RE: Driven: Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid drive

[anonymous-user]

100kg??? i think not, with a flywheel the mass furthest away from the centre is the most effective, so they use a laminar wound carbon banded cylinder that weighs in the order of 10kg. The gyroscopic forces do obviously produce a yaw effect, but this is a small force. The containment system is designed to restrain the KE release of a fully charged flywheel during abnormal G loadings (like a crash situation etc) Also, if the vacuum containment fails, the surface velocity of the flywheel is supersonic, so it actually superheats the device which ablates until it has slowed sufficiently. using magnetic bearings and fluid seals results in veyr low parastic friction, and a freespool slowing in the order of a few percent per hr (but remember energy stored is the square of angular velocity)

The systems big advantage is it's specific power density, and ability for multiple charge / discharge events at full rated power conversion without degredation etc.

It certainly has some useful applications as a "peak load leveller" in conjunction with say a conventional LiPo battery system, preventing the cell chemistry being damaged by excessive charge or discharge rates. But more comlexity = more costs

[thunderbelmont]

GarC said:

An 8mpg hybrid. Fantastic.

Thats a very troll comment.

It's a racing car FFS. I'd be over the moon with 8mpg, that's almost 60% better than my Belmont. One extra lap of the Nordschleiffe is 13miles, so well worth it.

Still not sure about a 60000rpm flywheel wizzing alongside my arse....

[SonnyM]

This is great article, and another peek into the future of Porsche road cars.

[RichardR]

Max_Torque said:

but remember energy stored is the square of angular velocity

Of course I'd remembered that!

[glazbagun]

This really does sound awesome!