What is a composite flywheel?

Composite flywheels are designed, constructed, and used for energy storage applications, particularly those in which energy density is an important factor. Typical energies stored in a single unit range from less than a kilowatt-hour to levels approaching 150 kilowatt-hours.

Can composite materials be used for flywheel energy storage?

One of the first studies which showed that composite materials with significantly large specific strength are well suited for flywheel energy storage applications was Rabenhorst (1971).

What is a flywheel energy storage system?

Fig. 2. A typical flywheel energy storage system , which includes a flywheel/rotor, an electric machine, bearings, and power electronics. Fig. 3. The Beacon Power Flywheel , which includes a composite rotor and an electric machine, is designed for frequency regulation.

How many batteries can a composite flywheel have?

Thus, a single composite flywheel can be equivalent, in stored energy, from one to more than 100 automotive batteries. Moreover, in flywheel systems, the stored energy and output power are relatively independent of each other. Flywheels under design or construction or testing include those shown in Table 1.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of a flywheel energy storage system?

When compared to conventional energy storage systems, the flywheel has many advantages which include high power/energy density, much less environmental problems, availability of output energy directly in mechanical form and high efficiency.

How can flywheels be more competitive to batteries?

The use of new materials and compact designs will increase the specific energy and energy density to make flywheels more competitive to batteries. Other opportunities are new applications in energy harvest, hybrid energy systems, and flywheel’s secondary functionality apart from energy storage.