International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Studies

E-ISSN22498974

Research Paper

COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN & ANALYSIS ON FLYWHEEL

FOR GREATER EFFICIENCY
Sudipta Saha, Abhik Bose, G. Sai Tejesh, S.P. Srikanth

Address for Correspondence

Mechanical Engineering, K.L.University, AP, India.
ABSTRACT
Flywheels serve as kinetic energy storage and retrieval devices with the ability to deliver high output power at high
rotational speeds as being one of the emerging energy storage technologies available today in various stages of development,
especially in advanced technological areas, i.e., space-crafts. Mainly, the performance of a flywheel can be attributed to three
factors, i.e., material strength, geometry (cross-section) and rotational speed. While material strength directly determines
kinetic energy level that could be produced safely combined (coupled) with rotor speed, this study solely focuses on
exploring the effects of flywheel geometry on its energy storage/deliver capability per unit mass, further defined as Specific
Energy. Proposed Computer aided analysis and optimization procedure results show that smart design of flywheel geometry
could both have a significant effect on the Specific Energy performance and reduce the operational loads exerted on the
shaft/bearings due to reduced mass at high rotational speeds. This paper specifically studies the most common five different
geometries (i.e., straight/concave or convex shaped 2D).

INTRODUCTION
A flywheel is a mechanical device with a significant
moment of inertia used as a storage device for
rotational energy. Flywheels resist changes in their
rotational speed, which helps steady the rotation of
the shaft when a fluctuating torque is exerted on it by
its power source. Flywheels have become the subject
of extensive research as power storage devices for
uses in vehicles. Flywheel energy storage systems are
considered to be an attractive alternative to
electrochemical batteries due to higher stored energy
density, higher life term, and deterministic state of
charge and ecologically clean nature. Flywheel is
basically a rechargeable battery. It is used to absorb
electric energy from a source, store it as kinetic
energy of rotation, and then deliver it to a load at the
appropriate time, in the form that meets the load
needs. As shown in Fig1, a typical system consists of
a flywheel, a motor/generator, and controlled
electronics for connection to a larger electric power
system.
Theoretical analysis:
Energy is stored in the rotor as kinetic energy, or
more specifically, rotational energy

Where W is the angular velocity, and I is the moment

of inertia of the mass about the center of rotation.
The kinetic energy stored in a rotating mass is given
as,

where x is the distance from rotational axis to the

differential mass dmx.; where I is the mass moment
of inertia and W is the angular velocity. Mass
moment of inertia is obtained by the mass and
geometry of the flywheel and given as, For solid
cylindrical disk, I is given as,

where m is the mass and r the radius of the flywheel.

Specific energy Ek,m is obtained by dividing Ek by
the mass to give:
IJAERS/Vol. I/ Issue II/January-March, 2012/299-301

If Ek, is multiplied by the mass density P of the

flywheel the energy density is obtained:
In this context, the design challenge is to maximize
either Ek,m or Ek,v, while satisfying the stress
constraints. Tangential and radial stresses are given
for cylindrical flywheel geometry [10] where the
outside radius (ro) is assumed to be large compared
to the flywheel thickness (t) ro >10t;

After careful examination of these formulations, it

could be observed that mainly three fully-coupled
design factors have significant effect in the overall
performance of flywheels.
Material strength; basically stronger materials
could undertake large operating stresses, hence could
be run at high rotational speeds allow wing to store
more energy. Hence could be run at high rotational
speeds allow wing to store more energy.
Rotational speed; directly y controls the energy
stored, higher speeds desired for more energy
storage, b but high speeds assert excessive loads on b
both flywheel and bearings during the shaft design.
Geometry; controls the S Specific Energy, in other
words, kinetic energy storage capability of the
flywheel. Any optimization effort of flywheel C
cross-section
may
contribute
substantial
improvements in kinetic energy storage capability
thus reducing both overall shaft/bearing loads and
material failure occurrences.

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Studies

Design Algorithm:

Step 1- a fully parametric model of the

flywheel is created to be inputted to ANSYS
to form the desired geometry.
Step 2, model obtained in Step 1 is analyzed
using ANSYS code, to obtain the stored
kinetic energy and mass of the flywheel.
Step 3, the same model is also analyzed
using ANSYS, an implicit code, and overall
stress distribution of the flywheel obtained
and critical stresses and regions identified
Step 4, Optimization
Parameters:
Thickness (t=5.08cm or 2)
Radius of flywheel (h)= (14.605 or 5.75)
2D flywheel geometry is constructed with
the total of 10 points in the X direction to be
less/equal to h.
Material
Selection:
Although
many
materials with better strength and low
density are available in the market, an
example material properties of AISI 1006
Steel (cold drawn), with modulus of
elasticity of E = 205 GPa, density of 7.872
g/cc, Poissons ratio of = 0.29 and yield
stress of Y = 290 MPa, is adapted in all
cases.

Step3: Maximum kinetic energy and specific

energy of each case are found out.

Step4: The best design is found comparing
the specific energy of each design.
Design 1:

Design 2:

Design 3:

Design 4:

Optimization:

Step 1: Five different flywheel designs are
made.

Step 2: A program is made to compute the
maximum angular velocity that each design
can handle.
IJAERS/Vol. I/ Issue II/January-March, 2012/299-301

E-ISSN22498974

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Studies

Design 5:

The maximum angular velocities attained by the

designed flywheels are found from the output of the
program; From we can find the kinetic energy and the
specific energy that the flywheel can store.
New values after computation:

CONCLUSIONS:
In this design of flywheels, there is still room for
research, especially when the performance is the
primary objective. The operating conditions impose
quite narrow margin of energy storing limitations,
even slim amount of improvements may contribute in
the overall success. This study clearly depicts the
importance of the flywheel geometry design selection
and its contribution in the energy storage
performance. This contribution is demonstrated on
example cross-sections using computer aided analysis
and optimization procedure. Overall, the problem
objective is formulated in terms of Specific Energy
value and its maximization through the selection of
the best geometry among the predetermined five
cross-sections. Using the available technology at
hand, we could very well make fast but crucial
improvements in the advanced research areas
requiring flywheel utilization, where engineers are
frequently confronted with the limitations on
magnetic bearing load carrying capacity, size
limitations and efficiency.
REFERENCES
1.

2.

Results:
Performance doesnt depend on inner hole
radius
Solid disk performs better than the annular
disk but highest shaft load is expected since
the flywheel mass in this case is the largest.
By adopting simple modifications to the
geometry,
flywheel
specific
energy
performance
could
be
improved
as
demonstrated in Case 3 through 5, especially
in Case 5 performance of the flywheel
performs 50% better than Case 2.
One more thing to note that, Case 5 crosssection also exerts fewer shafts load than Case
1 through 4, since its mass is the smallest.
Although this improvement is to be thought small, it
still could be crucial for mission critical operations,
which require long lasting service life and efficiency.
Examining the results shows that using the annular
solid disk flywheel yields the lowest Specific Energy
performance no matter what the inner hole radius is
chosen. Solid disk performs better than the annular
disk but highest shaft load is expected since the
flywheel mass in this case is the largest. By adopting
simple modifications to the geometry, flywheel
specific energy performance could be improved as
demonstrated in Case 3 through 5, especially in Case
5 performance of the flywheel performs 50% better
than Case 2. One more thing to note that, Case 5
cross-section also exerts fewer shafts load than Case
1 through 4, since its mass is the smallest. Although
this improvement is to be thought small it still could
be crucial for mission critical operations, which
require long lasting service life and efficiency.

IJAERS/Vol. I/ Issue II/January-March, 2012/299-301

E-ISSN22498974

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