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 1-20, 21-40 next last
Flying by:A computer model of Volvo's flywheel, with an outer section cut away. Credit: Volvo
To: sully777; vigl; Cagey; Abathar; A. Patriot; B Knotts; getsoutalive; muleskinner; sausageseller; ...
Automobile Tech Ping!.............
2
posted on
07/13/2011 12:46:26 PM PDT
by
Red Badger
(PEAS in our time? Obama cries PEAS! PEAS! when there is no PEAS!..........................)
To: Red Badger
3
posted on
07/13/2011 12:55:04 PM PDT
by
Cboldt
To: Red Badger
And will the torque make it easy to turn right but hard to turn left?
4
posted on
07/13/2011 12:56:01 PM PDT
by
SeeSharp
To: Cboldt
Behold! All thing old are new again!................
5
posted on
07/13/2011 12:58:58 PM PDT
by
Red Badger
(PEAS in our time? Obama cries PEAS! PEAS! when there is no PEAS!..........................)
To: SeeSharp
Not If it’s horizontal............
6
posted on
07/13/2011 12:59:55 PM PDT
by
Red Badger
(PEAS in our time? Obama cries PEAS! PEAS! when there is no PEAS!..........................)
To: Red Badger
7
posted on
07/13/2011 1:00:55 PM PDT
by
SnuffaBolshevik
("The trouble with internet quotations is you don't know if they are true"-Abraham Lincoln.)
To: Red Badger
To reduce friction, they've sealed the flywheels inside a vacuum chamber. Seems like for production automobiles, there would be a bigger problem with soft Chinese bearings than with drag from the *air*.
8
posted on
07/13/2011 1:03:25 PM PDT
by
Charles Martel
(Endeavor to persevere...)
To: Red Badger
Flywheels are great...as long as you don't want to turn and if you can overcome the gyroscopic action, it's great.
I recall talk of this back in the 90s for Tanks. One of the issues was that when the tank is moving, It can't turn or it could potentially flip over. That's a lot of energy.
9
posted on
07/13/2011 1:04:37 PM PDT
by
Malsua
To: Cboldt; SeeSharp; SnuffaBolshevik; Charles Martel; Malsua
10
posted on
07/13/2011 1:08:34 PM PDT
by
Red Badger
(PEAS in our time? Obama cries PEAS! PEAS! when there is no PEAS!..........................)
To: SnuffaBolshevik
Ah...the crux of the problem!!!! Awful hard to create momentum without mass - therefore weight...
11
posted on
07/13/2011 1:11:51 PM PDT
by
Gaffer
Click Florida
Free Republic Is America's Brightest Hope
Give what you can
Or donate monthly, and a sponsoring FReeper will contribute $10
12
posted on
07/13/2011 1:15:04 PM PDT
by
TheOldLady
(FReepmail me to get ON or OFF the ZOT LIGHTNING ping list.)
To: Red Badger
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 (to reduce the flywheel’s friction) and with the flywheel suspended in it (suspended in the liquid), would be better (”almost” as efficient and more economical) than a pure vacuum.
For heat (the sealed-in-fluid may obtain heat in the operation of the flywheel), engineer the casing of the unit to “exchange” the heat out of the unit in some way, either simply, because it - the casing is exposed to air somehow, or some more esoteric solution.
13
posted on
07/13/2011 1:23:34 PM PDT
by
Wuli
To: Red Badger
Neat packaging - and it reminds me why F1 cars cost almost as much as fighter jets. If this technology enters the passenger car market, it'll be at the "exotic" end.
It might even come equipped with a backup pull-starter:
14
posted on
07/13/2011 1:26:13 PM PDT
by
Charles Martel
(Endeavor to persevere...)
To: Red Badger
Those things will act like C4 in an accident.
15
posted on
07/13/2011 1:30:53 PM PDT
by
E. Pluribus Unum
("A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves." - Bertrand de Jouvenel des Ursins)
To: E. Pluribus Unum
Or come sailing through the passenger compartment and then God knows where in a major collision.
Someone will be dead, and Volvo will just say "Whoops".
To: Red Badger
...but your car will flip on it’s driving fast over a hill...jk.
To: Red Badger
utomakers face the problem of how to maintain the vacuum, since the seals that connect the flywheel to a transmission aren't perfect. Simple, make the flywheel essentially the inner part of an electric generator. Add or bleed energy using electromagnets, not a mechanical transmission.
To: Red Badger
Not If its horizontal............ LOL - So just be careful going over hilltops eh?
19
posted on
07/13/2011 1:37:58 PM PDT
by
SeeSharp
To: Voter62vb
SIDE...but your car will flip on its SIDE driving fast over a hill...jk.
DOH
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-40 next 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.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson