Epic Engineering of the Gyrobus - No Gas No Batteries!

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All the way back in the 1940s, in Switzerland, work was underway on a breakthrough Bus that would be pure electric, and not need batteries. Introducing the Gyro-bus, a innovative look at storing energy in a flywheel! Mechanical Energy storage baby, and we're doing a deep dive this week on Two Bit da Vinci!
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This Insane Bus Was Pure ELECTRIC & Didn't Need Batteries
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[@MervynPartin]

In the UK, the Parry People Mover is a flywheel driven light railbus operating the Stourbridge Town branch rail line, and is in regular reliable use, so the transport technology is not dead.

[@brianfretwell3886]

I did ask when using it a few years ago and was told it had a gas engine on it and the flywheel wasn't brought to speed by electricity. Obviously it needed more power than the decent to the town level put back into the flywheel.

[@MervynPartin]

@@brianfretwell3886 That is correct, but the flywheel does recover some of the energy so at least, there is a fuel saving. Parry have had electrically powered flywheels, but I am not sure if there are any in use.

[@dr_dr]

From memory the engine in the WMT Class 139 Parry people mover is a small internal combustion engine from a Ford Focus (?) so the emissions are far lower than those from a traditional diesel DMU, and if you consider if all the passengers had taken the same journey in their own cars with similar engines, then the potential overall reduction in emissions is significant.

[@brianfretwell3886]

@@dr_dr I was told (when I asked after a trip on it) it was a "Gas engine" as it is in the UK I would assume it was LPG or propane not the US definition of gas (liquid petrol).

[@dr_dr]

@@brianfretwell3886 I think you are correct, the Class 139 uses a Ford 2.0l DSG423 86hp engine. This engine is designed for using LPG or propane, but some references (Wikipedia) state it to be using diesel to confuse things.

[@trulyinfamous]

I feel like flywheels are like the mechanical equivalents to supercapacitors. They are better for transport though, because they are cheaper and more easily scalable. That gyrobus was an awesome thing and I wish we could use more mechanical energy storage.

[@MajorWolfer]

Z

[@FreeSatTracker]

The drawbacks have ben mentioned. Gyroscopes resist changes in momentum. It becomes hard to steer such vehicles. Also steering them will lose energy. This tech is best suited for non movable energy storage.

[@xrayban2]

I recently visited a datacenter which had a flywheel as emergency battery, pretty impressive.

[@DoctorMangler]

No they aren't super capacitors don't care if you make a left turn or decide to go down a hill.

[@pdr_2703]

@@DoctorMangler what part of "mechanical equivalents" you didn't get?

[@jamesporter5630]

I never would have imagined “pimp my ride”, Keith Richards and fly wheel energy all in the same video. Bravo.

[@TwoBitDaVinci]

Haha! It wasn’t easy :)

[@markwallin]

Yes I caught that too. Yes Little Boys and Girls Keith Richards really is that old and still Lives. LOL Should he be told?

[@yrunaked4]

Keith Richards will still be here long after the flywheel has faded into history 🤣🤣

[@ImplyDods]

Sometimes old engineering answers are just amazingly effective. The Archimedes screw is a great example. A very short version is still used to propel most of our watercraft ie the propeller.

[@adriangabrielgramada1016]

H.S.U.V = hyper steam universal vehicle... Same good old steam + vacuum insulated carbon fibre tanks + electromagnetic valves + heat from sunlight & IR lamps = the absolute best heat to mechanical direct and super efficient energy conversion with ... ZERO BATTERIES, COMPUTER CHIPS / AI + ZERO COLLISIONS / ACCIDENTS / INJURIES OR DEATHS (by using radio waves cushioning)

[@nazeerahmed2434]

Really Interesting..

[@yelectric1893]

Or grain in a lot of places

[@johnkufeldt3564]

used to move grain on every farm in Canada

[@Einstein20202]

I would like to add that the Archimedes screws are the reseason that the Netherlands is not a sea.

[@gecsus]

I want to compliment you on your clear voice, enunciation, and proper diction. Easy to understand. You don't talk faster to cram more content into a smaller time frame. Thank you. I have been listening to KZbin videos since its inception and probably listen to 20 or more a day. I say you are the best.

[@johngalt97]

What he said, but less of your face, please.

[@phills6732]

The audio is so clean it doesn't feel like it's coming from the video that's on the screen

[@garyfrancis6193]

Enunciation.

[@sovereignman6951]

Shame no effort was made to pronounce Oerlikon correctly.

[@1950dcs]

Except he doesn’t know how to pronounce Oerlikon…

[@marklewus5468]

what I really like about this channel is that you explain things simply. But you also include the math for science-y types. Great job on this one.

[@northwestrockgem9745]

That's right I completely agree with what you just stated.

[@SIMKYUSHA]

I grew up in sf in the 70s and 80s riding our electric gyro busses. Dad explained the tech but I had never seen it until now!

[@johnkufeldt3564]

those buses have constant contact with overhead lines, used to pull them off if a bus driver cut me off as a bike messenger in my youth.

[@pan6593]

A little comment worth is that Zurich replaced the gyro-busses with wired electric ones. Zurich has a big history/legacy in electric transport, still making it extremely carbon/emission reduced.

[@Jim-si7wz]

yeh I find it a shame when countries try their best to save the planet, and others just dont care, it is all about money.

[@robinkelley6427]

Yess that coal powered grid is quite green

[@keithschneidly3922]

But hey who cares about white noise and it's effects.

[@louisrafaelcom]

@@robinkelley6427 There are no coal powerplants in Switzerland.

[@daveedson8607]

Every small ICE has a flywheel. Its mass is the magnets needed to power the magneto, thus solving 2 issues, ignition and smoothing the engine. Larger ICE's with manual transmissions all have flywheels to store the surge of energy required while engaging the clutch. There is also a lightweight flywheel on automatic transmission ICE's. Industrial presses utilize flywheels to store the energy of a small electric motor until it is sufficient to stamp the part, so a clutch drives the ram down and back up where the motor brings the flywheel back up to speed for the next cycle. The old hit and miss ICE is the best illustration of a flywheel that I can think of.

[@lestermarshall6501]

This show reminded me of when I was in the navy going to Class A damage control school on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. One weekend I was walking down the street where the cable cars ran and found the power house for the cable cars. Walked into the building and the engineer who was running it gave me a tour. It had a huge flywheel that powered the cable and it was very quiet. I understand that they shut the cable cars down later but then brought them back at a later time. If you are ever in San Francisco and have a change, do that tour.

[@MrMechanicandy]

Well if they had charging Staunton for buses and cars that would make grid operable

[@653mld]

&in moi

[@archivushka]

I'm so glad to see some content about this exotic and forgotten piece of engineering

[@bobpeters61]

When I was in Seattle several years ago, I was impressed by the fact that they had electric busses powered by overhead cables through poles attached to the busses and hooked over the cables. It wasn't unknown for a bus to fail to manipulate a turn in just the right way, forcing the driver to get out and re-hook a power pole on the cable.

[@r0bhumm]

In the UK those were called trolleybuses and were quite a common site in various places it was my understanding that the pick up didn’t actually hook over the cable but pushed up onto them there was a trolley bus terminal I visited in Hastings I think it was after that all shutdown that was being converted to a museum.

[@RandyTWester]

I vaguely recall riding on a trolleybus in California in the mid 1970's, and the driver had to go and rehook her power lines in an intersection. A flywheel or battery with enough storage to go a half block would have helped a lot.

[@RandyTWester]

There are trolleybuses operating in Vancouver, BC every day.

[@juliogonzo2718]

@@RandyTWester Toronto had them probably into the early 90s but not anymore. Now they just have streetcars only using overhead wires

[@GalenlevyPhoto]

Ive witnessed a trolley bus one of the power pole went into the wrong power line and the bus stalled. He had to come out and re-hook to the right ones. Also other event, saw a articulated trolley bus power pole ripped off the bus and was hanging on the power line. ouch, man.

[@lcarliner]

The gyroscopic effect could be canceled out by using two counter-rotating flywheel devices side by side.

[@markmuir7338]

But you significantly reduce storage capacity by doing that. 2*(r/2)^2 < r^2

[@lcarliner]

See revised post above.

[@riscnx]

@@lcarliner I think even better should be, if we let the flywheel's frame/container move freely, keeping flywheel in constant orientation.

[@lcarliner]

Both methods should be tested to see if different gimbal mountings would as satisfactory as counter rotating pairs.

[@williamrbuchanan4153]

Getting the best from flywheel is just bleeding off some of its energy.a static site away from population or other industry. Being slap fed outer by a power top up. . Like a top and whip of childhood days. On a gigantic scale. Reverse of braking, power added instead of taken. Huge cost to do it but it will last forever with engineering technology of today’s control systems. Get money off the scene and do it, space exploration, war, cost consideration is not a feature. Just do it. What’s money anyway, just a carrot to humans and greed.

[@LQhristian]

The modern replacement would be the supercapacitor! Almost instant charging and 'slow' discharge!!

[@TwoBitDaVinci]

very true!

[@ingmarmaul4464]

But you would need much more space to store the same amount of energy, Porsche raced a flywheel powered hybrid 911 while the 24hrs at the Nürburgring in 2010. And they could stay out one more round instead of the regular 911. My opinion is that only the bad pollution rules stopped this technic to make it into production cars.

[@punker4Real]

@@ingmarmaul4464 hybrid cars are more practical if they really want to change things WE NEED A pre fab DROP IN kit for existing cars all ready on the road esp for older suvs that are 2WD and (such that support 4WD i.e chevy tahoe, subrban pickups ) these are the ones that waste the most fuel .... as they only get about 10-14mpg city/hwy I have a chevy tahoe hybrid suv it gets 23 to 32mpg(depending on the route i take...) on the highway with a v8 engine 6.0L the city is 18MPG.... considering the normal 6.0L engine only gets 9MPG and 13mpg on the highway most cars all ready have electronic throttles since like year 2004..... also battery replacement for existing hybrids need subsidized.... as building new cars just will cause even more waste product and more pollution....

[@ingmarmaul4464]

@@punker4Real yes you are right, tiny evolutions makes the world better. Question is how you implement that in the engine management especially with manual gearboxes. We do have a lot of them here over in the European country’s.

[@roberthunker8957]

@@ingmarmaul4464 True. Although it was engineered by Williams F1 / Advanced engineering in 2008 and used in season 2009. End of 2014 Porsche bought he whole Kers department from Williams.

[@powertothesheeple5422]

Bonus Fact: When KERS was allowed in F1 Williams adapted flywheel tech for their racecars back in 2009. Not sure if they are still used today but it worked.

[@fredashay]

This might work better on trains or trams that run on smooth tracks with wide curves rather than vehicles that have to drive over rough surfaces and sharp corners. Especially with regenerative braking and friction-less magnetic bearings.

[@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory]

*overhead catanary* Trains are already limited to their tracks, so you might as well use overhead wire.

[@Lestibournes]

@@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory or a third rail

[@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory]

@@Lestibournes those are very unpopular as when installed along longer distance lines. People would touch them and die.

[@MilwaukeeF40C]

@@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory Overhead or third rail are expensive and I know all about 600 DC dropping significantly over 1.5 miles from the substation. Energy storage would let short sections of power collection be used either at speed or station stops. The high resistance electricity return path (usually through the running rails and ground) becomes less of an issue if electricity doesn't need to be returned most of the time.

[@artmatthew1]

@@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory expensive, I like that flywheels effectively toss the locamotive from one station to the next.

[@mikecharette9258]

I have always been interested in this concept, having created in my head twenty years ago and wondered why no one had done it before---- then I found out that it had been created long ago. Very Fascinating story.

[@eskimocommotion4965]

I did too! I still think it can be used safely but I think I have to do it and be sole benefitter.

[@denvera1g1]

Little side note, when a flywheel is used to adjust the angle of a space craft by either adding energy, or taking it away, they're referred to as reaction wheel, usually having 3 of these wheels on 3 different axis

[@merlinious01]

It is likely usually more than 3, as that has no refundancy. More likely 6

[@robertwoodliff2536]

Three or six the effects the same.

[@denvera1g1]

@@robertwoodliff2536 Merlin is right, every system for management/control should have at least 1 redundancy, IIRC the space shuttle had something like 7 computers to combat cosmic ray bit flips in RAM/cache, with a 'voting' system where whichever 'answer' had the highest number of votes won

[@robertwoodliff2536]

@@denvera1g1...thank you, 3 or 6 the effect is the same, the longevity may be improved, depending on build quality/design. Always think the Shuttle seals put these in context. But then,'we' built the De Havilland Comet.

[@merlinious01]

@@robertwoodliff2536 True, but they are such a vital component that you'd want redundancy on your 100 million dollar satellite

[@greenleafyman1028]

Flywheel is good as a backup battery of a Trolleybus/Pantograph Truck in case that it needs to go off-road or off in the overhead wire for some situations for a short period of time. If the flywheel is not in use, it will charge using the overhead wire while the trolleybus is running.

[@tenlittleindians]

I'd love to see a flywheel storage system designed for a typical home. Run off solar during the daylight hours and off the flywheel for nighttime energy requirements.

[@bugabookatzenjammer661]

Nah, what youd need is something like solar harvesting energy to power capacitors to feed a repeating accelerative impulse at regular enough periods to maintain the inertia

[@tenlittleindians]

@@bugabookatzenjammer661 A capacitor is just a battery with a short memory and has all the problems a battery has. The lifespan of a stationary flywheel far exceeds batteries or capacitors. Especially in parts of the world that have below freezing temperatures for many months out of the year. Selling excess energy to the grid and buying it back when needed doesn't work because they pay little when buying from you and charge much when you buy your energy back.

[@tenlittleindians]

@Shawn Stoudt Batteries and flywheels are both impractical in locations such as Alaska. Geothermal works in Iceland; too bad we don't all have access to such an abundance of free energy.

[@duketogo2616]

@@tenlittleindians Alaska is very geologically active.

[@y2kmadd]

It's good for short outages only. More of a voltage regulator.

[@rickrys2729]

Amber kinetics makes flywheel storage for grids. The MIT plasma fusion lab reactor used a 75 ton Alcator C-Mod flywheel that transferred its energy in about 2 seconds to just a few particles. Formula 1 used the KERS system flywheel. Great for high power, and many charge cycles in principle, but storing lots of energy is pricy. Also rotating machinery = maintenance. Amber kinetics typically buries their vertical flywheels in case they fly apart.

[@mattos4203]

Williams F1 designed and made the flywheel KERS system, but they never raced with it. They adopted battery based tech instead like all F1 teams utilise now. They did licence/sell the technology though, and it has been used to good success in other racing categories.

[@kallebengtzon5240]

@@mattos4203 it is also used in busses and other veichles that do a lot of stopp and starts.

[@thorbjrnhellehaven5766]

Flywheel for grid sounds great! Having multiple wheels to handle different use. Some wheels running at high speed to take ober, but batteries do a good job at this too. Stopped or slow wheel to accelerate to store overproduction: + Sudden increase from wind or solar, to make time to adapt, then slowly discharge to grid and/or battery. + Sudden drop of demand, from accidental line failure, or planned or expected events

[@KanishQQuotes]

Capabuses are an amazing option for intracity traffic they use capacitors at stops to charge the capacitors for short distances.

[@TwoBitDaVinci]

Probably warrants a video!

[@Krullmatic]

Awesome! You showed the RTA from Dayton, OH! That tripped me out when I seen that big green turd! They got rid of all the trolleys, and now have a fleet of silver and black hybrids, but they've still got the green turds as well. Cheers from Dayton!

[@dustygreene3335]

Fun episode, flywheel are an interesting piece of historic tech being brought back to life.

[@mikeznel6048]

Not being brought back to life... They're an everyday part of your existence... You just know where or how they're being used but they're everywhere around us...

[@dustygreene3335]

@@mikeznel6048 examples?

[@porcorosso4330]

@@dustygreene3335 Many power plants use fly wheels to store backup power. Just in case their machines broke down so they have a chance to gracefully reduce power or maybe for sudden power demand. I think Tom Scott did a video in a flywheel chamber not too long ago.

[@MrRoadWorrier]

@@dustygreene3335 Every vehicle with an internal combustion engine.

[@octane8267]

I remember these busses in Switzerland back in the 1970s

[@stevecadman137]

I would imagine that rough roads and rapid changes of direction would have a significant impact on the flywheel.

[@shawnr771]

Yes the roads would have to be pretty smooth. Rule out Dallas Texas. More potholes than people. Stationary grid storage is a great idea.

[@MilwaukeeF40C]

Probably less of an issue with modern technology.

[@starwarsnerd95]

Its all fun and games until the bus gets into an accident and the flywheel goes rogue

[@alstud1]

Your Keith Richards reference made me laugh out loud 😅

[@Tron-Jockey]

I think Kieth died several years ago and they simply had him stuffed and now set him up on stage where ever the Stones are playing. Kieth never was very animated so they get away with him just standing there. Idon't think anyone has noticed yet :-)

[@differous01]

It's like mantras on a Tibetan prayer wheel; spinning the vinyl keeps the Stones Rolling.

[@fvrrljr]

@@Tron-Jockey LOL

[@fvrrljr]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA i was going to say something similar I'm behind you 100%

[@codeman99-dev]

I think the most amazing use of fly wheels were only pictured in this video: Large scale manufacturing. In particular, in combination with a long drive shaft and many slack belts to drive different machines. Hardness one river or windmill or a huge single-cylinder engine to power the majority of a factory.

[@keithschneidly3922]

Many losses of life and limb in those huge and plentiful slack belts.

[@nathangagnon701]

Wow that’s dangerous. A flywheel with that much mass spinning at 3000 rpms. If one broke free in an accident there would be NO stopping it. Imagine that happening near a crowd.

[@louisgiokas2206]

My father worked at an Army weapons lab. When I was a teenager and taking physics and caliculus in high school. He set me a problem. They had a flywheel. The dimension were set, as was the speed of rotation. The only thing they could vary was the density of the material. So he had me calculate the density. Of course, it was all classified, so he couldn't tell me anything about the application, but I firmly believe it was a power generation system used in the field. This was about five decades ago.

[@ricnyc2759]

Flywheel, you wont be forgotten!

[@BriefNerdOriginal]

Now I can imagine a better steampunk future :-)

[@RenoSaxGuy]

I remember seeing a Popular Science article on this technology decades ago. The one disadvantage of this is if the flywheel has a sudden failure. The article touted that the flywheels were specially designed to disintegrate into a fine harmless powder in case of a failure. That is like saying a stick of dynamite accidentally discharged gets converted to a harmless gas. Whatever energy is stored as mechanical energy will explode with the equivalent amount of energy of the same energy released on an explosive like TNT.

[@JeffDeWitt]

True enough, but as I recall (and I think I read that article too), the fear was the flywheel exploding and big chunks of material penetrating the housing and hurting people. If the flywheel disintegrated into powder the same amount of energy would be released, but not of the individual bits of powder would have enough energy to penetrate the casing. Kind of like the difference between being bashed with a 2 lb pillow vs a 2 lb hammer.

[@finnk1289]

I'd rather have the odd flywheel failure every 2 years then huge tracts of land ruined by lithium production and an ensuing recycling nightmare here when our batteries wear down.

[@RenoSaxGuy]

@@finnk1289 I couldn't agree more on lithium batteries. I know nothing of the manufacturing of lithium batteries, the impact on the environment, nor the impact of recycling. I know that improperly disposed lithium is extremely bad on the environment. However, I don't think flywheels are a safe means of storing large amounts of energy. I will make a little back of the envelope calculation for you. Let's say you have the energy equivalent of one quart of gasoline stored in a flywheel. That could take a bus maybe 5 or 10 miles. However, if the flywheel has just been "charged" with the amount of energy in a quart of gasoline and the flywheel fails, the equivalent energy of 30 sticks of dynamite has just been released. If there isn't sufficient shielding to protect the rest of the bus, passengers, pedestrians, and other vehicular traffic, there could be a real mess. I can see flywheels as an effective way to provide a small amount of energy to be able to move a bus or trolley a brief distance to get from an electrical source A to source B, but not for a great distance.

[@RUDEBOYY2K80]

The Keith Richards gag was very funny 😆

[@maozedong549]

this type of device was thought to be used in formula 1 by the Williams team.

[@mikecr4916]

It merely accepts more energy losses from additional conversions. Oil was still burned to add the energy to the flywheel, as it is today to charge electric cars.

[@nasseemmuttur778]

Exactly. And it's cheaper and more practical to either run the busses wired or on batteries.

[@NicksStuff]

Williams developed that for Formula 1. They didn't really use it because the regulation changed but they licensed it to Porsche who used it on a 911 in endurance racing

[@thierrypauwels]

I am from Gent, the city in Belgium that tested the gyrobus (though I am just not old enough to have known them). I was told that the main problem with the gyrobus is that when it was caught in a traffic jam, it could not get to the next loading station before the flywheel stopped rotating. Then a normal bus had to be brought to tow the gyrobus to the next loading station.

[@MilwaukeeF40C]

Just throw an underpowered engine on so the bus can get slowly to the charging point.

[@jongabrielsen3868]

Don't forget about using water as a storage device, pumping water back up into hill to upstream of hydro electric dams.

[@mikeznel6048]

You still need more energy put into it to move the water than you can get back out of it. We can not achieve 100% or greater efficiency in our world. Its physically impossible.

[@garypeatling7927]

Or you can use pressure to compress a spring was used to power tower bridge

[@tin2001]

Recycled hydro is only suitable Inna very small set of geographic locations where large dams can be built at both a low and high place. It can be done on a smaller scale using large water tanks, but you'd still need an excessive land area to achieve it... Such as a farm with hilly areas that go unused.

[@glenkeating7333]

What I think your referring to is that all the surplus energy during the day is used to pump the water uphill to a reservoir and then the used to power a generator when the wind is not blowing and solar is not available.

[@katiegreene3960]

I like the grid application for flywheels.

[@DJJAW11]

Nice pic Kate 🤩

[@TheKurtsPlaceChannel]

Very nicely put together video and very entertaining as well. Thanks for posting this.

[@julianagil2427]

"The flywheel is sort of like Keith Richards" 🤣😂🤣😂 that made my day

[@Arek_R.]

All I need is the bus to always turn up, and turn up on time - be reliable. A lot of countries/cities have private business owned public transportation system that is focused on maximum profit but at the cost of most people hating it, it being crap in every way and anyone who can affort will stop using it and get a own car.

[@urkururear]

The fact it is public or private owned is not important, public services are not inherently better.

[@anivicuno9473]

@@urkururear In this case, public is better in that public opetions are not required to turn an accounting profit. Public transit is usually implemented to solve societal negative externalities. For societies, negative externalities are a problem. For private enterprises, they're not. Therefore, if a public system operated at an accounting loss, they can still be overall "profitable" if the negative externalities that they solve are factored in. This can't be done with a private enterprise, since those live and die by accounting profits.

[@ulliwm]

… as the Townmayor of Bogota put it once: →A modern society is not determined by even the poorest own a car but by even the richest use public transport.←

[@urkururear]

@@anivicuno9473 The idea of using the people's money in something that couldn't be self sustaining is what generates great problems in the economy. If a private company gives a bad service it will fail, but then another company can take place, with public services they have monopoly, so you can't compete and you are chained to the service they give you, even when it could be bad.

[@Lestibournes]

I live in a country where public transportation is tightly controlled by the government and I think the biggest companies are government-owned and it's crap.

[@jamesengland7461]

Flywheels aren't in modern transmissions; they're bolted to the engine. They primarily smooth out imbalances in the engine. They are the minimum mass possible to achieve their benefits.

[@wngimageanddesign9546]

Actually, it depends on the transmission. Manual transmissions require a flywheel bolted to the back of the driveshaft, on which the clutch is mounted. Not related to the harmonic balancers bolted to some engines.

[@wholegrain27]

@@wngimageanddesign9546 transmissions don't require flywheels, engines do to smooth out the power stroke impulses. The 'flywheel ' for a engine coupled to an automatic transmission is the torque converter.

[@domenicputti4228]

The only gyroscopic effect present with this flywheel orientation is one which keeps the bus from flipping over, and that is a good thing.

[@timsmith5133]

It never pays to reinvent the wheel. Thanks for showcasing these electric busses. I rode on the electric busses in San Francisco with the double telescoping wands that get their power from the overhead lines. I like the street cars that run down the middle of Market Street, the cable cars that run up and over various hills , and the driverless BART subway. The newest technology among those I listed is from 45 years ago.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Great video!!

[@BennysBenz]

Love your videos! 👍

[@NoName5589]

When two legends combine Thank you both for your lovely videos

[@nyakwarObat]

Well it's all just talk though. All these so called innovations that could change the world and the best we can do is some guy on you tube monetising on it while the establishment is busy yet with another climate and environment saving palaver full of chat and little to no action

[@bassreflex2719]

Plainly Difficult, love your videos bro ❤️, there awesome keep up the amazing work bro xx🔥👍🏻❤️

[@tvdinner325]

So well presented. Thank you.

[@GiesbertNijhuis]

Sweet animations! Well done.

[@jamesmccollom7246]

What if I've got a gyrosphere motor sketching... Who might be a good person to partner with, that could bring my sketching to life???

[@nigelrogers9519]

As a bus driver I can tell you that modern Gyro buses do exist. Now I'm not saying gyro only, but in a hybrid configuration with a diesel engine and using regenerative braking as its power source. Commercially available and built and operational here in Scotland.

[@GoodBalak]

Maybe a flywheel can be used to get quick charge, and then it can discharge slowly into the EV battery. This can easily be accommodated in the front part of an EV.

[@downix]

*blink* *blink* That's brilliant

[@redjack2629]

The issue is that, if we go to EV production on the scale Musk wants, estimating that we have decades, plural, before running out of lithium is being generous. No batteries at all is the best option, thinking long-term. I would like rechargeable batteries to still exist when I die.

[@downix]

@@redjack2629 - you are off by an order of magnitude. If we don't recycle any of it, replacing all vehicles with Lithium Ion systems, we would run out of Lithium in 2397.

[@MilwaukeeF40C]

@@downix Lithium will be economically scarce long before that, the mining and refining will also be horrible.

[@downix]

@@MilwaukeeF40C Hence recycling.

[@toddwmac]

Great stuff as always. Love you branded flywheel and wish you had been my physics teacher a long time ago. Thanks!

[@TwoBitDaVinci]

Hah I’m so honored to hear that!

[@kaptnwelpe5322]

Flywheels were used around 2010 in endurance racing (LeMans etc.) by Porsche etc.

[@alhdlakhfdqw]

really awsome content thank you so much! subbed! :)

[@jameshughes3014]

That was fascinating. Now I want a desktop magnetic bearing flywheel powered lamp :D Imagine a modern company building a device that lasts for 200 years like that james watt steam engine. If it were built today it would be intentionally made with parts that wear out, plus a proprietary lubricant it wouldn't work without, that you have to replace each six months and ends up costing 50 bucks for a gram of the stuff in a wasteful plastic tube.

[@gecsus]

If it were an Apple product, you nailed it.

[@keithschneidly3922]

Much like modern lifetime fluid auto transmissions. The fluid formulas change so if you did change the worn out fluid it might not work and ruin the serviceable transmission. New and improved!

[@jameshughes3014]

@@keithschneidly3922 right.. And when they say lifetime, they mean until you're supposed to just buy a new car, why make it serviceable? Lifetime of the car, not the owner..I think they secretly mean

[@NilsKullberg]

Thanks for the very interesting video! - Audi Le Mans 24 hours racing cars used flywheel(s) as "supercaps" for their hybrid KERS system in year 2012. I think they were quite successful also.

[@lizichell2]

What people don't realise that the first cars were electric but combustion took over because it was more powerful and efficient at the time

[@raphialhebert]

Wow, definitely learned somethin new today. Thank you for covering this!

[@jonascale]

Seems like to me Flywheels might be what should replace or augment solar home energy storage.

[@janami-dharmam]

That it is not so today means simply that there are too many problems waiting to be overcome. It is simply messy, too expensive and too inefficient.

[@STARDRIVE]

Recycling being way more expensive than manufacturing new batteries, and every new gen using other chemical elements anyway, I expect a lot of surplus car batteries becoming available. They may not deliver the current anymore for driving a car, but a coffee maker wouldn't pose much of a challenge.

[@dscrive]

I'm partial to compressed gas myself. It seems like it would be easier to scale in the form of vertical underground tanks installed with a drill rig. the heavy problem, in my mind, with flywheels is that they inherently require a lot of mass, and a lot of mass means more costly to move, from environmental and economical perspectives.

[@xanatax1844]

probably a trade-off in mass, vs. storage-capacity? I’d love to try riding a bike with a flywheel for extra power / regen. braking. Also, would love to try driving a car with a storage-flywheel. there’s probably a happy medium, mid point. Big enough to be useful, but too light to be a problem. e.g. 4 small flywheels: one for each wheel. use them to add regerative braking to a gasoline car. so the car would brake for a corner, or stop at a traffic light, adding momentum to the flywheels, then the car has lots of extra power to get back up to speed quickly. 😎👍

[@pauleohl]

@@xanatax1844 Pick up a router that is spinning and hold it with the shaft horizontal. Now move it around with the shaft always in the horizontal plane. Do you notice how the router tries to dive?

[@janami-dharmam]

No, you need low mass, very high speed and vacuum system.

[@mfbfreak]

Compressing gas is highly inefficient. It has been done before, but when you compress gas you lose a lot of energy in the form of heat. When releasing the gas, the whole system can freeze up. The Paris air powered tramway used small coal fires to keep the whole system from getting too cold, and to keep the air pressure from dropping too fast. At locations where you have superheated steam on hand, fireless steam locomotives are a serious option, but only if you genuinely have energy to spare. A paper mill in Germany still has them in daily use, because they just work. Converting to electric would in their case not save any significant amount energy because the whole factory consumes so much, that the little fireless steam engine barely registers on the bill.

[@GraveUypo]

a cool side effect is that cars would explode when shot just like in games and movies!

[@mauriciomp571]

"It´s like Keith Richard... it´s still here long before what we thought it would be" HAHAHAHA That alone is worth the video!! LOOLL

[@TwoBitDaVinci]

🙏

[@Frazzy87]

Lovely video..! High quality video, narration, and knowledge-wise

[@lakojake4215]

"Then there's the hyperloop" Is there? Where? I don't see that ever happening.

[@syzygy808]

Very high quality! 👍🏽🙏🏽 KZbins surpassed cable tv for sure. These science channels are Amazing! 😊

[@juliusdelacruz5395]

this is excellent!! great video from all aspects!! thanks!!

[@Sergiosa99]

You are the man…. Good research and even more impressive presentation. Thank you

[@alfonsohernandezo.2816]

Go-Ahead buses in England use flywheels as a hybrid system to accelerate from the stop made by Williams F1 Team.

[@odbo_One]

The ultimate fly wheel on earth is earth itself.

[@godman5043]

This was awesome - thank you. Subscribed

[@pcno2832]

Chrysler tried something similar on an experimental car about 20 years ago, but they made the flywheels out of plastic, reinforced with carbon fiber or Kevlar or something along those lines. They had embedded magnets so they effectively levitated within their chambers and didn't need mechanical bearings. One of the "last details" that needed ironing out was the fact that despite being gimbal-mounted, the flywheels, going 100,000 RPM, could crash their enclosures if the car went over a big bump in the road. I have not heard anything about them since.

[@debunkthejunk1]

The reason we are likely to see more flywheels in the future is the fact they can be repaired and recycled. Those are 2 major failings of chemical batteries. RIght now there is a major push towards solid state batteries but I think once they are well established flywheels will become much more common. Unless fusion or some new technology becomes more viable in the interim.

[@TwoBitDaVinci]

Great point!

[@janami-dharmam]

mechanical stress is a big problem with flywheels; so we have to use carbon fiber based (composite) that are lightweight and low inertia. Low inertia means you need very high speeds. That means you need a vacuum chamber- means pumps and other paraphernalia. magnetic bearings are expensive. Repairing such systems may be very very expensive. And if you need maintenance regularly, forget about it!!

[@debunkthejunk1]

@@janami-dharmam Coincidentally they said the same thing about turbo chargers in the past and a turbo is little more than a pump flywheel. Modern manufacturing methods and materials have eliminated many of the obstacles that made turbos expensive and unreliable in the past. As we exit the age of carbon fuels I believe the need for energy storage is likely to drive flywheel technology in a similar manner. And let's be honest, even continuous maintenance is preferable to waiting 100 million years for the carbon fuel supply to replenish itself :D

[@janami-dharmam]

@@debunkthejunk1 You see solar panels become cheap (affordable) thanks to the chinese. Do you think that americans would have let the price of solar panels to fall so low that common man can afford it? Batteries have problems but we are familiar with it and thanks to chinese they are affordable. Do not compare with the turbo-charger because they are only an incremental improvement most customers really did not care.

[@debunkthejunk1]

@@janami-dharmam The Chinese? Lithium ion technology is a result of American and Japanese innovation. LG and Panasonic, which are Japanese companies, manufacturer 50% of the lithium ion batteries being used today. CATL has only been in the game for 10 years and has 20% of the market share. And to be honest, they don't have the highest quality product. I have no idea why you would credit the Chinese for any of this. And I'm not talking about the performance of a turbo charger? I'm talking about the manufacturing processes like die casting aluminum, innovations like magnetic and ceramic bearings, laser balancing, metal alloys with more desirable thermal properties etc. Turbos are excellent example of a technology that people dismissed for the same reasons; too expensive, too unreliable, too complicated. Today you can find a turbo on just about anything. It would be foolish to dismiss flywheel technology for the exact same reasons because they're the exact same thing with a slightly different application!

[@skunkjobb]

I think the hydrogen filling instead of vacuum was for cooling. Hydrogen is one of the best media there is and used to cool large power plant generators. If they only wanted low drag, as good of a vacuum as possible would make more sense.

[@laurenceperkins7468]

Vacuum has the additional problem of there being a pressure differential between the inside and the outside of the case. This requires both a more rigid case and better sealing. Filling it with 1 atmosphere of hydrogen by contrast still gets you a major friction reduction, without the pressure differential that makes seal maintenance painful. And then yes, it also does a better job of conducting heat out of the system.

[@lloydevans2900]

One aspect I'm surprised you didn't mention is that the commercial electricity grid has effectively been using flywheels to regulate the electrical load on the generation side ever since power stations themselves have existed. Any rotary generator (either an alternator, magneto or commutated dynamo) has a large rotating mass, composed either of permanent magnets or electromagnets. The rotating part of the generator plus whatever is turning it (such as a steam turbine) is essentially one massive flywheel, since both are mechanically coupled and rotate together. The rotors of large steam turbines can weigh in at hundreds of tons, so the stored kinetic energy is substantial. This means that any power station using rotary generators has some buffered capacity. If the primary energy source (steam pressure driving the turbine) is cut off for whatever reason, the rotor and generator will both continue to spin, albeit at a decelerating rate as their kinetic energy is converted into electricity. The system is also capable of smoothing out minor irregularities in electrical load: If demand drops below the nominal output of the generator, it will speed up slightly as the excess capacity is converted into kinetic energy. If demand rises above the generator output, it will slow down slightly, as some of the stored kinetic energy is converted back into electricity. The easiest way to determine if either scenario is happening is by monitoring the frequency of the AC waveform produced by the generator. The frequency is directly proportional to the rate of rotation of the generator: 3000 rpm produces 50 Hz, 3600 rpm produces 60 Hz. So if the generator slows down, the frequency will drop and vice versa.

[@cdmalcolm2524]

Flywheels with Springs cranks to help keep the flywheel moving. Put the energy into cranking up the springs and release the spring to spin the flywheel.

[@cdmalcolm2524]

So the bus problem can be solved if two flywheels are spinning in the opposite direction of each other on the same rod. The gyro effect is canceled. It does require both flywheels spinning at the same RPM for this to work.

[@logik100.0]

All was going so well then he said hyperloop.

[@sparkycorkers1196]

yes, lost a bit of credibility with that

[@bratwizard]

Thank you for this informative (and fun!) video. I really enjoyed learning about the flywheel bus.

[@Mastermindyoung14]

I've always wanted to make a motorcycle that used this and could stay upright at stop lights.

[@ericogden4589]

Harold Rosen, the inventor of the fly wheel / gyroscope used in satellites, was working on exactly this in the early 2000's prior to his passing...Rosen Motors.

[@richardcoughlin8931]

Excellent presentation. It seems like the gyroscopic effect would be a real killer for an EV. I envision cars flying off the edge of mountain roads and plunging into the abyss. But is there a place for fly wheel technology alongside home solar?

[@riscnx]

if we let the flywheel's frame/container move freely, keeping flywheel in constant orientation, it will never lose energy. IT DOSEN'T WANTS TO MOVE, THEN SIMPLY DON'T MOVE IT!

[@Mavendow]

@@riscnx o rly how you gonna move energy in and out?

[@trijezdci4588]

Public transport is already more efficient and environmentally friendly even when powered with fossil fuels because of passenger density alone. Also, Oerlikon is pronounced Early-Con.

[@ReverendRandy]

Dirty, climate destroying fossil fuels are environmentally friendly ???

[@tedf1471]

Public transport is only efficient when full to capacity. Rush-hour packed, followed by rest of day nearly empty - not so good.

[@trijezdci4588]

​@@tedf1471 If you calculate the total emissions per passenger kilometre (dividing total passengers served by total distance served) you will find that public transport is still an order of magnitude better than all other modes of powered transport.

[@trijezdci4588]

@@ReverendRandy You are confused by the hype of the lithium industry and their customers. It is totally irrelevant whether there is no emission at a tail pipe. What matters is the emissions generated by any given transport system per passenger kilometre (or if you are in the US, per passenger mile). On that metric, battery powered cars are no more environmentally friendly than modern petrol or diesel powered cars. And you will find that any form of public transport fares better than any form of powered private transport on that metric, even if the public transport system is not powered by renewables.

[@tedf1471]

@@trijezdci4588 I wonder, 'rush-hour bus' vs. share hire car permanently full?

[@stevedoubleu99B]

I've read about this bus, but your excellent presentation is far more detailed. Fascinating stuff!!

[@briandavis9975]

Fascinating thank you that was very informative I'm a subscriber now.

[@scottthomas6202]

It's a simple technology with little to go wrong...where practical, it should be used. It's not a miracle, but it has a place.

[@SH85]

An authentic gyrobus can still be viewed in the museum of public transport in Antwerp (Vlaams Tram- en Autobusmuseum), Belgium. At 6'55" you can see the gyrobus in the city of Antwerp (Belgian license plate). And at 9'00" you can see the actuel bus of the museum.

[@jorgefernandez-mv8hu]

That was an enlightening video. Very cool. Ingenious. It should be given another chance with the newer materials we have now.

[@Helliconia54]

I believe Britain was looking at gyro busses in the 60's Biggest issue was building a flywheel that was both light weight AND strong enough to NOT blow apart at high revs.

[@rockrl98]

that wheel shouldn't really impact steering much, since it was horizontal, going over speed bumps and alike would be really hard on the bus frame and flywheel bearings tho.

[@odometric5946]

It also seems like the bus should want to roll over more easily when the grade changes at the top or bottom of a hill.

[@rockrl98]

@@odometric5946 roll over, really?

[@odometric5946]

Basically a gyroscope will exert a torque 90 degrees out from a torque applied to it. So if the gyroscope is lying horizontal (flat, which is different from a bike), and the bus starts flipping end over end, the gyroscope will exert a force (torque) to make it want to roll side to side instead. The force it exerts might be really small though, because that all depends on how quickly the bus crests a hill, how steep it is, and how much angular momentum the gyroscope has (mass, moment of inertia, and rpm).

[@rockrl98]

@@odometric5946 yeah, I just replayed some gyro experiments in my head, and I get it now...

[@akshayc4145]

when the supercapacitors evolve.. similar kind of buses will be on road, backed up with a very low sized battery, runs on the huge capacitor charged at every stops..which are very efficient than battery. . engineering never fails..it just convert and creates way for newer ones.. thanks for the amazing video..

[@jackasshomey]

i just figured out a way they could fix the gyroscopic effect, they could instead of having 1 flywheel they could have 2 flywheels stacked ontop of each other each spinning in the opposite direction of each other, you then cancel the gyroscopic effect

[@GarrettGardnermusic]

Interesting. As far as others comments about the gyroscopic forces, I propose passing out chickens out for passengers to hold in their laps. Their heads will cancel the forces out. and as a bonus, help the growing need to socialize the increasing number of chickens that need a bus buddy.

[@KJSvitko]

Bicycles, ebikes, electric cargo bicycles and escooters are great options for last mile, short distance travel. Cities need to do more to encourage people to ride bicycles by providing SAFE, PROTECTED BIKE LANES and trails. Every adult and child should own a bicycle and ride it regularly. Bicycles are healthy exercise and fossil fuels free transportation. Electric bicycles are bringing many older adults back to cycling. Ride to work, ride to school or ride for fun. Children should be able to ride a bicycle to school without having to dodge cars and trucks. Separated and protected bike lanes are required. It will also make the roads safer for automobile drivers. Transportation planners and elected officials need to encourage people to walk, bike and take public transportation. Healthy exercise and fossil fuels free transportation.

[@sirgaymeerkat1994]

I agree completely but we also need to change the way we eat! 13% of greenhouse gasses come from all transport but 18% comes from animal agriculture! without changing both we are still doomed to fail!

[@debrainwasher]

Gyroscopic effects in a gyro-bus are simply an engineering failure, since the angular momenta L are cancelled out, if two flywheels are stacked an spun in opposite directions. Magnetic bearings and clutches could provide these vehicles a resurrection - with very low energy losses.

[@kolbjornnystrand]

I think Porsche used a flywheel in some models to be added energy into while breaking and when flooring it, this would add the stored energy to the drivetrain.

[@robertmartin2867]

Da Vinci - "It's not an episode of Pimp My Ride." Me - "It's an older meme, sir, but it checks out."

[@skookapalooza2016]

I just subbed & hit the bell. Great vid! I had no idea you could do so much with flywheels.👍

[@Transit_Biker]

Great in-depth coverage of this topic!

[@aja12]

Okay, you are young. In America there were: Trackless trolleys -- electric trolleys that have rubber tires rather than running on rails like streetcars -- have been a distinctive feature of Seattle's transit system since 1940. Seattle became the first city in the country to rely largely on trackless trolleys when the city ripped out its original street-rail system in 1940 and 1941. They lasted longest on routes with steep hills, like Queen Anne. #9 Broadway route stopped using Electric busses before 1965.

[@aja12]

A problem could come when a driver missed a turn or turned when the route was straight, because the cable connector lost connection with the electric service.

[@dougiehogarth6652]

Great explanation . First time view on your channel will subscribe

[@TwoBitDaVinci]

Great to hear it Dougie!