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Active Power's Power Storage Flywheel Technology
The Basics
Flywheel systems store kinetic energy (energy of mass in motion) by constantly spinning a compact rotor in a low-friction environment.
A flywheel’s stored kinetic energy is proportional to the mass of its rotor, the square of its radius, and the square of its rotational speed (RPM).
Ek = K ⋅ mass ⋅ radius2 ⋅ RPM2
All About Balance
Developing the optimal flywheel for a given application requires carefully balancing numerous factors. Increasing the rotational speed of the flywheel, for example, increases stored energy, but also increase the stress on the flywheel, requiring the use of stronger and more expensive material for the rotor. Similarly, a heavier or larger diameter wheel will increase energy storage, but perhaps with an unacceptable tradeoff in system size or transportation and installation costs.
Active Power’s CleanSource flywheels balance weight, size, speed, stress, and material strength to support a stored energy and cost profile optimized for our target markets in data center, health care, and industrial and manufacturing applications.
Power Quality Protection
If your facility depends on the reliable performance of your equipment to meet demands for productivity, quality, and cost. Power interruptions, no matter how minor, can not only stop production but can damage equipment, ruin inventory, and cause costly cleanup and delays.
Active Power’s products provide clean, reliable power, protecting operations against all types of disturbances. Our Uninterruptible Power Supply systems sample the electrical input 333 times every cycle or once every 50 micro-seconds and eliminates every transient using its static switch, line inductance, line capacitance, active filtering, power converters and flywheel energy storage.
The system senses voltage deviation from nominal and immediately corrects back to the prevailing nominal. Upon a complete loss of input power or a major deviation in input voltage or frequency, the UPS will disconnect from the utility source and flywheel energy will be used to support the load at nominal voltage until the backup diesel generator comes online.
OPERATION
CleanSource Flywheel
Active Power’s CleanSource flywheel technology integrates a motor, flywheel energy storage, and generator into an elegant and economical solution.
Motor
For 99% of its operating life, the flywheel machine is a motor. Roughly 1 kW of input power is used to keep the rotor spinning at 7,700 RPM.
Energy Storage.
As an energy storage system, the flywheel rotor spins at a constant speed to store kinetic energy.
Generator
When short-term backup power is required because utility power is lost, the flywheel becomes a generator: inertia allows the rotor to continue spinning and the kinetic energy is converted to electricity. Power electronics in the system extract that energy and discharge it as electric power to support the load.
INSIDE THE FLYWHEEL
Magnetic Unloading
The flywheel rotor is partially supported by magnetic unloading technology. This technology unloads a majority of the flywheel’s weight from the field-replaceable mechanical bearing cartridge, extending its operational life.
7,700 RPM
The single-piece forged 4340 steel rotor spins at 7,700 RPM (584 MPH tip speed) which stores up to 10.5 MJ of energy.
Rough Vacuum
A vacuum pump evacuates the chamber, reducing the drag on the rotor to improve efficiency and extend system life. The air pressure within the housing is held under 2 mTorr.
OUR FLYWHEELS
The PLUS Series Flywheel
(225 kW for 25 seconds)
Used in CleanSource PLUS UPS
4.4" high; 25.5" in diameter 600 lbs rotating mass 6.2 MJ of stored energy
The HD Series Flywheel
(625 kW for 15 seconds)
Used in the CleanSource HD625 UPS
12.5" high; 25.5" in diameter 1700 lbs rotating mass 10.5 MJ of stored energy