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Re: Enlightening Flywheels

To: Robert Allen <boballen@sky.net>
Subject: Re: Enlightening Flywheels
From: Trevor Boicey <tboicey@brit.ca>
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 16:49:26 -0400
Robert Allen wrote:
> But then the weight of the flywheel is added. I weighed my flywheel and
> it comes in at 22 pounds (plus 13 for the clutch housing) so that is
> about 35 pounds not effected by the engine gearing:

  I don't think it can really be seen as this simple.

  You aren't accelerating it from point A along vector V, so
it's not it's weight that matters.

  You are accelerating it from a slow spinning speed to a
higher spinning speed. So it's moment of inertia becomes
important, and for an irregular object like a flywheel
it's not likely a quick calculation.

  The energy required to change the rate of spin of
an object such as the wheel is not just a function of
the weight of the wheel, it's also a function of it's
geometry.

  It's the old story of a spinning figure skater that
has a given amount of energy in their spin, but changes
the speed by moving mass closer to the center of the
spin.

  In other words, for this type of calculation, especially
since you say your flywheel is "dished", you might require
a bit of calculus to get a useful answer.
 
-- 
Trevor Boicey
Ottawa, Canada
tboicey@brit.ca
http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/

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