WHP's Flywheel Technology

WHP's flywheels are based on an electrically powered integral motor flywheel delivering the high power, long cycle life that such a design provides. The devices are substantially improved by a variety of innovations. One of the most important is the incorporation of Magnetically Loaded Composite (MLC) technology.

MLC was invented by engineers at British Nuclear Fuels and Urenco working on the design of uranium enrichment centrifuges. Instead of using discrete permanent magnets to form the rotor of a flywheel’s integrated motor/generator, magnetic powder is mixed into the composite matrix. After the flywheel has been manufactured using filament winding, flash magnetisation of the integrated magnetic particles generates the required field configuration forming the rotor.

With no large metallic structures in the MLC flywheel rotor, eddy current losses and heating are negligible resulting in very high electrical efficiencies. The lack of rotor heating gives MLC flywheels a unique advantage over other composite flywheel designs: they can be continuously deep-cycled at high power with no detriment to performance or reduction in life. The wholly composite MLC flywheel design also improves system safety: in the event of a failure, there are no metallic fragments requiring containment. In common with other flywheels, they can operate efficiently at extreme ambient temperatures – unlike chemical batteries and capacitors.