Mechanical Design Calculations Of Flywheel Generator

Flywheels generator is suited where a pulsed current generation is required. It has a higher energy density as compared to capacitor banks. This paper focuses on design calculations related to flywheel energy storage system (FESS) being developed at IIT Delhi. The flywheel rotor, filament wound carbon fibre/epoxy composite, will have storage capacity 10 MJ of energy at 17,000 rpm with energy storage density of 77.5 J/g and power density of 1.94 kW/g. At such a high speed, issues related to air drag, inertial forces on a rotor, dynamic forces on bearings, and vibration become critical. In this paper, we analysed these issues and proposed appropriate solutions.