Study of flywheel energy storage. Volume 1. Executive summary. Final technical report

Technical Report · Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1977

OSTI ID:6448148

Lawson, L J; Smith, A K; Davis, G D

In 1976, the Urban Mass Transportation Administration established the present program--Study of Flywheel Energy Storage--to determine the practicality and viability of flywheel propulsion systems for urban mass transit vehicles. The study began with a review of the U.S. transit properties requirements, which showed that the most suitable vehicle for deployment of flywheel propulsion is the full-size transit bus. Several propulsion concepts were hypothesized and subjected to comparative analysis with present diesel buses, trolley coaches, and battery buses in regard to performance and life-cycle economics. This screening resulted in the establishment of the following basic concepts that can provide various types of high quality transit service: Pure flywheel propelled bus; flywheel/diesel engine hybrid bus; flywheel-augmented trolley coach; and flywheel/battery hybrid bus. The design studies that were conducted for the four propulsion configurations showed a high degree of commonality of components among the four concepts. Final life-cycle cost analyses showed all four concepts to be in a competitive range with present transit vehicles. Plans were made for a Phase II development program that will result in the design, fabrication, and testing of all four propulsion configurations in full-size buses within 36 months. This final report, Volume 1 of Phase I, presents the summary of the results of the Study of Flywheel Energy Storage. The study has shown the viability of flywheel-propelled buses, and a set of plans for successful deployment of these new vehicles has been prepared. The study recommends that the Phase II program leading to the development of prototype vehicles be promptly initiated.

• Research Organization: AiResearch Mfg. Co., Torrance, CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: DOT-UT-60097T
• OSTI ID: 6448148
• Report Number(s): PB-282652
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
25 ENERGY STORAGE
BUSES
FLYWHEELS
FLYWHEEL ENERGY STORAGE
HYBRID ELECTRIC-POWERED VEHICLES
MASS TRANSIT SYSTEMS
REVIEWS
DOCUMENT TYPES
ELECTRIC-POWERED VEHICLES
ENERGY STORAGE
MECHANICAL ENERGY STORAGE EQUIPMENT
STORAGE
TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
VEHICLES
330500* - Advanced Propulsion Systems- Flywheel Propulsion
330400 - Advanced Propulsion Systems- Hybrid Systems
250500 - Energy Storage- Flywheels