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Fly-wheels (storage technology) |
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| The fly-wheel is an electro-mechanical energy storage system based on rotating masses. It is a powerful storage technology which may be used both for on-board and for stationary applications.
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Technology field: Regenerative braking and energy management
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General information
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General criteria
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Environmental criteria
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Economic criteria
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Application outside railway sector
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Status of development outside railway sector: in use |
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Since 1988, small fly-wheel systems (2 kWh, 150 kW) have been in use in electric busses for urban transport in several European cities. Fly-wheels made by the Magnetmotor GmbH have been in use in diesel-electric city buses since 1988. Since 1992, 12 trolley buses with fly-wheels have been running in Basel, Switzerland, with a total of more than 200.000 operating hours. |
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Time horizon for broad application outside railway sector: in 5 - 10 years |
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(no details available) |
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Expected technological development outside railway sector: highly dynamic |
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Energy densities of current fly-wheels attain 20 kWh/m3. Experts claim that a 5-fold increase of this figure is possible.
The use of superconductors instead of conventional magnets for the bearing of the fly-wheel would lead to a further reduction of losses. |
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Market potential outside railway sector: small |
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Since an application of fly-wheels in private cars is highly doubtful, there is no mass market for fly-wheel technology in the foreseeable future. The main market is diesel-electric busses and city rail systems. This means that demand will no exceed a few hundred fly-wheel systems. |
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Overall rating
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 date created: 2002-10-09 |
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| © UIC - International Union of Railways 2003 |
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