Trevithick's 1802 steam locomotive, which used a flywheel to evenly distribute the power of its single cylinder
A flywheel is a mechanical device that uses the conservation of angular momentum to store rotational energy; a form of kinetic energy proportional to the product of its moment of inertia and the square of its rotational speed. In particular, assuming the flywheel's moment of inertia is constant (i.e., a flywheel with fixed mass and second moment of area revolving about some fixed axis) then the stored (rotational) energy is directly associated with the square of its rotational speed.
Since a flywheel serves to store mechanical energy for later use, it is natural to consider it as a kinetic energy analogue of an electrical inductor. Once suitably abstracted, this shared principle of energy storage is described in the generalized concept of an accumulator. As with other types of accumulators, a flywheel inherently smooths sufficiently small deviations in the power output of a system, thereby effectively playing the role of a low-pass filter with respect to the mechanical velocity (angular, or otherwise) of the system. More precisely, a flywheel's stored energy will donate a surge in power output upon a drop in power input and will conversely absorb any excess power input (system-generated power) in the form of rotational energy.
Common uses of a flywheel include smoothing a power output in reciprocating engines, energy storage, delivering energy at higher rates than the source, controlling the orientation of a mechanical system using gyroscope and reaction wheel, etc. Flywheels are typically made of steel and rotate on conventional bearings; these are generally limited to a maximum revolution rate of a few thousand RPM.[1] High energy density flywheels can be made of carbon fiber composites and employ magnetic bearings, enabling them to revolve at speeds up to 60,000 RPM (1 kHz).[2]
^"Flywheels move from steam age technology to Formula 1". Archived from the original on 2012-07-03. Retrieved 2012-07-03.; "Flywheels move from steam age technology to Formula 1"; Jon Stewart | 1 July 2012, retrieved 2012-07-03
^"Breakthrough in Ricardo Kinergy 'second generation' high-speed flywheel technology". 2011-08-21. Archived from the original on 2012-07-05. Retrieved 2012-07-03., "Breakthrough in Ricardo Kinergy ‘second generation’ high-speed flywheel technology"; Press release date: 22 August 2011. retrieved 2012-07-03
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