NYC Subways Testing Flywheels

socolow writes "The New York Times (free registration required) has an article about the NYC subway system's use of flywheels to store the braking energy of trains approaching stations. Not only does this advance the development of flywheel energy storage, but it will help relieve a lot of the heat subways generate (always appreciated during the summer)."

Comments

NYT: Flies too lazy to fly - now using wheels

[Anonymous Coward]

Is this the real story?

levitrain

[Mt._Honkey]

Now if they just make the flywheel out of a superconductor, then not only will it store energy, but the train will be weightless!!!

Boeing, get on it!

Re:levitrain

[Anonymous Coward]

Considering how trains in the US are rarely on time, I'd prefer they be waitless :)

Re:levitrain

[Surlyboi]

Of course they have a timetable.

Yeah and all the entries on that timetable read,
"when we get around to it." The New York City
subway system is a study in chaos theory sometimes.

Pros and Cons

[teamhasnoi]

Every seat will have a little crank to turn to help drive the flywheel.

Unfortunately, it takes 45 minutes of winding for 4-5 seconds of run time.

Best quote from the article

[displacer]

Before the visit ended the other day, a final question had to be asked: What is the purpose of the floating ping-pong ball?

"Oh that?" Mr. Lobenstein smiled like a child. "That's just to amuse us. Sometimes we get bored."

I don't buy it

[L. VeGas]

I still think my hamster could spin a wheel faster than some dumb fly.

A little too excited?

[dr_dank]

Or, as Robert Schmitt, another transit electrical official, put it, excitedly: "They're sitting here, saying: `Give it to me! Give it to me! Give it to me!'

Ok, this guy needs to get laid. Now.

Flywheels: Just Say No!!

[dfn5]

Yes, but they have a nasty habit of slowing down the Earth's rotation.

Save the planet. Vote NO on flywheels.

Re:Flywheels: Just Say No!!

[Nightpaw]

No no, keep using them until our day is 25 hours long. Then we can get another hour of sleep each day.

Re:A Wired article

[borgasm]

...spin a flywheel 20 times faster, at 100,000 rpm, producing 400 times the centrifugal force.

Silly journalist....there is no such thing as centrifugal force.

Centripital. Yes.

Oh how I love rotating bodies.

Re:Could we get a "No NYT" option?

[donutello]

any /. story where the bulk of the information is on a NYT-hosted page is useless to me

Why can't you just post without reading the articles - like everyone else?

Re:thank goodness

[Russ Steffen]

it was starting to feel a little too much like California

Yeah, 'cause here in Califronia we're all huddled in the dark trying to cook food with power from the rationed 9-volt batteries that FEMA hands out once a month.

Re:Regenerative braking

[4of12]

clue me in please... why is the resistance such a problem, if the third rail is how they are powering the trains in the first place?

It's all tied together with social security.

Politicians are often heard saying something along the lines of

"Social Security is the third rail. Don't touch it."

You've probably noticed that Social Security benefits are mostly received by old people.

You've probably also noticed that those old people move slowly. The reason they move more slowly than you or me and the reason they can't drive more than 20 mph under the speed limit is simply because they are encountering resistance.

Hope that clears it up.