Open-core flywheel architecture

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10826348-B2
Application number	US-201715632978-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 26, 2017
Priority date	Apr 3, 2012
Publication date	Nov 3, 2020
Grant date	Nov 3, 2020

Abstract

Apparatuses, systems and methods are described for a flywheel system incorporating a rotor made from a high-strength material in an open-core flywheel architecture with a high-temperature superconductive (HTS) bearing technology to achieve the desired high energy density in the flywheel energy storage devices, to obtain superior results and performance, and that eliminates the material growth-matching problem and obviates radial growth and bending mode issues that otherwise occur at various high frequencies and speeds.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for storing energy in an open core architecture flywheel assembly for subsequent release upon demand comprising:
providing a hollow substantially cylindrical rotor assembly comprising a rotor rim having an inner and outer surface, said rotor rim comprising a first flexible rotor magnet on the inner surface of the rotor rim;
providing a brushless-motor/generator comprising:
a stator assembly in close proximity with the rotor rim;
a second flexible rotor magnet affixed to the inner surface of the rotor rim;

affixing at least one stator magnet on the stator, said stator magnet dimensioned wider than the first flexible rotor magnet to establish an attractive force at rest;
the stator magnet substantially maintaining a nearly uniform attractive force with the first flexible rotor magnet as the rotor grows outward radially when the rotor assembly is operating at circumferential velocities of from about 300 m/s to about 3000 m/s; and
providing a high temperature superconducting bearing in contact with a cooling source.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said cooling source is configured to comprise:
a cryocooler, said cryocooler comprising a linear, free-piston, integral Stirling-cycle machine, said machine comprising air bearings with no friction-based failure modes; and
wherein said machine provides up to about 15 W of cooling at about 77° K.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the cryocooler is configured to provide cooling to the high temperature super conducting bearing array for flywheel sizes up to about 100 kWh.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first flexible rotor magnet and the second flexible rotor magnet comprises FeBNd powder.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first flexible rotor magnet and the second flexible rotor magnet comprises a material having a Young's modulus of from about 0.01 MPa to about 2 MPa.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rotor rim comprises a material selected from the group consisting of: carbon-fiber-containing material, glass-fiber containing material, metal-containing-material, and combinations thereof.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the material comprises a matrix of materials selected from the group consisting of: graphite, e-glass, S-glass, silica, aluminum, titanium, steel, and combinations thereof.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the carbon fiber-containing material comprises a carbon nanotube-containing material, said carbon nanotube-containing material comprising a single-walled carbon nanotube-containing material.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the carbon-fiber-containing material comprises a carbon nanotube-containing material, said carbon nanotube-containing material comprising a multi-walled carbon nanotube-containing material.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the multi-walled carbon nanotube-containing material has a density of about 0.2 gm/cm 3 and a minimal material strength of at least about 45 GPa.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rotor rim comprises a material having a tensile strength of from about 2 GPa to about 20 GPa.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rotor rim comprises an energy density of at least about 473 Wh/kg.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rotor rim comprises a wall strength of at least about 300 GPa.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Hull John R
• Strasik Michael
• Mittleider John A

Classifications

• F16C32/0438

  with a superconducting body, e.g. a body made of high temperature superconducting material such as YBaCuO · CPC title

• F16F15/305

  made of plastics, e.g. fibre reinforced plastics [FRP] {, i.e. characterised by their special construction from such materials} · CPC title

• F16C2361/55

  Flywheel systems · CPC title

• H02K7/02

  Additional mass for increasing inertia, e.g. flywheels · CPC title

• F16C32/0417

  for axial load mainly · CPC title