Flywheel Energy Storage

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Science and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2019) | Viewed by 17631

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Patras, 30100 Agrinio, Greece
Interests: heat and mass transfer in fuel cells; energy and exergy analysis of fuel cell systems; thermodynamics of fuel cells; optimisation for RES-based power plants

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Flywheel Energy Storage Systems (FESS) convert electricity to kinetic energy, and vice versa; thus, they can be used for energy storage. High technology devices that directly use mechanical energy are currently in development, thus this scientific field is among the hottest, not only for mobile, but also for stationary applications.

Precisely, FESS have a wide range of applications in transportation (especially in race cars), uninterruptable power supply (UPS) systems, off-grid electricity production and many others. Usually, magnetic bearings are used to reduce friction losses. The advantages of FESS, when compared with conventional storage technologies, such as batteries, are the limited maintenance needs, high round-trip efficiency, high-power density, long lifetime, and, mainly, their negligible environmental impact.

Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417) is an international open access journal on all aspects of applied natural sciences published monthly online by MDPI. It is indexed on Science Citation Index (Impact Factor 1.679 for 2016), Scopus, Inspec (IET) and other databases. This journal presents a Special Issue that aims at gathering the best papers, including research articles and reviews, on the development, improvement and enhancement of Flywheel energy storage technologies. We, therefore invite contributions on topics that include (but are not limited to):

  • FESS design and operation
  • Off-grid electricity production
  • Mobile applications of FESS
  • Materials used for FESS implementation

I look forward to your contributions,

Prof. Frank A. Coutelieris
Guest Editor

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

26 pages, 4896 KiB  
Article
Performance and Loss Analysis of Squirrel Cage Induction Machine Based Flywheel Energy Storage System
by Abid Soomro, Mustafa E. Amiryar, Daniel Nankoo and Keith R. Pullen
Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(21), 4537; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9214537 - 25 Oct 2019
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3890
Abstract
Flywheel energy storage systems (FESS) are one of the earliest forms of energy storage technologies with several benefits of long service time, high power density, low maintenance, and insensitivity to environmental conditions being important areas of research in recent years. This paper focusses [...] Read more.
Flywheel energy storage systems (FESS) are one of the earliest forms of energy storage technologies with several benefits of long service time, high power density, low maintenance, and insensitivity to environmental conditions being important areas of research in recent years. This paper focusses on the electrical machine and power electronics, an important part of a flywheel system, the electrical machine rotating with the flywheel inertia in order to perform charge-discharge cycles. The type of machine used in the electrical drive plays an important role in the characteristics governing electrical losses as well as standby losses. Permanent magnet synchronous machine (PMSM) and induction machines (IM) are the two most common types of electric machines used in FESS applications where the latter has negligible standby losses due to its lower rotor magnetic field until energised by the stator. This paper describes research in which the operational and standby losses of a squirrel-cage induction machine-based flywheel storage system (SCIM-FESS) are modelled as a system developed in MATLAB/Simulink environment inclusive of the control system for the power electronics converters. Using the proposed control algorithm and in-depth analysis of the system losses, a detailed assessment of the dynamic performance of the SCIM-FESS is performed for different states of charging, discharging, and standby modes. The results of the analysis show that, in presence of system losses including aerodynamic and bearing friction losses, the SCIM-FESS has satisfactory characteristics in energy regulation and dynamic response during load torque variations. The compliance of FESS and its conversion between the generating and motoring mode within milliseconds show the responsiveness of the proposed control system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flywheel Energy Storage)
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22 pages, 34344 KiB  
Article
Design and Experimental Evaluation of a Low-Cost Test Rig for Flywheel Energy Storage Burst Containment Investigation
by Armin Buchroithner, Peter Haidl, Christof Birgel, Thomas Zarl and Hannes Wegleiter
Appl. Sci. 2018, 8(12), 2622; https://doi.org/10.3390/app8122622 - 14 Dec 2018
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 7817
Abstract
Data related to the performance of burst containments for high-speed rotating machines, such as flywheel energy storage systems (FESS), turbines or electric motors is scarce. However, development of optimized burst containment structures requires statistically significant data, which calls out for low-cost test methods [...] Read more.
Data related to the performance of burst containments for high-speed rotating machines, such as flywheel energy storage systems (FESS), turbines or electric motors is scarce. However, development of optimized burst containment structures requires statistically significant data, which calls out for low-cost test methods as a strategic development tool. Consequently, a low-cost test rig (so called spin pit) for the investigation of burst containments was designed, with the goal to systematically investigate the performance of different containment structures and materials, in conjunction with the failure mechanisms of different rotors. The gathered data (e.g., burst speed, acceleration, temperature, ambient pressure, etc.) in combination with a post-mortem analysis was used to draw an energy balance and enabled the assessment of the effectiveness of various burst containments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flywheel Energy Storage)
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15 pages, 6336 KiB  
Article
Li-Ion Battery-Flywheel Hybrid Storage System: Countering Battery Aging During a Grid Frequency Regulation Service
by Sebastian Dambone Sessa, Andrea Tortella, Mauro Andriollo and Roberto Benato
Appl. Sci. 2018, 8(11), 2330; https://doi.org/10.3390/app8112330 - 21 Nov 2018
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4507
Abstract
In this paper, a hybrid storage system solution consisting of flywheels and batteries with a Lithium-manganese oxide cathode and a graphite anode is proposed, for supporting the electrical network primary frequency regulation. The aim of the paper is to investigate the benefits of [...] Read more.
In this paper, a hybrid storage system solution consisting of flywheels and batteries with a Lithium-manganese oxide cathode and a graphite anode is proposed, for supporting the electrical network primary frequency regulation. The aim of the paper is to investigate the benefits of flywheels in mitigation of the accelerating aging that li-ion batteries suffer during the grid frequency regulation operation. For this purpose, experimental aging tests have been performed on a lithium-manganese oxide battery module and an electrical battery model which takes into account the battery aging has been developed in a Simulink environment. Then, a flywheel electrical model has been implemented, taking into account the thermal and the electromechanical phenomena governing the electrical power exchange. This more complete model of a hybrid storage system enables us to simulate the same aging cycles of the battery-based storage system and to compare the performances of the latter with the hybrid storage system. The simulation results suggest that suitable control of the power shared between the batteries and the flywheels could effectively help in countering Li-ion battery accelerated aging due to the grid frequency regulation service. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flywheel Energy Storage)
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