Superconducting bearings in flywheels

Investigations are being carried out into the use of superconducting magnetic bearings to levitate Energy storage flywheels. In a planned program of work, Cambridge University are aiming to produce a practical bearing system for Pirouette™. The Pirouette™ system is designed to provide 5 kWh of recoverable energy which is currently recoverable at a rate of 5 kW (future revisions will provide up to 50 kW). IES (a British Nuclear Fuels subsidiary) the owners of the Pirouette™ machine have supplied Cambridge with a flywheel. This flywheel weighs > 40 kg and is being levitated using an Evershed-type arrangement in which the superconductor is being used to stabilize the interaction between two magnets. To date we have demonstrated stable levitation in static and low speed tests in a rig designed for low speeds of rotation in air. A second rig which is currently under construction at BNFL will run in vacuum at speeds of up to 50000 rpm.