Kick starters and flywheel technology

[J.P.M.]

The tooth fairy and Yeti are more likely to show up - the crowd funding thingies are generally a means to transfer funds from the average Joe to some dingbat with a scheme where he doesn't have to work.

Flywheels from a big company have not happened - from a small shoe string operation it is near impossible.

I still ridicule the idea.

On this crowd funding crap: Seems to be the internet equivalent of panhandling with many analogies to the stoplight beggars. Maybe legit, but no controls or verification and probably a scam - like the e-mail from someone who claims to be from Nigeria who needs to borrow 5 large from you so he can claim a million $$ inheritance.

People/outfits claiming breakthroughs in flywheel tech are sort of the bottom feeders of the power production world.

[Sunking]

The thing with Flywheels the tech is as old as the wheel. There are no meaningful improvements left in them. The best wheel is steal on steal rails. There is no way to improve it. Flywheel UPS have been around for 100 years. They were the first UPS systems. Technology antiquated them.

[Alisobob]

I'm looking forward to installing a velkess A in 2016.

velk.JPG


Uh...... 2017


This is nutz.... go to their "website", and have a good laugh.

Its nothing but cliche's, strung together...

[russ]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]6436[/ATTACH]


Uh...... 2017


This is nutz.... go to their "website", and have a good laugh.

Its nothing but cliche's, strung together...

It is cute! The guy ran out of free money from the first round of suckers so he comes back to the trough for more!

Anyone getting taken on this scam deserves to be screwed!

[DanKegel]

Looks like our local subway is using a flywheel:

http://www.metro-magazine.com/rail/news/292659/l-a-metro-s-vycon-system-reducing-energy-consumption

http://media.metro.net/board/Items/2012/07_july/20120719CONItem37.pdf

http://www.fta.dot.gov/documents/TIGGER_CA_77_0002_LACMTA_r1_w150.pdf

[russ]

Looks like our local subway is using a flywheel:

http://www.metro-magazine.com/rail/news/292659/l-a-metro-s-vycon-system-reducing-energy-consumption

http://media.metro.net/board/Items/2012/07_july/20120719CONItem37.pdf

http://www.fta.dot.gov/documents/TIG...TA_r1_w150.pdf

Danny boy - Flywheels are used for many things - including the subway you so brilliantly located on the net.

They serve a good purpose in many things - starting with your car!

They serve to assist with grid frequency adjustment in some locations even.

Storing a useful amount of power as is guessed at by Gray? Nope.

[Mike90250]

there is no real tech data sheet on the kickstarter site, so, I'll pass on the flywheels.

[Sunking]

Looks like our local subway is using a flywheel:

http://www.metro-magazine.com/rail/news/292659/l-a-metro-s-vycon-system-reducing-energy-consumption

You moron you do not know the difference between Regen Braking and Flywheels. If it sounds like Green Poop you eat it up without question or even smelling it.

[RedDenver]

You moron you do not know the difference between Regen Braking and Flywheels. If it sounds like Green Poop you eat it up without question or even smelling it.

Before calling someone a moron, you should read the article. It says the subway is storing energy from regen braking in flywheels. Basically a system that transfers energy from a braking train to an accelerating train using the flywheels to temporarily store the energy.

[russ]

Before calling someone a moron, you should read the article. It says the subway is storing energy from regen braking in flywheels. Basically a system that transfers energy from a braking train to an accelerating train using the flywheels to temporarily store the energy.

Actually it isn't nice to call anyone a moron even if it fits.

These flywheel systems are used in may places for small amounts of short term storage. The clowns with the kickstarter (handout) request are talking about something totally different.

This isn't anything new - some fool dusts the concept off every couple of years to collect money from suckers.

[DanKegel]

According to Metro, they save about 9kwh per stopping train at one station using the flywheel, which saves about $50k per year.
The flywheel system cost $5 million, so payback time is 5 million / 50k = 100 years.
It supposedly has a lifetime of 20 years, so it definitely won't pay for itself;
it's just a pilot to explore the technology. If it succeeds, maybe their next phase
would actually try to save money.

I posted that simply as a real-world data point ("big, expensive, but maybe a fit for special applications"), not to say that it's an economical choice for residential use.

And I agree that chances of a kickstarter-funded flywheel company doing anything useful are slim.

[russ]

Formula 1 racing uses a regen system - just to pacify critics that claim racing is a watse really.

Flywheels are great devices and have their place.

[kwilcox]

there is no real tech data sheet on the kickstarter site, so, I'll pass on the flywheels.

tech data is on the commercial site:

Velkess L datasheet
Velkess A datasheet

I don't know what it is about "For sale in 2016" that nobody seems to understand. Pre-sale announcements are common in the tech industry. Is the Apple Watch a myth? How many Teslas were pre-ordered before the first model S was ever driven off the assembly line? Heck, I pre-ordered my August keyless locking system last year based on a similar announcement.

[DanKegel]

I just don't think their chances of getting the device to market successfully are that high. Hope they do, but I'm not holding my breath.

[kwilcox]

I'll post about this again in 2016 when the storage systems are actually being sold.

Timeline so far here:

• 2014: post announcement of new affordable flywheel tech. Receive ridicule that any kickstarter product, far less an affordable flywheel, will ever go to manufacturing
  
• 2015: post announcement of affordable flywheel product going to manufacturing for delivery in 2016. Receive ridicule that it will ever actually be sold.
• 2016??? I can't wait to find out....