FLYWHEEL DEVICE

Abstract: This invention relates to an arrangement wherein in the event of a power failure resulting from a trouble of a power source supplied to a load of a computer or the like, for example, an emergency power source is applied thereto. The invention discloses a flywheel device (14a) in which a rotating body is rotatably supported within a casing (11) having a stationary stator (20), the rotating body comprising a rotor (14a,14b) rotated at a high speed according to the electromagnetic action caused by ener­ gization of the stator and a flywheel (14a) rotated integral with the rotor to accumulate rotating energies capable of being converted into electric energies at the time of a power failure, and a protective ring (25) is provided between the outer peripheral surface of the rotating body and the inner peri­ pheral surface of the casing (13), the protective ring following the abutment and impingement of the outer peripheral surface of the rotor resulting from the abnormally high speed rota­ tion of the rotor of the rotating body and being then rotated, the protective ring absorbing the shocks of scattered and broken pieces of the rotor against the casing or the like by the rotation of the protective ring.

Description: The invention relates to a flywheel device comprising a casing having peripheral inner wall surfaces and a stationary stator; a rotating body having a rotor rotatably supported within said casing and rotated at a high-speed by electro-magnetic action with said stationary stator; a flywheel rotated integral with said rotor to accumulate rotating energy which can be converted into electric energy; and a protective ring provided between the inner periphery of said casing and the outer periphery of the rotor of said rotating body. With the recent progress of electronic technology of computers and the like, uninterruptible power source devices provided with a battery or the like have been developed. Furthermore, a flywheel power source device has been proposed which utilizes rotating inertia forces of a flywheel to supply a power to a load as a computer or the like, as a generator, when a momentary power failure occurs. In a flywheel power source device applied to the fore­ said power source device, as shown in Fig. 1, a casing 1 comprising a frame base 1a and a cover 1b interiorly supports a rotating shaft 3 of a rotary body 2 so that the shaft 3 may be rotated at a high speed, the rotary body 2 being composed of a flywheel 2a at the upper side thereof and a rotor 2b integrally formed at the lower side of the flywheel 2a. The rotating shaft 3 comprises a lower portion 3a having a spherical surface at the lower portion thereof carried on a lower bearing 4 composed of a stationary portion 4a and a bearing portion 4b provided on the base 1a, and an upper portion which consists of an upper rotating shaft 3b carried on an upper bearing 5 provided on the cover 1b. A rotor magnet 6 is secured to the inner peripheral portion of the rotor 2b, and a stator 7 is provided oppositely of the rotor magnet 6 and in the outer periphery of a stationary portion 4a of the lower bearing 4. This stator 7 comprises a stationary core 7a and a stationary coil 7b. With the arrangement as described above, the flywheel device normally acts as an electric motor so that when a voltage is applied from an external power source to a coil 7b of the stator 7, the rotary body 2 comprising a rotor 2b and a flywheel 2a is rotated at a high speed in one of either direction by means of an electromagnetic force produced in the rotor magnet 6 to store rotating energy. On the other hand, when the external power source device fails for example, by an interruption of electric service, the flywheel device acts as a generator so that power is supplied, for example, to a load of a computer or the like by the stator 7 according to the rotating energy stored in the rotor 2b of the rotary body 2, and the device is used as an interruption compensator. Accordingly, the flywheel need to store a sufficient energy to cope with generation of an abnormal state of power source therefore the rotor 2b rotates at a high speed. However, in the flywheel device constructed as described above, when the rotor 2b during the rotation at a high speed further rotates at a high speed due to a trouble of for example a control device, the flywheel receives an abnormal centrifugal force and spreads in an outer peripheral direction,so that the flywheel comes into contact with the cover 1b of the casing 1 while being rotated at a high speed. This leads to inconveniences such as occurrence of trouble internally of the device or breakage of parts in the device. For removing these inconveniences as noted above, a flywheel device as shown in Fig. 2 has been proposed. In Fig. 2, parts indicated by numerals 1 to 7 correspond to those of Fig. 1, description of which is therefore omitted. At a position opposed to the outer peripheral surface of the rotor 2b in the inner peripheral surface of the cover 1b of the casing 1 is secured a protective ring 8 by means of a fixing means such as a screw 9 ... with a gap G provided thereat, and a temperature sensor 10 is provided on the protective ring 8. With the arrangement as described above, during the normal operation, the rotor 2b rotating at a high speed maintains substantially a uniform gap G relative to the inner peripheral surface of the protective ring 8. However, in the case where the rotation of the rotor 2b is something wrong and a deformation not less than a predetermined gap G occurs, the outer peripheral portion of the rotor 2b comes into contact with the inner peripheral portion of the protective ring 8. This contact-friction causes a braking force to act on the abnormal high speed rotation of the rotor 2b. Furthermore, frictional heat produced when the outer peripheral portion of' the rotor 2b contacts the inner peripheral portion of the protective ring 8 is detected by the temperature sensor 10. When the value detected by the sensor 10 exceeds a reference value,a controller(not shown)cuts off the power source to stop a supply of power to the flywheel device to control the motor. The rotor 2b is controlled to be rotated at a low speed so as not to produce a breakage, a damage or the like within the flywheel device. However, the conventional flywheel device provided with the protective ring as mentioned above also has the following problems. First, in the event that the rotor 2b at the lower side of the rotating body 2 is spread due to the centrifugal force resulting from the abnormal high speed rotation and comes into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the pro­ tective ring 8 with a great contact force, the outer peri­ pheral portion of the spread rotor 2b partially strongly impinges upon the inner peripheral surface of the protective ring 8 or cuts thereinto. As a result, the protective ring 8 receives the action of the rotating energy of the rotating body 2 and tends to rotate. Therefore, a fixing portion between the inner peripheral surface of the cover 1b and the protective ring 8, for example, a screw 9, a mounting hole, etc. are broken, which leads to a looseness or play in mounting sac of the protective ring 8, failing to brake the rotating body. Since in prior art, the rotational speed of the rotating body 2 has been controlled by sliding frictional heat between the rotor 1b and the protective ring 8, it is necessary to convert a detection signal of the temperature sensor 10 into a control signal or the like by means of a controller or the like. Another problem has been encountered in that the circuit construction of the controller becomes com­ plicated to bring forth frequent troubles and complexity of maintenance and repair. From CA-A-1 144 784 a safety housing for rotating objects is known, particularly for a flywheel device, containing a protective ring concentrically mounted within the rotor for rotation relative to a casing. This protective ring follows an abutment with and impingement from the outer peripheral surface of the rotor at abnormally high-speed rotation. The protective ring is adapted to absorb scattered energies from the flywheel if, under abnormal circumstances, the protective ring absorbs scattered energy from the flywheel. It is an object of the present invention to provide a flywheel device containing a protective ring in which the resistance of the protective ring against physical or material influences originating from the rotor is considerably improved. According to the present invention this object is solved by a flywheel device of the kind described having the following features: Said protective ring follows the abutment with and inpingement from the outer peripheral surface of the rotor responsive to an abnormally high-speed rotation of said rotor; said protective ring is formed of extendable metal material; said protective ring is loosely fitted rotatably in a fitting surface of a stator base constituting said casing; and a gap is provided between the inner peripheral surface of said casing and the outer periphery of said protective ring for protecting the casing. An alternative solution is defined in claim 3; and preferred embodiments are defined in the dependent claims. Fig. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a general flywheel device. Fig. 2 is a schematic sectional view showing one example of a conventional flywheel device. Fig. 3 is a schematic sectional view showing a first embodiment of a flywheel device according to the present invention. Fig. 4 is a schematic sectional view showing a second embodiment of the flywheel device according to the present invention. Figs. 5 and 6 are a sectional view showin essential parts on an enlarged scale and a fragmentary plan view, respectively, of the embodiment shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 7 is a schematic sectional view showing a third embodiment of the flywheel device according to the present invention. Figs. 8 and 9 are a sectional view of essential parts on an enlarged scale and an enlarged perspective view of a locking (engaging) member, respectively, in the embodiment shown in Fig. 7. Fig. 10 is a schematic sectional view showing a fourth embodiment of the flywheel according to the present invention. Figs. 11 and 12 are a sectional view of essential parts on an enlarged scale and an enlarged perspective view of a locking (engaging) member in the embodiment shown in Fig. 10. DETAILED DESCRIPTION ON THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Several of preferred embodiments of a flywheel according to the present invention will be described in detail. Fig. 3 shows a first embodiment of the present invention. In Fig. 3, the flywheel device generally comprises a casing 11 consisting of a frame base 12 and a cover 13, and a rotat­ ing body 14 rotatably supported within the casing 11. The rotating body 14 comprises a flywheel 14a at the upper side and a rotor 14b at the lower side as one body. A spiral shaft 15 having a lower spherical surface is supported on a lower bearing 16 integral with the frame base 12, and the upper side of the rotating body 14 is supported by a upper bearing 17. A disc 18 is attached to the cover 13 by means of a screw member 19 so as to fix the bearing 17. One end of the screw member 19 is screwed to the top of the flywheel 14a. The spiral shaft 15, the lower bearing 16 and the upper bearing 17 are protected from the shock during transportation of the flywheel device because the rotating body 14 is carried up and fixed to the disc 18 by a nut 19a. The screw member 19 and the nut 19a are removed from the flywheel 14a, and the rotating body 14 is rotating when the flywheel device is normally operated. To the outer periphery of a central projecting portion 12b of the frame base 12 is a stator 20 comprising a stator coil 21 and a core 22, and to the inner periphery of the rotor 14b corresponding to the stator 20 is secured a rotor magnet 23. A complete seal is provided between the frame base 12 and the cover 13, and the interior of the casing 11 is in a state of vacuum. In the outer peripheral side of the rotor 14b of the rotating body 14 encased within the vacuum casing 11, a protective ring 25 is provided in a spaced apart from both the outer periphery of the rotor 14b and the inner periphery of the cover 13. The protective ring 25 has a lower side in the form of a thin wall-thickness portion 25b through a shoulder 25a, the portion 25b being movably loosely fitted in a fitting surface 12a of the frame base 12. The operation of the above-described construction will be described. In the normal operation, when a power is supplied to the coil 21 of the stator 20, the rotor 14b begins rotating about the shaft 15 by the electromagnetic action of the rotor magnet 23 and the stator 20, and the rotating body 14 rotates at a high speed on the bearing 16. Next, when an abnormal condition occurs in the rotor 14b further rotates at a high speed due to trouble of, for example, a controller not shown, the rotor 14b receives a centrifugal force above a stress limit point and spreads toward the outer periphery side. This spreading causes the outer peripheral surface of the rotor 14b and the inner peripheral surface of the protective ring 25 to contact with each other in a state wherein the rotor 14b keeps rotating to absorb the rotating energy of the rotor 14b by sliding frictional resistance to impart a braking force to the rotor 14b. When the turning force of the rotor 14b cannot be sufficiently restrained by the braking force, the rotor 14b is finally broken, and broken pieces therefrom are scattered in a tangential direction. In the illustrated embodiment, the scattered broken pieces of the rotor 14b contact and impinge upon the protec­ tive ring 25 arranged in the outer periphery thereof. Since the protective ring 25 is formed of a material having an excellent elongating property, the protective ring 25 is subjected to plastic deformation by a gap portion relative to the inner peripheral surface of the cover 13 to absorb scattered energies of the rotor 14b. Moreover, since the protective ring 25 is rotatably loosely fitted in the fit­ ting surface 12a of the stator frame 12, when the scattered broken pieces of the rotor 14b contact or impinge upon the inner peripheral surface of the protective ring 25 from the tangential direction of the outer periphery of the rotor, the latter follows the turning force of the rotor and rotates, by which rotation the scattered energy of the rotor may be absorbed. The absorption of the scattered energy in this embodiment is quickly effected immediately after the breakage and scattering of the rotor 14b momen­ tarily produced. Therefore, rapid and positive operation may be expected as compared with the conventional control which effects controlling operation from the detection by the temperature sensor. Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figs. 4 to 6. In Fig. 4, a flywheel device is generally composed of a casing 31 com­ prising a stator base 32 and a cover 33 arranged in an integral relation, and a rotating body 34 supported within the casing 31 so that the rotating body may be rotated at a high speed. The rotating body 34 consists of a flywheel 34a at the upper side and a rotor 34b at the lower side. A spiral shaft 35 supporting the rotating body 34 is supported by a lower bearing 36 comprising a stationary portion 36a secured to a stator base 32 and a bearing portion 36b within the stationary portion 36a, and an upper rotating shaft 37 is supported by an upper bearing 38 mounted on the top plate of the cover 33. To the outer peripheral surface of the lower bearing 36 is secured a stator 40 comprising a coil 41 and a core 42, and to the inner peripheral surface of the rotor 34b opposed to the coil 41 is secured a rotor magnet 43. A protective ring 45 is provided on a portion opposed to the rotor 34b among the inner peripheral surface of the cover 33 of the casing 31. The protective ring 45 is sup­ ported on a shoulder 33a peripherally provided on the inner peripheral surface of the cover 33. A plurality of projec­ tions 45a ... as shown in Figs. 5 and 6 are formed at the lower side in the outer periphery of the protective ring 45. These projections 45a are secured by a predetermined fastening force to an adhesive portion 33b of the inner wall of the cover 33 as shown in Fig. 5, and are normally in a temporarily secured state. For example, a mounting portion 45b is provided at a suitable place of the protective ring 45. An abnormal-condition detecting sensor 46 composed of a lead wire or the like is mounted on the mounting portion 45b. Both ends of the sensor 46 are connected to a controller or the like not shown so that when an abnormal condition occurs, that is, when it is cut off as the protective ring follows and rotates, a supply of a power source input is stopped by a command from the controller. The operation of the above-described construction will be described. First, the device as an electric motor at the normal operation is similar to that of the first embodiment. Where the rotor 34b rotates at an abnormally high speed and a centrifugal force above a stress limit point is applied to the rotating body 34, the protective ring 45 is engaged by the inner peripheral surface of the cover 33 and maintains its temporarily secured state till the rotating energy above the fastening force of the adhesive portion 33b acts from the rotating body 34 to the protective ring 45. When the acting force thereabove is applied to the protective ring 45, the protective ring 45 follows the rotating body 34 and rotates, and when the lead wire of the sensor 46 is cut off, a supply of power is stopped by a command of the unshown controller. Furthermore, in case where an abnormal high-­ speed rotation of the rotating body 34 rapidly occurs and an abnormal condition such as spreading of the rotor 34b, contact, breakage and scattering thereof occurs, the pro­ tective ring 45 rotates along with the rotating body 34 to prevent scattered broken pieces of the rotor 34b from direct contact with and impingement on the cover 33, the stator base 32 and the like. Figs. 7 to 9 show a third embodiment of the present invention. In these figures, numerals 31 through 38 and 40 through 43 designate the same parts as those of the device shown in the second embodiment described in connection with Fig. 4. A shoulder 33a formed on the inner peripheral surface of the cover 33 of the casing 31 supports the protective ring 50 which follows the rotating body 34 and rotates. A mounting portion 50a is formed at a suitable place of the protective ring 50, and an abnormal-condition detecting sensor 51 such as a lead wire is mounted on the mounting portion 50a. A plate spring 52 as an engaging member for bringing the protective ring 50 into engagement with the inner peripheral surface of the cover 33 is secured by means of a screw 53 to a suitable place of the upper end surface of the protective ring 50. The plate spring 52 is formed with a spring piece 52a in abutment with the inner peripheral surface of the cover 33 by a resilient force and a pawl 52b in engagement with an angle hole portion 50b of the protec­ tive ring 50, and a slot 52c for receiving the screw 53 is formed. The movement of the plate spring 52 toward the inner peripheral side of the protective ring 50 is defined by engagement between the pawl 52b and the hole 50b. When the spring piece 52a comes into abutment with the inner peripheral surface of the cover 33 by the resilient force, both the elements are not rotated, if the sliding contact force of the rotor 34b is not great, but are temporarily secured to the inner peripheral surface of the cover 33. It is noted that one or more plate springs 52 may be mounted on the protective ring 50. A fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figs. 10 to 12. In Fig. 10, numerals 31 to 38 and 40 to 43 designate the same parts as those of the second and third embodiments of Figs. 4 and 7, respectively. A protective ring 60 is supported on a shoulder 33a of a cover 33. An abnormal-condition detecting sensor 61 such as a lead wire is mounted on a mounting portion 60a formed on the lower end of the protective ring 60, and to a suitable place of the upper end is secured a plate spring 62 by means of a screw 63. The plate spring 62 has a spring piece 62a gently bended toward one surface as shown in Fig. 12 and a hole 62b for threadedly receiving the screw 63. The bending amount of the spring piece 62a is indicated by the length ℓ1. The cover 33 is formed at the inner peripheral surface with a groove 33c engaged by the spring piece 62a. The height of the groove 33c is indicated by the length ℓ2, which is smaller than the length ℓ1, the bending amount of the spring piece 62a. Accordingly, the spring piece 62a normally biases the groove 33c in the state where the protective ring 60 is mounted, and the protective ring 60 is engaged by the inner peripheral surface of the cover 33 by said biasing force. The protective ring 60 follows and rotates only responsive to the action of the abnormal external force above a pre­ determined force as in the case where for example, the rotor 34b is broken and scattered, to absorb the rotor breaking energy as described. Also in this embodiment, a single flat spring 62 may be provided or a plurality of springs 62 may be provided in spaced relation. The engaging force of the protective ring 60 with respect to the inner peripheral surface of the cover 33 may be adjusted depending on the bending amount, material, thickness and number of the plate spring 62. As above described in detail, according to the flywheel power source device of the present invention, a protective ring for preventing a direct damage to a casing resulting from an abnormally high speed rotation of a rotor is rotat­ ably configurated, a turning force of the rotor is relieved by the rotatable protective ring, and even in case of breakage, scattering and the like of the rotor which is the worst state, scattering broken pieces of the rotor as a result of receiving a converting force in a tangential direction of the outer periphery of the rotor may be absorbed by the turning force thereof to positively and effectively protect the casing. Moreover, abnormal-condition detecting data which forms a basic data in order that the controller may release a command to stop a supply of power source is detected not by temperature information from a temperature sensor or the like but by a simple abnormal-condition sensor, which for example, detects whether the wire is broken. Therefore, the device is simple in construction, and can provide a quick responsive abnormal-condition detection. As a further effect, the simplification of the entire device and the realization of rapid failsafe function may be provided.

Claims: 1. A flywheel device comprising a) a casing (11) having peripheral inner wall surfaces and a stationary stator (20); b) a rotating body (14) having a rotor (14b) rotatably supported within said casing (11) and rotated at a high- speed by electromagnetic action with said stationary stator (20); c) a flywheel (14a) rotated integral with said rotor (14b) to accumulate rotating energy which can be converted into electric energy; and d) a protective ring (25) provided between the inner periphery of said casing (11) and the outer periphery of the rotor (14b) of said rotating body (14), characterized in that e) said protective ring (25) follows the abutment with and inpingement from the outer peripheral surface of the rotor (14b) responsive to an abnormally high-speed rotation of said rotor (14b); f) said protective ring (25) is formed of extendable metal material; g) said protective ring (25) is loosely fitted rotatably in a fitting surface (12a) of a stator base (12) constituting said casing (11); and h) a gap (G) is provided between the inner peripheral surface of said casing (11) and the outer periphery of said protective ring (25) for protecting the casing (11). 2. The flywheel device according to claim 1, wherein said protective ring (25) is formed of flexible hard synthetic resin. 3. A flywheel device comprising a casing (31) having peripheral inner wall surfaces and a stationary stator (40); a rotating body (34) having a rotor (34b) rotatably supported within said casing (31) and rotated at a high-speed by electromagnetic action with said stationary stator (40); a flywheel (34a) rotated integral with said rotor (34b) to accumulate rotating energy which can be converted into electric energy; and a protective ring (45, 50, 60) provided between the inner peripheral surface of said casing (31) and the outer peripheral surface of the rotor (34b) of said rotating body (34), characterized in that said protective ring (45, 50, 60) is supported on a shoulder (33a) on the inner peripheral surface of said casing (31) and is checked against rotation till a turning force in excess of a predetermined value is applied to said protective ring (45, 50, 60); said protective ring (45, 50, 60) is engaged by the inner peripheral surface of said casing (31) till the abutment and impingement from the outer peripheral surface of the rotor (34b) responsive to the abnormally high-speed rotation of said rotor (34b) assumes a predetermined force; said protective ring (45, 50, 60) follows the rotor (34b) and is rotated when the abutment and impingement from the outer peripheral surface of the rotor (34b) exceeds a predetermined force; and said protective ring (45, 50, 60) is provided with an abnormal- condition detecting sensor (46, 51, 61) for detecting an abnormal-condition within the casing by being cut due to the rotation of said protective ring (45, 50, 60). 4. The flywheel device as set forth in claim 3, characterized in that a projecting portion (45a) projecting in a direction of the inner peripheral surface of said casing (31) is provided on a part of the outer peripheral surface of said protective ring (45); said protective ring (45) is firmly fitted in the inner peripheral surface of the casing (31) by said projecting portion (45a); and partially a gap portion is provided between the inner peripheral surface of the casing (31) and the outer peripheral surface of said protective ring (45) except said abutment portion (45a). 5. The flywheel device as set forth in claim 3, characterized by engaging means comprising a plate spring (52, 62) secured to the upper end surface of said protective ring (50, 60), and said protective ring (50, 60) being engaged by the inner peripheral surface of said casing (31) by the resilient force of said plate spring (52, 62) till the protective ring (50, 60) is rotated by the influence of the abutment and impingement of the outer peripheral surface of the rotor (34b) responsive to the abnormally high-speed rotation of said rotor (34b). 6. The flywheel device as set forth in claim 5, wherein a pawl (52b) is formed on said plate spring (52), and an engaging groove (50b) engaged by said pawl (52b) is formed in the upper end surface of said protective ring (50). 7. The flywheel device as set forth in claim 6, characterized by engaging means comprising a plate spring (62) secured to the upper end surface of said protective ring (60), and an engaging groove (33c) formed at a position opposed to the inner peripheral surface of the cover (33) of said casing (31) so that the end of the plate spring (62) may be resiliently engaged. 8. The flywheel device as set forth in either of claim 5 or 7, wherein a plurality of said plate springs (52, 62) is arranged on the upper end surface of the protective ring (50, 60) in spaced apart relation. 9. The flywheel device as set forth in either of claim 5 or 7, wherein a single plate spring (52, 62) is provided at a suitable location on the upper end surface of the protective ring (50, 60).

Inventors: KUMATANI, HIROSHI C/O MITSUBISHI DENKI K.K., MIYAZAKI, MASAYUKI C/O MITSUBISHI DENKI K.K., NAKAJIMA, TOSHIO C/O MITSUBISHI DENKI K.K., TEZUKA, KAZUO C/O MITSUBISHI DENKI K.K.
Applicants: MITSUBISHI DENKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1986
Main classification: H02K7
IPC codes: F16F15, H02K7