Flywheel energy storage device accident

Even though there are hardly any known accidents involving energy storage flywheels that actually resulted in personal injury, incidents such as the much-cited rotor burst in Beacon Power 's grid stability plant in Stephentown are sufficient to fuel mistrust of FESS technology [ 1 ].

The housing of a flywheel energy storage system (FESS) also serves as a burst containment in the case of rotor failure of vehicle crash. In this chapter, the requirements for this safety-critical component are discussed, followed by an analysis of historical and contemporary burst containment designs.

Flywheel Energy Storage Systems (FESS) play an important role in the energy storage business. Its ability to cycle and deliver high power, as well as, high power gradients makes them superior for storage applications such as frequency regulation, voltage support and power firming.

Robust system design, in combination with the use of certified critical materials, relevant quality control measures and documentation, are the basis for the construction of safe flywheel systems. These can be certified by appropriate independent parties as in the manufacture of many other products.

In addition to the Sandia guidelines (4), Stornetic also believes that flywheels up to a certain energy content can be contained and mounted safely even in the event of a severe rotor burst. These designs offer additional safety opportunities to those of the Sandia recommendations.

The total energy of the flywheel is converted in equal shares into purely translational energy of the fragments; thus, energy absorption by crack growth, deformation, friction, etc. is neglected. Only the impact of a fragment is examined, because it is assumed that all three impacts are completely identical.