About this project
For five years Vicoma has been working on the development of a spectacular flywheel for S4Energy. The flywheel makes it possible to temporarily store energy with high power and efficiency. The special feature of this project is that our engineers provided the tooling to build and maintain the flywheel in the field with high precision.
Project: flywheel offers new perspectives
The flywheel offers new perspectives for energy companies and grid operators, among others. In collaboration with the design team of S4Energy, Vicoma tackled this challenging assignment.
Vicoma’s role: design requires precision
Part of the assignment was to build a special furnace for manufacturing the steel flywheels. The diameter of these is 2.80 metres and they put 5,000 kg on the scales. To safely spin this weight at full speed on this diameter, a special manufacturing method is required. The required tools and equipment were designed by Vicoma’s engineers. After all, production requires the utmost precision. The entire assembly process for one flywheel takes 100 hours! Vicoma also developed a special foundation for balancing each flywheel. This makes even the smallest imbalance measurable. Tools for service purposes are also made by Vicoma. These tools make it possible to change bearings, for instance. These tools can be powered by battery-powered drills, so that flywheels can be serviced under all circumstances.
Result: flywheel successfully deployed
The flywheels are now being assembled in small series at various locations in the Netherlands, and the required tooling is being used successfully.
