car isn't on the "compatible" list.

Oh, wait... it sounds sorta like that already (not as much cam lope). They did do a good job of making it read the engine speed through the cigarette lighter socket, though.

Just the newest version of this concept, I guess.

38 posted on 07/13/2011 5:13:36 PM PDT by Charles Martel (Endeavor to persevere...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Beelzebubba

No wonder I am NOT an engineer in the field of fluid dynamics. Thanks for the reality check.


39 posted on 07/14/2011 5:07:29 PM PDT by Wuli
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: Ole Okie

Since F-1 cars turn both left and right, I assume they have dealt with your concern.

http://www.racecar-engineering.com/articles/f1/flywheel-hybrid-systems-kers/


40 posted on 07/14/2011 5:15:32 PM PDT by nascarnation
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-40 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson