Everyone’s talking about regenerative energies, which are the only meaningful long-term alternative to fossil fuels. Whether in the form of sunlight, wind or hydropower – they are available in abundance. Unfortunately, however, not always when you need them. One of the most pressing problems is therefore to find an efficient storage method and a way to convert it into electrical energy when needed.
When the sun takes a break
A highly promising approach is flywheel energy storage. This involves accelerating a flywheel to a high speed using the energy that has just been generated. If the stored energy needs to be made usable again, the flywheel can be braked via an inductively coupled generator to convert the kinetic energy into electrical energy. This allows supply gaps to be bridged at night or when the air is calm.
Compact and highly efficient
SycoTec is also involved in the further development of this future technology. For various customers in Asia and Europe, we manufacture high-speed generators for use in flywheel energy storage systems. Including a storage system with a peak output of 160 kW. The stator of this compact system has a diameter of 30 cm. The rotor is just 10 cm in size and reaches a speed of 50,000 rpm when fully charged Mathematically, this gives an electric efficiency of 98%. Comparing this with conventional lead batteries and their efficiency of 60 – 70%, the potential this area holds for the future is clear.
