Suppression of gyroscopic rotation in flywheel energy storage systems

Flywheel energy storage systems (FESS) with magnetically assisted bearings are becoming an exciting alternative to traditional battery systems. However, one of the challenging problems for such systems is to suppress the gyroscopic rotation of the sensitive rotor subject to internal or external disturbances. This paper presents an optimal control strategy by incorporating cross-coupling technology into the closed-loop architecture, so that synchronized movement of the rotor in the radial direction can be resulted, instead of unwanted gyroscopic effect. Simulation study demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed approach is provided.