Project Overview

This project explores new materials and manufacturing methods to improve flywheel energy storage systems, which are devices for short-term energy storage that use a rotor spinning at high speeds. The original research focused on creating an advanced composite material combining fibers and magnetic particles. This work, carried out by earlier PhD researchers, successfully developed and tested the new material. However, converting this material into usable parts proved challenging. The first planned manufacturing method (filament winding, which involves wrapping fibers around a rotating mold) was not suitable for producing the required rotor components. To overcome this, the research team, led by the principal investigator in collaboration with Dr. Ahmed Qureshi, developed a large-scale robotic 3D printing system at the University of Alberta. This state-of-the-art facility was designed, built, and commissioned specifically for advanced polymer composites, with new software created for precise toolpath planning and process control. The current phase of the project builds on this foundation by using the robotic 3D printer to fabricate prototype rotor rims with the novel magnetic material. These rims will then be combined with conventionally filament-wound components to form a new type of rotor - one that not only stores energy kinetically but also provides motor/generator functionality for efficient conversion between electrical and kinetic energy.