Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Flywheels

["D. Blake" <dblake@bright.net>]

Hey Danny:
Check out the two articles at:
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/1049/flywheels.html
especially the second one about Jack Bitterly's work with flywheels and all.
This is great stuff.  Even the actor Kevin Costner has a big part in it.
The article is a few years old, but is still very much relavent.  The units
described seem small enough to be used in multiple numbers.  Check it out.
Hey remember those toy cars years ago that you would roll across the floor
several times to get the flywheel going inside, and then set it down and
watch it fly across the floor and crash into things?  Now imagine a psub
doing the same thing...uh...only not crashing into things of course :>)

Big Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: Danny Campbell <danny.campbell@usa.net>
To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Date: Thursday, July 27, 2000 7:26 PM
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Flywheels


>I love the idea of storing energy in a flywheel!  Using it for propulsion
>would be nice, especially if you wanted a really big boost of power.  But
have
>you ever considered using one for an exotic attitude control?  Mount a
rather
>large flywheel on a gimbal inside, approximately at the CG.  Want to turn
the
>boat?  ...turn the flywheel!  You'd have to take into account gyroscopic
>effects - torque acting 90 degrees off of the axis of rotation.
Ultimately,
>we all know that external thrusters are the best for maneuvering because
gyros
>may be used to turn the boat but they'll do nothing for translation.  Just
>thought I'd throw that out to keep your brains "turning!"
>
>Danny