flywheel (redirected from Fly-wheel)

flywheel, heavy metal wheel attached to a drive shaft, having most of its weight concentrated at the circumference. Such a wheel resists changes in speed and helps steady the rotation of the shaft where a power source such as a piston engine exerts an uneven torque on the shaft or where the load is intermittent, as in piston pumps or punches. By slowly increasing the speed of a flywheel a small motor can store up energy that, if released in a short time, enables the motor to perform a function for which it is ordinarily too small. The flywheel was developed by James Watt in his work on the steam engine.

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flywheel

Heavy wheel attached to a rotating shaft to smooth out delivery of power from a motor to a machine. The inertia of the flywheel opposes and moderates fluctuations in the speed of the engine and stores the excess energy for intermittent use. In automobile engines, the flywheel smooths out the pulses of energy provided by the combustion in the cylinders and provides energy for the compression stroke of the pistons. In power presses the actual punching, shearing, and forming are done in only a fraction of the operating cycle. During the longer, nonactive period, the speed of the flywheel is built up slowly by a comparatively low-powered motor. When the press is operating, most of the required energy is provided by the flywheel.

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flywheel

a heavy wheel that stores kinetic energy and smooths the operation of a reciprocating engine by maintaining a constant speed of rotation over the whole cycle

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flywheel [′flī‚wēl]

(mechanical engineering)

A rotating element attached to the shaft of a machine for the maintenance of uniform angular velocity and revolutions per minute. Also known as balance wheel.

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Flywheel

A rotating mass used to maintain the speed of a machine between given limits while the machine releases or receives energy at a varying rate. A flywheel is an energy storage device. It stores energy as its speed increases, and gives up energy as the speed decreases. The specifications of the machine usually determine the allowable range of speed and the required energy interchange.

The difficulty of casting stress-free spoked flywheels leads the modern designer to use solid web castings or welded structural steel assemblies. For large, slow-turning flywheels on heavyduty diesel engines or large mechanical presses, cast-spoked flywheels of two-piece design are standard (see illustration). See Energy storage

Typical flywheel structures