PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 16041197
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-07
Publication Date: 2018-11
Patent Classification: ["074", "572120"]

Abstract:
A flywheel formed of a composite material having fibers, oriented substantially in a circumferential direction around the flywheel, embedded in a matrix material. The flywheel having an inner surface, an outer surface, and a thickness therebetween and defining an axis of rotation. A plurality of load masses are distributed circumferentially on the inner surface at a longitudinal segment along the axis. A rotation of the flywheel about the axis with a rotational velocity generating hoop stress in the fibers in the circumferential direction and through-thickness stress is generated in the matrix material in a radial direction. Each load mass produces a force on the inner surface operative to reduce the maximum through-thickness stress in the matrix material as the flywheel rotates about the axis. The rotational velocity otherwise sufficient to produce structural failure of the matrix material produces structural failure of the fibers and not the matrix material.

Claim (Index 1):
An apparatus comprising:\n a hollow cylindrical flywheel for a motor/generator, the flywheel being formed of a composite material including a matrix material and fibers oriented at least in part in a circumferential direction around the flywheel embedded in the matrix material, the flywheel having a longitudinal axis of rotation, a radially inner surface, a radially outer surface, and a radial thickness between the inner surface and the outer surface, rotation of the flywheel about the axis of rotation generating hoop stress in the fibers in the circumferential direction and through-thickness stress in the matrix material in the radial direction, the material properties of the fibers and the matrix material being such that rotation of the flywheel about the axis of rotation at a first rotational velocity sufficiently high to produce structural failure of the flywheel produces failure of the matrix material in the radial direction and not failure of the fibers in the circumferential direction, such rotational velocity being a first rotational velocity; and a plurality of load masses distributed circumferentially around, and coupled to, the inner surface of the flywheel at a longitudinal segment along the axis of rotation, rotation of the flywheel causing each load mass from the plurality of load masses to produce a radially outwardly directed force on the inner surface of the flywheel, the radially outwardly directed force acting to reduce a maximum through-thickness stress in the matrix such that a second rotational velocity greater than the first rotational velocity and sufficiently high to produce structural failure of the flywheel in the longitudinal segment produces failure of the fibers in the circumferential direction and not failure of the matrix material in the radial direction.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 19.0
- Percentile: 95.0
- Lexical Diversity: 2.28986
- Patent Class: 74.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['15610003', '10489212', '13222693', '14905975', '14418114']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.8066844930222714
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5201824524774707
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.7780342889677914
- Mean Citation Score: 252.809284
- Max Citation Score: 417.03638
- Similarity Product: 408.832847822224

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 0
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test