Going around corners presents another interesting problem, depending on the orientation of its axis. The vacuum chamber that such a flywheel must operate in (to make it practical) presents another interesting challenge.
Bob Wilson TIR Systems Ltd. Vancouver. -----Original Message----- From: Chris Maxwell [mailto:chris.maxw...@nettest.com] Sent: May 10, 2002 5:47 AM To: Doug McKean; EMC-PSTC Discussion Group Subject: RE: A little off topic but ... exploding CD's ??? I hope that I don't lead the thread off on a tangent...but a similar problem is being encountered by those who envision magnetically levitated flywheel powered electric cars. (By the way, the flywheel is levitated, not the car) A well designed flywheel system can store electricity with a better weight to energy ratio of currently available batteries...But. In order to do so with a lightweight flywheel (about 50 pounds); the flywheel needs to spin up to something like 100,000 rpm. They are testing composite materials (graphite, kevlar...) and the testing has led to some spectacular failures with shredded flywheel all over the place. The other problem is...how do you contain these babies if the car has an accident. Just imagine a wreck that produces a bunch of 50lb buzz saws bouncing around the intersection...it wouldn't be pretty. As far as CD's...maybe everyone should just listen to George Jones... or something else that is slow enough to keep he speed safe :-) Chris Maxwell | Design Engineer - Optical Division email chris.maxw...@nettest.com | dir +1 315 266 5128 | fax +1 315 797 8024 NetTest | 6 Rhoads Drive, Utica, NY 13502 | USA web www.nettest.com | tel +1 315 797 4449 | ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/ To cancel your subscription, send mail to: majord...@ieee.org with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Ron Pickard: emc-p...@hypercom.com Dave Heald: davehe...@attbi.com For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org Jim Bacher: j.bac...@ieee.org All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://ieeepstc.mindcruiser.com/ Click on "browse" and then "emc-pstc mailing list"
