8 ms·

flywheels storing a lot of energy are very dangerous, if something happens it's a flying thing that destroys everything on its way

by buryat 5y ago

2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago
Like a giant rotating wind turbine?
- buryat 5y ago
  i agree, wind turbines do rotate but not at high speeds, disintegration of one doesn’t lead to catastrophic outcomes. Flywheels on the other hand are meant to rotate at high speeds and hold lots of energy, so destruction of the spindle would lead to some pretty big bad results
  - PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
    This sounds like a perfect question for Randall "XKCD" Munroe's "What If" column: "What if a 5MW flywheel broke it's spindle?"
- toss1 5y ago
  Yes, except with several orders of magnitude more energy and rotating mass. Wind turbine blades are engineered for minimum mass and inertia, are manufactured primarily from fiberglass and/or carbon fiber, are hollow, and the largest mass is in the center. In contrast, flywheels are engineered for the highest practical inertia, are manufactured from the highest density material that works, and concentrate that mass as far out as possible. When a wind blade fails catastrophically, it makes a mess of splinters right around the tower, as shown in [0] and [1]. In contrast, just a small automotive flywheel explosion, contained in a legally mandated scattershield, is almost as spectacular [2], [3]. Now, magnify that from a flywheel just designed to smooth the power from a 375kW (500HP) engine to the scale of a flywheel to STORE the energy of a megawatt-scale wind turbine. So, no, the danger of a megawatt-scale energy storage flywheel is NOT like the danger of a "giant rotating wind turbine". [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-o-4yYb59g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-o-4yYb59g [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbCs7ZQDKoM&t=40s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbCs7ZQDKoM&t=40s [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPat3akDiek https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPat3akDiek [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4oxoBKRZgA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4oxoBKRZgA
  - mygoodaccount 5y ago
    [0] is a doctored video. Go frame by frame just before explosion and watch tracking of horses. [1],[2],[3] is real
    - toss1 5y ago
      Ha! Interesting, I had noticed the horses seemed off. In the comments it looks like the author was playing with CGI and modeled it on the Dutch failure video. I'd obviously just posted results of a quick search for short vids.

flywheels storing a lot of energy are very dangerous, if something happens it's a flying thing that destroys everything on its way

by buryat 5y ago

flywheels storing a lot of energy are very dangerous, if something happens it's a flying thing that destroys everything on its way

2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago

Like a giant rotating wind turbine?

buryat 5y ago
i agree, wind turbines do rotate but not at high speeds, disintegration of one doesn’t lead to catastrophic outcomes. Flywheels on the other hand are meant to rotate at high speeds and hold lots of energy, so destruction of the spindle would lead to some pretty big bad results
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
  This sounds like a perfect question for Randall "XKCD" Munroe's "What If" column: "What if a 5MW flywheel broke it's spindle?"
toss1 5y ago
Yes, except with several orders of magnitude more energy and rotating mass. Wind turbine blades are engineered for minimum mass and inertia, are manufactured primarily from fiberglass and/or carbon fiber, are hollow, and the largest mass is in the center. In contrast, flywheels are engineered for the highest practical inertia, are manufactured from the highest density material that works, and concentrate that mass as far out as possible. When a wind blade fails catastrophically, it makes a mess of splinters right around the tower, as shown in [0] and [1]. In contrast, just a small automotive flywheel explosion, contained in a legally mandated scattershield, is almost as spectacular [2], [3]. Now, magnify that from a flywheel just designed to smooth the power from a 375kW (500HP) engine to the scale of a flywheel to STORE the energy of a megawatt-scale wind turbine. So, no, the danger of a megawatt-scale energy storage flywheel is NOT like the danger of a "giant rotating wind turbine". [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-o-4yYb59g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-o-4yYb59g [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbCs7ZQDKoM&t=40s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbCs7ZQDKoM&t=40s [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPat3akDiek https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPat3akDiek [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4oxoBKRZgA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4oxoBKRZgA
- mygoodaccount 5y ago
  [0] is a doctored video. Go frame by frame just before explosion and watch tracking of horses. [1],[2],[3] is real
  - toss1 5y ago
    Ha! Interesting, I had noticed the horses seemed off. In the comments it looks like the author was playing with CGI and modeled it on the Dutch failure video. I'd obviously just posted results of a quick search for short vids.