Patent ID: 9735645
Date: 2017-08-15
CPC Classifications: B21J,B21K,C21D,G01L,G01M,H02K,Y02E,Y10T

Claim:
1. A flywheel device comprising: a housing section; a rotor disposed within the housing section; a first bearing housing comprising lower contact bearings and a second bearing housing comprising upper contact bearings disposed between the rotor and a plate; an off-loading magnet configured to provide a vertical off-loading force that increases a force between the rotor and the upper contact bearings in a vertical direction and reduces a force between the rotor and the lower contact bearings in the vertical direction; and a strain gauge configured to monitor, in real-time, strain on the rotor resulting from centrifugal forces; and wherein the strain gauge is bonded to a surface of the rotor and oriented along a direction parallel and tangential to the radial vector, and wherein the strain gauge is configured to wirelessly transmit strain measurements to a receiver located within the housing section.