Flywheel Damping Device With Flexible Membrane
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Solution Overview
Problem
Flywheel energy stores face the risk of destruction due to high-speed rotor crashes, which transmit forces to neighboring units, causing a chain reaction and damage, as conventional damping elements are insufficient to absorb the high torsional loads within the compact design of these systems.
Innovation Solution
A flywheel unit with a damping device featuring a cantilever flexible membrane connection between the machine housing and foundation, allowing for axial and flexible anchoring while maintaining rigid rotation axis, effectively absorbing crash forces and preventing damage to adjacent units through a combination of soft and stiff connections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If commercially available spring dampers are used to dampen vibrations, then vibration damping is improved, but the device size becomes too large for compact flywheel energy stores
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a flexible membrane (dünne Membran) as the damping element that connects the machine housing to the foundation. This thin film structure provides vibration damping capability while occupying minimal space, directly resolving the contradiction between damping effectiveness and compact size. The membrane's flexibility allows it to absorb vibrations without requiring the bulky structure of conventional spring dampers.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the machine housing is firmly anchored to the foundation, then structural stability is improved, but crash forces are transmitted to neighboring flywheel units
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible membrane serves as a pre-installed cushioning element between the machine housing and foundation. In the event of a rotor crash, this membrane absorbs and dampens the impact forces before they can be transmitted to the foundation and neighboring units. The membrane is designed to deform under extreme loads, providing crash energy absorption while maintaining normal operational stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The membrane acts as an intermediary element between the machine housing and the foundation. It provides a flexible connection that allows the machine housing to be securely mounted while simultaneously isolating it from rigidly transmitting crash forces to the foundation and adjacent units. This intermediary structure resolves the contradiction between needing stable mounting and preventing harm to other units.
3Reliability
If conventional damping components are used, then vibration damping is achieved, but high torsional loads during crash cause failure of the dampers
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible membrane is specifically designed to handle high torsional loads during crash events. Its flexible nature allows it to deform and absorb rotational energy without failing, unlike rigid conventional damping components. The membrane's material properties and geometry are optimized to provide both vibration damping under normal conditions and crash energy absorption under extreme torsional loads.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The damping device effectively absorbs crash forces, preventing damage to adjacent flywheel units by decoupling the machine housing movement from the foundation, ensuring a compact and efficient energy storage system with minimal space requirements and simple design.
Implementation Method 1
the upper and lower stand units and the membrane being designed in such a way that the membrane is a cantilever flexible switch
Implementation Method 2
Vibrations of the machine housing can be dampened by commercially available spring dampers in the event of a fall
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4~5
AI summary
The invention relates to a flywheel unit (1) with a damping device (4) for fastening the flywheel unit (1) and a flywheel energy storage device (10).The flywheel unit (1) comprises a rotor (2), a machine housing (3) enclosing the rotor (2) with a bottom surface (31), and a damping device (4) attached to the bottom surface (31) of the machine housing (3) for mounting the flywheel unit (1) on a suitable foundation (11), wherein the damping device (4) comprises a lower support unit (41) for mounting on the foundation (11), an upper support unit (43) for mounting on the bottom surface (31) of the machine housing (31), and a diaphragm connecting the lower support unit (41) to the upper support unit (43), wherein the upper and lower support units (41, 43) and the diaphragm are designed such that the diaphragm (42) can form a self-supporting flexible connection (42f) between the upper and lower support units (41, 43).