Magnetic bearings in kinetic energy storage systems for vehicular applications

Abstract EN

The rotating Kinetic Energy Storage System (KESS) is suitable as temporary energy storage in electric vehicles due to its insensitivity to the number of charge-discharge cycles and its relatively high specific energy.

The size and weight of the KESS for a given amount of stored energy are minimized by decreasing the moment of inertia of the rotor and increasing its speed.

A small and fast rotor has the additional benefit of reducing the induced gyroscopic moments as the vehicle turns.

The very high resulting rotational speed makes the magnetic bearing an essential component of the system, with the Active Magnetic Bearing (AMB) being the most common implementation.

The complexity and cost of an AMB can be reduced by integration with the electric machine, resulting in a bearing less and sensor less electric machine.

This review article describes the usage of magnetic bearings for FESS in vehicular applications.