Pentadyne Clean Energy Storage

[Fledermaus]

This flywheel energy storage/renewable energy recycling technology has been proven in the London Underground, New York City Subway, and at the Paris and Lyon stations in France.

Advantages of the Pentadyne's energy storage/renewable energy recycling system for electric rail:

Absorbs braking energy - In station applications, the system captures and stores the regenerative braking energy of trains

Delivers acceleration energy - Delivers stored braking energy to trains leaving the station, boosting performance and reducing peak energy use and strain on the infrastructure

Cuts resistor bank heating - By capturing and storing the energy normally wasted to resistor banks, the Pentadyne system cuts energy use both by eliminating unnecessary resistor heat production and the station's HVAC demands to remove that excess heat

Mitigates voltage dips - By pumping stored renewable energy into the 3rd rail or catenary system when voltage dips below a programmable level, the Pentadyne system prevents DC voltage dips, improving performance; this is true both for in-station and wayside between (or instead of) substations

Reduces headway - By supporting proper voltage, you get ALL the performance that was built into your rolling stock

Enables higher capacity - With improved voltage support, you can deploy more cars and trains

Eliminates slowdowns - Deploying a Pentadyne rail system between substations eliminates the low voltage problems that cause slowdowns

Cheaper than a substation - Configurable from 1 MW to 8 MWs or more, Pentadyne rail systems cost less than a similar sized substation, can be deployed more rapidly, and cost less to operate

http://www.pentadyne.com/site/applications/rail.html

[PHIMG]

1. Bah humbug. Lets build more nuclear plants instead.

GIGAJOULES!!!

[Statistical]

2. I remember a US company is working on "hybrid locomotives" using the same technloogy.

When freight locomotives go downhill they need to break and that is a lot of wasted energy (converted to heat and reduces the lifespan of breaks). Storing the energy captured in regenerative breaking allows it that energy to be used going up the next hill.

Can't remember the name of the company though.