Flywheel Storage Systems

Abstract

The first known utilization of flywheels specifically for energy storage applications was to homogenize the energy supplied to a potter wheel. Since a potter requires the involvement of both hands into the axisymmetric task of shaping clay as it rotated, the intermittent jolts by the potter foot meant that the energy supply would have short-term peaks when a pulse of energy is supplied, then it will trail off during the time it takes the potter foot to reach the wheel again. The friction from the bearings of the setup and the applied torque from the potter hands will rapidly consume the energy supplied by the initial kick. The addition of a flywheel is expected to assist in the stabilization of the operation of the device. The flywheel in fact is simply just an extra mass that will keep the kinetic energy of the system, defined as (Formula Presented), as steady as possible by normalizing the discrepancy of energy charge/discharge levels. In this particular case, this is achieved through increasing the physical inertia of the system (the resistance of the system to any change of its motion).