Study of flywheel energy storage. Volume 5. Vehicle tests. Final technical report

Technical Report · Thu Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1977

OSTI ID:6448104

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. Volume 5 of the Phase I study presents the major results of the tests performed on a 40-foot diesel bus and a trolley coach as related to the program methodology. It includes the test data from the 20-vehicle M.A.N. Electrobus demonstration program in Germany. Details of the tests, test data, and other test results are included in Appendixes A, B, and C of this report.

• Research Organization: AiResearch Mfg. Co., Torrance, CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6448104
• Report Number(s): PB-282656
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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