What is mechanical energy storage?

Mechanical energy storage can be added to many types of systems that use heat, water or air with compressors, turbines, and other machinery, providing an alternative to battery storage, and enabling clean power to be stored for days. Explore energy storage resources Simple physics meets advanced technology.

How do mechanical energy storage systems work?

Mechanical energy storage systems take advantage of kinetic or gravitational forces to store inputted energy. While the physics of mechanical systems are often quite simple (e.g. spin a flywheel or lift weights up a hill), the technologies that enable the efficient and effective use of these forces are particularly advanced.

How does a high-speed flywheel energy storage system work?

Most modern high-speed flywheel energy storage systems consist of a massive rotating cylinder (a rim attached to a shaft) that is supported on a stator – the stationary part of an electric generator – by magnetically levitated bearings. To maintain efficiency, the flywheel system is operated in a vacuum to reduce drag.

How does a motor work?

In a typical motor, a component called a rotor turns inside a stationary component called a stator. One of those components contains permanent magnets that have south and north poles. The other has wire coiled around it. Putting electricity through the coils creates magnetic fields that attract and repel the poles of the permanent magnets.

What is a self-bearing motor?

In a conventional brushed direct-current motor, the magnets are in the stator and the coils go around the rotor. The rotor is supported by a pair of mechanical bearings. But those bearings tend to wear out—especially when the rotor spins quickly. So about 20 years ago, researchers developed a “self-bearing motor.”

What are the advantages of Flywheel energy storage?

Some of the key advantages of flywheel energy storage are low maintenance, long life (some flywheels are capable of well over 100,000 full depth of discharge cycles and the newest configurations are capable of even more than that, greater than 175,000 full depth of discharge cycles), and negligible environmental impact.