Just saw a TV spot about the Porsche hybrid (I don’t think they will be for sale) What caught my attention was the use of a technique that I really thought was for dreamers and crackpots, the car actually uses a flywheel spinning at 40,000 rpm and this flywheel provides what amounts to a 160 hp boost that can be used when, well when you need a boost. I never thought the flywheel idea would ever go anywhere, but here it is.
Dealing with the gyroscopic forces involved must produce some very interesting handling characteristics…
Hadn’t heard of that. Here’s more info on this one-of-a-kind:
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/porsche-hybrid-racecar-to-compete-in-america/
They will be selling a Cayenne (SUV) hybrid using the normal setup.
It looks like some of the technical details got lost in the TV spot (specificaly the 160hp being attritbuted to the flywheel) but basicaly the rest looks good.
The spin axis must be vertical. That way the car would still turn left and right okay. Up and down and sway motions would be damped, but that might not be a bad thing.
What happens in a severe impact where the flywheel is exposed and contacted?
You could just have twin flywheels spinning in opposite directions to cancel each other out also.