🚀 go-pugleaf

A thought or 2...

I remember reading an article in Scientific American or somesuch about
high-tech flywheels.  One of the designs that stands out in my mind
was one made of wood laminates and would store a large percentage of
its energy in deformation.  That is, the thing started out in roughly
a square shape, then as it spun up, it would flex out into the 
normal circular shape.  Recalling from Physics, as a rotating mass
moves in a shorter radius, the rotational momentum must remain 
constant, so the spinning speed increases - allowing one to tap the
power available in the return to the original shape.
Plus, it's not unappealing that the thing was constructed partially
of wood... projectiles would be easier to contain.

Has anyone considered using springs as an alternative to flywheels?
It seems to me (very topically) that while the same amount of power
could be stored in a (unknown adjective - the type of spring used
in clocks, as opposed to your screen door slammer spring) spring,
it would be much safer.
There would be no high velocity particles to contend with  -
In the event of spring breakage, or uncontrolled release, It seems that
the actual outward force would be fairly easy to contain.  In addition,
the spring material (spring steel, or some derivative thereof) could
be relatively light and less prone to cause ballistic injury.
(At least, I'd prefer it to a flywheel with the same amount of energy!)

This is interesting, keep it up.

J-.

-- 
Jim Bogard  (jimbo@socrates.umd.edu)
                                            "Implement now, tweak later."
Tech at large / gigging daemon