Proven Flywheel Technology Provides Substantial Savings over Other Energy Storage Solutions
CERRITOS, Calif., March 13, 2017 – VYCON® has developed an efficient and economical flywheel energy storage system for capturing, storing and delivering power from regenerative braking in metro rail stations. The VYCON REGEN® for Rail system will be on display in Booth E09 at the Asia Pacific Rail Expo in Hong Kong, Mar. 20-21.
VYCON REGEN was developed together with rail and electric authorities in the United States. The initial installation site at the Los Angeles Metro has accumulated over 200,000 hours and 1,000,000 cycles during normal train operations and is demonstrating significant savings.
“Today’s AC-powered metro trains are equipped to regenerate a significant amount of power when braking,” said Frank DeLattre, VYCON Business Unit Leader. “Each year, thousands of kWh of energy is lost per passenger station through dissipated heat from braking regeneration. This unused regeneration energy represents an opportunity for transit operators to achieve big savings in energy costs.”
“The VYCON REGEN flywheel energy storage system captures the REGEN power and makes it available to use elsewhere, such as to provide a power boost for another train accelerating from the station, or to provide additional voltage when power substations may not be able to support the demand,” DeLattre added.
VYCON REGEN provides important advantages over other energy storage technologies, such as battery banks and super capacitors, in terms of reliability, availability, maintenance and life-cycle costs. It is designed to operate continuously for a two-minute headway metro operation without compromising product life.
Flywheel energy storage systems perform reliably in applications where batteries and super capacitors fall short. VYCON REGEN stores kinetic energy in the form of a rotating mass and is designed for high power, short discharge applications. Patented technology used within the flywheel system includes the high-speed motor generator, contact-free magnetic bearings that levitate and sustain the rotor during operation and a superior control system that can provide information on the system performance and predictive maintenance. These innovative technologies enable the VYCON REGEN flywheel to charge and discharge at high rates for countless cycles, making conventional technologies obsolete.
VYCON’s global installed fleet of 1,200+ flywheel energy storage systems has accumulated over 26,000,000 operating hours and 19,000,000 discharge/recharge cycles. Applied in both regenerative energy and critical back-up power applications, they reliably back-up and condition power for critical applications, such as hospitals, banks, data centers, broadcasting networks and military sites, in contrast to batteries and super capacitors, which can be highly unpredictable.
Journalists covering Asia Pacific Rail 2017 should contact Jim Rhodes at +1.757.451.0602, jrhodes@rhodescomm.com(link sends e-mail), to arrange for an interview and demonstration of the new technology.