Concept of a modified flywheel for megajoule storage and pulse conditioning

The concept of a flywheel with a variable moment of inertia for electromagnetic launch (EML) is introduced. The modified flywheel will further improve the energy density and efficiency. Coupled to a pulse-duty generator, it could produce a near-square pulse or other desirable pulse shapes. The amount of energy, its rate, and its switching all could be controlled prior to electric energy conversion. The modified flywheel is structured with masses movable along radial paths. Potential energy is stored with respect to mass position and kinematic energy with respect to spin. This mass positioning provides a means to control the rate of energy discharge. Control with spring-loaded weight would have near constant spin output. A servomechanism scheme can, however, provide the precise inward-moving positioning control of masses, and hence the other desirable output pulse conditioning. In the conventional flywheel, energy is always discharged in an exponential decay. In an EML system, a flywheel is the rotor of the pulse-duty generator, such as in the homopolar generator, compulsator, or the disk alternator