Calculating the Torque of a Cylindrical Flywheel

AI Thread Summary
The discussion focuses on the importance of a flywheel in a low RPM air motor with two cylinders to store torque and overcome dead spots. The calculation of torque in a solid cylindrical flywheel is influenced by its diameter, length, density, and RPM, with greater mass at the outer rim being more effective. The participant found that a lighter flywheel rotating faster provided more torque than a heavier one, highlighting the significance of the squared term in flywheel energy calculations. Additionally, there are proposals to utilize flywheels as alternatives to diesel generators for backup power due to their energy storage capabilities. Overall, the conversation emphasizes the critical role of flywheel design in optimizing performance.
khoopes01
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Our air motor has 2 cylinders and is a low rpm device. It therefore
needs a flywheel to store enough torque to get the crankshaft
past the dead spots at 10 degrees before and after top dead center and
10 degrees before and after bottom dead center.

My question is how to calculate the torque available in a solid cylindrical
flywheel in terms of its diameter, length, density, and RPM.
 
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It depends on the design of the flywheel, basically mass at the outer rim where it is going faster has more effect.
There are formula for simple solid disks, cyclinders etc. I can't get the formula writer to work but this link is here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flywheel
 
Thanks, that did it

mgb_phys said:
It depends on the design of the flywheel, basically mass at the outer rim where it is going faster has more effect.
There are formula for simple solid disks, cyclinders etc. I can't get the formula writer to work but this link is here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flywheel
Thanks - you got me off the dime and I have my answer - is amazing what
the squared term does to flywheel energy. We has a 60 pound flywheel
on the cankshaft and it wasn't getting the job done. A 40 pound flywheel
rotating at 20 revs/second gave us more torque than we need.
Thanks again
Ken Hoopes
Chief Engineer HUE corp
 
khoopes01 said:
is amazing what
the squared term does to flywheel energy.
It is! There are proposals to use flywheels as alternatives to diesel generators for backup power - a few tons of flywheel at 10,000rpm is a lot of energy!
 
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