Inertial turbine energy storage braking and power transmission system
OwnerAlan R. Pitkaneninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An inertial turbine system is provided which stores energy in a rotating flywheel shell by passing a fluid, such as mercury, in and out of the shell during braking or acceleration of the vehicle in which the system is installed. The resulting fluid flywheel is coupled to an input/output shaft through a turbine transmission system. The transmission system is constructed to effect optimal energy transfer over a wide range of relative speeds between the rotating flywheel shell and the input/output shaft to which the shell is coupled.
Claims17
An energy storage and transmission system comprising:
- a flywheel housing defining an inner compartment;
- means rotatably supporting said flywheel housing for rotation about an axis;
- means for introducing a working fluid into the interior of the flywheel housing;
- an output shaft;
- means including turbine means establishing a fluid coupling between the flywheel housing and the output shaft;
- and means for removing the working fluid from the interior of the flywheel housing during operation of the system and directing the removed fluid to the turbine means thereby to transmit an acceleration torque to the output shaft.
The energy storage and transmission system defined in claim 5, in which said sensing means comprises a rotatable disc mounted coaxially with said flywheel housing and mechanically coupled to said working fluid introducing means to control the flow of working fluid from said flywheel housing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.