Flywheels: 10.1. Flywheel Size

10.
FLYWHEELS
A flywheel is an energy-storage device which acts as a
smoothing element in a dynamical power transmission circuit.
A flywheel is a power filtering device, which stores excess
energy and delivers the excess energy when required.
10.1. FLYWHEEL SIZE
Fig 1 shows a flat circular disk type flywheel attached to a motor
shaft.
) 1 (
2
1
2
e I E =
1
Energy is stored in a flywheel
by speeding it up or energy is
delivered by a flywheel by
slowing it down.
The kinetic energy of a
flywheel which rotates at e
rad/s is
Energy stored is linearly dependent on the flywheel mass
moment of inertia I , and quadratically dependent on angular
velocity e.
Flywheel must change its velocity in-order to store or deliver
energy.
Hence, the relation between the energy change and the velocity
change is:

where the subscript 1 and 2 designate the minimum and maximum
conditions, respectively.
The average speed of the flywheel, designated by e
av
, is

Defining the coefficient of speed fluctuation as
( ) ) 2 (
2
2
1
2
2 1 2
e e = = A
I
E E E
) 3 (
2
1 2
e e
e
+
=
av
) 4 (
1 2
av
s
C
e
e e
=
2
The energy change is now written as

Substituting for e
2
-e
1
in terms of e
av
, the energy change is given
to be

In many practical applications, the required torque is time-
dependent with a peak-torque requirement only for a very short
duration.
Eg. Punch presses, molding machines, etc.
in such applications, it is a waste to provide motors that deliver the
peak-torque requirement.
better to use motors of smaller capacity by using flywheels
alongside.
( )
( ) ( )
( ) ) 5 (
2
2
1 2
1 2 1 2
2
1
2
2 1 2
e e e
e e e e
e e
=
+ =
= = A
av
I
I
I
E E E
) 6 (
2
1 2 av s
I C E E e =
3
10.2. ENERGY OUTPUT TORQUE
An engine shaft output torque variation, in four stroke engines,
for 720
o
of the crank angle is shown in fig 2 below.
The resisting torque which the engine is driving is represented
by T
av
where T
av
= T
L
, T
L
being the load torque.
The shaded area under the T-u curve represents the work which
either increases or decreases the kinetic energy of the system
by causing decrease or increase in the crank shaft speed.

4
The increase or decrease of the speed depends upon the inertia
of the system which is mainly due to mass of the flywheel.
Control of the crankshaft speed is obtained from the flywheel.
For a flywheel mounted on the drive shaft or crankshaft as
shown in fig 2, from Newtons law of motion

where I is the moment of inertia of the flywheel, and
T-T
L
is the excess torque available in case of
T>T
L
, or torque to be supplied by the
flywheel in case T < T
L
.
Noting that
) 8 (
,
) 7 (
o
o
I T T
or
I T
L
=
=
) 9 ( e e u o d d =
5
Equation (8) can be written as

Integrating between certain limits u
1
and u
2
, we obtain

The term represents the shaded area under the T-
u curve which is normally evaluated graphically.
Positive area of the torque versus crank angle diagram
represent regions in the engine cycle where work is done to
increase flywheel speed, and negative areas represent the
energy taken away from the flywheel thereby decreasing the
speed of the flywheel.
( ) ) 11 (
) 10 (
e e u
u
e
e
d I d T T
or
d
d
I T T
L
L
=
=
( ) ( ) ) 12 (
2
2
1
2
2
2
1
e e u
u
u
=
}
I
d T T
L
( ) u
u
u
d T T
L
}

2
1
6
The locations of the maximum and minimum speeds, e
2
and e
1

respectively, can be determined by inspection from the torque
diagram.
That is between the end of the first loop and the beginning of
seventh loop.
Between which positions the value of (T-T
L
)u is maximum.

From the T-u diagram we have

where A is the area under the T-u curve between u
1
and u
2
.

( )
) 14 (
,
) 13 (
2
2
2
1
2
2 1 2
av s
I C A
or
I
A E E E
e
e e
=
= = = A
7
Representing the crankshaft speed in rpm,

for a given average speed of the flywheel in rpm, the inertia of
the flywheel is determined from

Flywheels are usually of two types: disc and rim type.
For the disc type flywheel,

where W = mg, and d = 2r.
) 15 (
91
1
60
4
2
2
2 2
n I C
n
I C A
s
s
~
=
t
) 16 (
91
2
n C
A
I
s
=
) 17 (
8
1
2
1
2 2
Wd
g
mr I = =
8
For the rim type flywheel,

where, k is the radius of gyration of the rim.

Usually, k can be taken as the mean radius of the flywheel rim,
in which case
) 18 (
2
mk I =
) 19 (
4
2
2 2
g
Wd
mr mk I
m
m
= = =
9

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