2146 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, VOL. 17, NO.

2, JUNE 2007

Flywheel Energy Storage System

Using SMB and PMB
Keigo Murakami, Mochimitsu Komori, Member, IEEE, and Hisashi Mitsuda

Abstract—A new energy storage flywheel system using a super-

conducting magnetic bearing (SMB) and a permanent magnet
bearing (PMB) is proposed. The superconducting magnetic bearing
(SMB) suppresses the vibrations of the flywheel rotor. The perma-
nent magnet bearing (PMB) passively controls the rotor position.
The energy storage flywheel system is characterized by using the
two different type magnetic bearings of permanent magnet bearing
(PMB) and superconducting magnetic bearing (SMB). Dynamics of
the new energy storage flywheel system are discussed in this paper.
Index Terms—Energy storage, flywheel, permanent magnet
bearing, superconducting magnetic bearing.

I. INTRODUCTION

E NERGY storage flywheel system is one of valuable en-

ergy-saving technologies. This is because the system is
very simple and characterized by high energy density compared
with other energy storage systems. High temperature supercon-
ductors with strong pinning forces are useful for such applica-
Fig. 1. Schematic illustration of the energy storage flywheel system with PMB
tions [1]–[4]. There are some reports about flywheel systems and SMB.
using superconducting magnetic bearings (SMBs) and active
magnetic bearings (AMBs) to suppress rotor vibrations [5].
In this paper, we propose a new energy storage flywheel TABLE I
SPECIFICATIONS OF THE ENERGY STORAGE FLYWHEEL SYSTEM
system whose concept is different from other papers. The fly-
wheel system has a superconducting magnetic bearing (SMB)
at the bottom of the flywheel rotor and a permanent magnet
(PMB) at the top of it. The superconducting magnetic bearing
(SMB) suppresses the vibrations of the rotor and the permanent
magnet bearing (PMB) passively controls the rotor position.
In this paper, dynamics of the energy storage flywheel system
with superconducting magnetic bearing (SMB) and permanent
magnet bearing (PM) are discussed.

II. ENERGY STORAGE FLYWHEEL SYSTEM (SMB) and a permanent magnet bearing (PMB). The su-
perconducting bearing (SMB) is set at the bottom part of
A. System the flywheel rotor. The superconducting magnetic bearing
(SMB) consists of a ring oxide superconductor
Fig. 1 shows a schematic illustration of the energy storage and four ring SmCo rare
flywheel system using a superconducting magnetic bearing earth permanent magnets .
The four permanent magnets are installed in the rotor so that
Manuscript received August 28, 2006. same magnetic pole comes in contact. The permanent magnet
K. Murakami was a graduate student of Kyushu Institute of Technology, To-
bata, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 804-8550. He is now with Yamazaki Mazak Corp.,
bearing (PMB) is set at the top part of the flywheel rotor as
Japan. shown in Fig. 1. A flywheel is made of FRP (fiber reinforced
M. Komori is with the Dept. of Applied Science for Integrated System plastics) in the center of the rotor, where the flywheel measures
Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology,
1-1 Sensui-cho, Tobata, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 804-8550, Japan (e-mail:
70 mm in diameter, 10 mm in thickness and 0.32 kg in weight
[email protected]). (including rotor weight). The details of the flywheel specifica-
H. Mitsuda was a graduate student of Kyushu Institute of Technology, Tobata, tions are shown in Table I.
Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 804-8550. He is now with Nabtesco Corp., Japan. At the bottom of the flywheel system, there is a cold stage
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. of a cryocooler for cooling the superconductor of the super-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TASC.2007.898894 conducting bearing (SMB). After the superconductor is cooled
1051-8223/$25.00 © 2007 IEEE
MURAKAMI et al.: FLYWHEEL ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM 2147

Fig. 4. Relationships (a) between axial repulsive force and displace-

ment Z and (b) between radial repulsive force and displacement X
(stator magnet: OD37 mm 2 ID28 mm 2 4:5 mm, rotor magnet:
2
OD18 mm ID6 mm 8 mm). 2

Fig. 2. Total energy storage flywheel system including electric circuits.

(PMB) is composed of a rotor magnet, stator magnets and
inserted non-magnetic spacers between stator magnets. Such
kind of permanent magnet bearing (PMB) is characterized by
adjusting the bearing stiffness in the radial and axial directions.
Radial vibrations are passively suppressed by the repulsion
forces of the permanent magnet bearing (PMB).
Repulsive forces in the axial and radial directions were mea-
sured by using a load cell. The rotor magnet can be moved up
and down by using a Z stage. Displacement in the axial di-
rection and displacement in the radial direction indicate
a position that the rotor magnet is in the center of the stator mag-
nets as shown in Fig. 3. In the experiments, the repulsive forces
Fig. 3. Structure of the permanent magnet bearing (PMB).
in the axial and radial directions were measured for various dis-
placements X and Z. The permanent magnet bearing (PMB) is
down to about 70 K, the positioning mechanism is removed. composed of a stator magnet
Then, the flywheel rotor is levitated without any mechanical and two rotor magnets . Spacer
contacts. A motor/generator is used for rotating the flywheel is non-magnetic stainless steel plate .
rotor and generating electrical power. The rotor displacement is Then, the gap between the stator magnet and the rotor magnet
measured by using eddy current displacement sensors as shown is 5.0 mm. During the PMB experiment, the superconducting
in Fig. 1. In the experiments, the vacuum chamber is kept at a magnetic bearing (SMB) was not in superconducting state.
vacuum of to reduce windage loss. Fig. 4 shows the experimental results for the permanent
The driving of the flywheel is performed by using a brushless magnet bearing (PMB). Fig. 4(a) indicates the relationship
DC motor, which also works as a generator. The rotation angle between axial repulsive force and axial displacement Z for var-
of the flywheel is detected by using a Hall effect sensor installed ious spaces from 0 mm to 3 mm. From Fig. 4(a), it is confirmed
in the motor. The driving force is applied to the motor according that the axial repulsive force becomes large with increasing
to the Hall signal. The driving force is proportional to outputs axial displacement Z for various spaces. This shows that the
from a personal computer. axial repulsive force is adjusted by using the space. Fig. 4(b)
shows the relationship between radial repulsive force and radial
B. Total System displacement X for various axial displacements Z from 0 mm to
Fig. 2 shows the total energy storage flywheel system in- 1 mm with space 2.0 mm. The radial repulsive force becomes
cluding electric circuits. The total system is composed of the small with increasing radial displacement. However, the radial
energy storage flywheel system, power amplifiers, AD/DA repulsive force doesn’t depend on the axial position Z. As a
converters, a personal computer for controlling the motor/gen- result, the space 2.0 mm is adopted for the permanent magnet
erator and a tachometer for detecting the flywheel rotational bearing (PMB) in the experiment hereafter.
speed. The rotational speed is controlled by using the personal
B. Dynamic Characteristics
computer through the AD/DA converters. The MS-C program
for controlling the rotational speed is installed in the personal The rotational dynamic characteristics of the flywheel were
computer. investigated. The rotational speed was controlled by the per-
sonal computer, which drove the brushless DC motor installed
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS in the energy storage flywheel system. The experimental result
is shown in Fig. 5, indicating the relationship between rotational
A. Permanent Magnet Bearing (PMB) speed of the flywheel and time for driving voltages from 0.2 V
Fig. 3 shows a structure of the permanent magnet bearing to 3.0 V. From the result in Fig. 5, it is found that the rotational
(PMB) installed in Fig. 1. The permanent magnet bearing speed increases with increasing time. For the driving voltages
2148 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, VOL. 17, NO. 2, JUNE 2007

Fig. 7. Relationship between radial displacement and time for various rota-
tional speeds in the lower part of the rotor.
Fig. 5. Relationship between rotational speed and time for various driving volt-
ages from 0.2 volt to 3.0 volt.

Fig. 8. Relationship between radial displacement and time for various rota-
tional speeds in the upper part of the rotor.
Fig. 6. Relationship between radial displacement and time for various rota-
tional speeds in the upper part of the rotor.
time range, which is a little smaller than the result in Fig. 6.
There are also displacement peaks at times of 2 s and 23 s.
more than 0.5 V, the rotational speed goes up to 4,000 rpm, However, the displacements at a resonance rotational speed in
which is a saturation rotational speed. Fig. 7 are very smaller than the displacements in Fig. 6. This
Basic studies of spin down test for the energy storage flywheel is because the damping effect of the superconducting magnetic
system were investigated. In the experiments, after the flywheel bearing (SMB) is effective in the lower part of the rotor and the
spun up to a speed of 4,700 rpm, the driving force shut down. permanent magnet bearing (PMB) does not have the damping
During these processes, the vibrations of the flywheel rotor in effect. The small peak at a time of 10 s is caused by the unbal-
the upper and lower parts were investigated. Fig. 6 shows the ance of the flywheel system, which is produced by some external
relationship between radial displacement and time for various force.
rotational speeds in the upper part of the rotor. From Fig. 6, it is Basic studies were performed to keep the energy storage
found that the flywheel spins up to a speed of 4,700 rpm after 5 s. amount of the flywheel at a certain range. In the experiments,
After the driving force shut down at time 10 s, the flywheel speed after the flywheel spun up to the speed of 3,700 rpm, the
decreases rapidly. The displacement is smaller than 0.2 mm over driving force shut down by using the personal computer.
a wide time range. However, there are two displacement peaks Then, after the rotational speed of the flywheel spun down to
at times of 3 s and 23 s, which correspond to a resonance 3,000 rpm, the driving force turned on by using the personal
rotational speed of 1,900 rpm. The resonance rotational speed computer. In this manner, the flywheel kept the rotational speed
is a good agreement with the vibration frequency 33 Hz given between 3,000 rpm and 3,700 rpm. This operation is useful for
by impulse responses to the permanent magnet bearing (PMB). keeping the flywheel energy at a certain energy storage level.
The maximum displacement is about 1.3 mm. From the result During these operations, displacements in the upper and lower
in Fig. 6, once the flywheel passes through the critical speed parts of the flywheel rotor were investigated.
1,900 rpm, the displacement stays within 0.2 mm. The satu- Fig. 8 shows the experimental results representing the rela-
ration speed of 4,700 rpm is a little different from that in Fig. 5, tionship between displacement and time for various rotational
because the saturation speeds depend on the unbalance of the speeds in the upper part of the rotor. During the rotation between
flywheel system. 3,000 rpm and 3,700 rpm corresponding to the time range from
Fig. 7 shows the relationship between radial displacement 5 s and 25 s, the displacement is smaller than 0.2 mm. There are
and time for various rotational speeds in the lower part of the two displacement peaks at the same resonance rotational speed
rotor. The displacement is smaller than 0.2 mm over a wide as shown in Figs. 6 and 7. The flywheel can rotate stably at
MURAKAMI et al.: FLYWHEEL ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM 2149

magnet bearing (PMB). The superconducting magnetic bearing

(SMB) suppresses the vibrations of the flywheel rotor and the
permanent magnet bearing (PMB) passively controls the posi-
tion of the rotor. Basic studies of spin down test show that the
displacement is smaller than 0.2 mm in the speed range except
for the resonance rotational speed. The flywheel spins stably at
speeds higher than the resonance rotational speed and the dis-
placement is smaller than 0.2 mm. The damping of the super-
conducting magnetic bearing (SMB) is larger than that of per-
manent magnet bearing (PMB). The basic studies are succeeded
to keep the energy storage amount of the flywheel at rotational
speeds between 3,000 rpm and 3,700 rpm.
Fig. 9. Relationship between radial displacement and time for various rota-
tional speeds in the lower part of the rotor.
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