307 81 Flywheel Energy Storage - A huge leap towards planet sustainability! A. Carson Mechanical Engineering, Lancaster University, UK Energy usage is the forethought of society, fossil fuel usage has been a concern for two decades and requires elimination. Demand is high for implementation of clean and efficient energy generation. Clean generation is being implemented worldwide, harvesting energy from renewable sources, however storage is a challenge. A common solution is batteries, which have a limited life and energy leakage rates. Efficient energy storage would eliminate deficits and improve efficiencies. Current methods have environmental impact and low efficiencies, implementation of lean and efficient FES will result as a sustainable planet. A study conducted by KEMA states that the global energy storage market value will be between $200-600billion ten years from now! A FES a.k.a. a mechanical battery, stores energy in a rotating mass, and is made to rotate faster by an input current, which comes from an energy converter, like a wind turbine or a solar panel. FES devices are the simplest, effective economic energy storage method. Most FES devices have a maximum rotational speed of 64,000rpm, limiting their energy capacity. My design achieves 100,000rpm. Most FES use electromagnetic bearings, requiring power to function. My design removes this need, reducing maintenance and operation costs. My current design concept achieves permanent levitation, eliminating touchdown bearings. Most FES use an external Motor/Generator unit (MGU), which contributes to inefficiencies, mine integrates the MGU into the FES, increasing efficiency, and minimal energy loss. The maximum instantaneous power achieved by my design so far is 3.8MegaWatts. Many applications would significantly benefit from FES addition, including vehicles, power grids, and power deficit prevention. FES devices have higher power density than most energy accumulators, efficiency ~98%, compared to 50-90% for batteries, so would be smaller than its battery counterpart. FES devices do not use chemicals or dangerous materials that harm the environment. Impressively the life span is ~30 years, in comparison to a battery that deteriorates rapidly if abused. These results are preliminary, and can be optimised further. This is my individual MEng project, the overall aim is to achieve a FES design that; is highly efficient and effective, has good energy density and capacity, and is lean, making the most of materials and the natural behaviour of components The design will be validated and backed by design models with results from industry-recognised software. There has been no financial funding for a physical model, but simulations and design modelling has all taken place at Lancaster University Engineering department. I wish to take this project further beyond my degree, and create working prototypes, aiming to eventually create commercially viable energy stores that can be utilised in varying scale. I believe this will be the next biggest step towards planet sustainability. ENERGY CONVERSION POSTER CONCEPT BACHELOR FINAL ASSIGNMENT
Grøn Dyst 2016
To see the actual publication please follow the link above