Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Technology => Topic started by: ScienceofData on 27/04/2017 10:08:26
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Would it be possible to store and incrementally use kinetic energy? Spring loaded devices store potential kinetic energy, but as far as I know it can only be released all at once when the spring is released.
Would it be possible to develop a machine which could be loaded with kinetic energy, say by turning a crank, which could then release that energy in increments on demand?
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Would it be possible to develop a machine which could be loaded with kinetic energy, say by turning a crank, which could then release that energy in increments on demand?
That's exactly what happens with many devices e.g. a clock stores potential energy in the spring and the clock mechanism releases it slowly.
PS the term potential kinetic energy is not used, it is either potential energy or kinetic energy.
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Flywheels are used for kinetic energy storage in some advanced racing cars and emergency backup power for data centers.
But it tends to be fairly short-term storage, because petrol is a denser form of energy storage (if you don't need to store the oxygen and carbon dioxide too).
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flywheel_energy_storage
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I invented this several stage clockwork machine
https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=69114.0
it can store huge amount of energy to be released slowly , the problem is in the energy density of potential energy storage . Spring is low in energy density , to obtain only 3 MJ I will need 10 tonnes of steel spring. carbon nano-tube spring is suitable but only if it is developed to be defect-free.