Experiment and analysis for a small-sized flywheel energy storage system with a high-temperature superconductor bearing

Abstract

This paper presents a small-sized flywheel energy storage system that uses a high-temperature superconductor (HTS) bearing characterized by a non-contacting, bearing with no active control. The small-sized flywheel is made up several magnets for a motor/generator as well as an HTS bearing, and they are fitted into a 34 mm diameter, 3 mm thick aluminium disc. For simplicity and miniaturization of the whole system, the small-sized flywheel takes torque directly from a planar stator, which consists of an axial flux-type brushless DC motor/generator. The small-sized flywheel successfully rotated up to 38 000 rpm in a vacuum while levitated above the stator with a gap of about 1 mm. However, there are some eddy current losses in the stator and non-axisymmetry in the magnetic field causing large drag torque. In order to solve these problems, an improved magnet array in the flywheel, including magnetic screening, is proposed and 3D electromagnetic simulations have been conducted.