[Aardwolf]

The concept is basically to use the mechanical energy of a rapidly spinning wheel, suspended in a vacuum so it doesn't grind to a halt, and is accelerated with electromagnetism instead of gears so there's minimal loss putting power into it or getting power out of it.

So, why not apply it to the automotive industry?

Discuss.

Edit: I found the Wikipedia article on the subject. I'm editing it into my first post because I know sometimes people read the first one and skip to the reply button.

[Ghostavo]

Won't the gyroscopic motion be a problem and isn't the transfer of energy from electric to mechanical to electric to mechanical again extremelly inefficient?

[Aardwolf]

The gyroscopic motion is of course a consideration. The best solution I can think of is gimbal-mounting the system.

As far as the transfer of energy, one of the biggest benefits of it is that electromagnetism is a lot better of a way to get something moving than friction. I mean, imagine what a railgun would be like if instead of magnets they tried to use gears. Magnetism is vastly superior there.

[Nuke]

you can increase the electrical resistance of an electric motor by applying the breaks, and i think the reverse would be true with your hovering flywheel gizmo. the second you start tapping energy from it, it will loose momentum really fast. while ive seen lots of desk toys that levitate oddly shaped spinning objects and know exactly what youre getting at, i dont think it would qualify as an energy storage device.

i actually thought of building a 3 axis flight simulator which could completely avoid gimbal lock that most simulators have. you hover a spheroid simulation compartment on a magnetic coil. then use changes in the magnetic fields to orient the sphere in any way the software demanded.

[Ghostavo]

But what about transfering the moving object's kinetic energy to another kind of energy (I'm assuming electric)? You'll be wasting some energy to a convertion (kinetic -> electric) that wouldn't happen if you used a battery directly.

[Aardwolf]

I've found the wikipedia article on this subject, and I edited it into the first post.

[castor]

The concept is basically to use the mechanical energy of a rapidly spinning wheel, suspended in a vacuum so it doesn't grind to a halt

I'd imagine losses taking place in the bearing are a problem?

[portej05]

Not just the bearings - there's also coupling losses (you can't get back the same energy even if your bearings are perfect/etc)
There's also losses in the wiring (no wiring is 0 ohms)

[MP-Ryan]

Flywheels were a major component of the Ballard fuel cell system.

[Davros]

You mean a KERS system like Williams currently use in their F1 cars

http://www.break.com/usercontent/2009/4/Williams-KERS-Formula-One-System-Explained-702993.html


audi currently use a kers system but i believe its battery based