Latest / Engineering Matters / #282 Spinning up the renewables revolution: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Gold Champion — Dumarey

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#282 Spinning up the renewables revolution: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Gold Champion — Dumarey · Engineering Matters

0:03
A potter sits at her wheel.
0:06
In front of her is the wheel head,
0:07
ready to receive a ball of clay.
0:10
It is still for now though, an axle
0:12
runs down from the wheel head to a
0:14
heavier flywheel below.
0:16
She braces her toe against the edge of
0:18
the flywheel and pushes. In the long kicking
0:20
motion.
0:25
The flywheel begins to turn.
0:28
As it picks up speed, she moves her
0:30
foot closer to the center of the flywheel.
0:33
The flywheel is carried forward by its own
0:35
momentum.
0:36
Rather than the long pushing kick she used
0:38
to get it moving, she now needs just
0:40
tap gently with her heel.
0:43
With the wheel head spinning, she can now
0:45
work on her pot.
0:46
The city's spin allows her to work the
0:48
clay drawing it up and shaping it into
0:50
a s sided vessel.
0:53
She doesn't need to think about controlling the
0:54
speed of the wheel.
0:56
Its momentum keeps the wheels spinning constantly
0:59
as she focuses on the clay.
1:01
With the pot partially forms, she taps the
1:04
wheel again, restoring its momentum.
1:07
Flywheel wheels are as old and established a
1:09
technology
1:10
as any. They the embodiment of a core
1:13
concept of physics, the conservation of momentum.
1:16
But today, they are at the heart of
1:19
2 ideas that could help spin up the
1:21
energy transition.
1:34
Hello, and welcome to engineering matters. I'm Ian
1:37
Owen. And I'm Johnny Dow. Today, we are
1:40
celebrating another winner of the engineering matters awards.
1:44
Du, Formally Punch Fly,
1:47
First, we'll be looking at their gold champion
1:49
win in the net 0 category.
1:51
Here we'll see how the ability of flywheel
1:53
wheels to be repeatedly and rapidly charged and
1:57
discharged is helping support the Energy transition in
2:00
construction. And then we'll take a look at
2:02
their silver champion award 1 in the innovation
2:05
category.
2:06
In this category, the flywheel wheels are spinning
2:08
at the other end of the electricity grid.
2:11
Helping to maintain a consistent power factor and
2:14
smooth supply from wind turbines.
2:16
We spoke to both guests for this episode
2:19
in late 20 23 and early 20 24
2:22
during the judging process for the awards.
2:24
In that time, the company changed its name
2:26
from punch, To Du.
2:32
Tobias Commercial, now md of Du fly grew
2:35
up in Germany. The country has long had
2:37
a leading role in automotive manufacturing, and German
2:40
own teams are in pole position in performance
2:43
motors sports.
2:44
But most of the research and development for
2:47
these and other teens takes place in the
2:49
Uk around Silver stone.
2:51
Keen to develop his career in the sport
2:53
he'd moved to the Uk.
2:56
And so while I was studying here in
2:58
in the Uk,
2:59
I came across a startup company called
3:03
and they just started up in in January
3:06
2007,
3:08
and I sent them a letter in February
3:11
2 7 to ask if I can do
3:13
my master's thesis with with fly. And the
3:16
guys who set up flag. They were very
3:18
surprised after only 1 months of helping Started
3:20
the company to get already a let from
3:22
a student.
3:23
I wanted to do master's with.
3:25
So, yeah they
3:27
decided to invite before interview, and
3:30
took me on. And so I did my
3:32
there. And then instead of going back to
3:34
Germany, I actually stayed in the Uk.
3:37
A short spell in the Uk to complete
3:39
his master's research turned into a permanent move.
3:42
But as tobias was putting down roots, Library
3:45
was changing gears.
3:47
In the early days, we really focus on
3:49
Motors sport. Right? So the rules in formula
3:52
1 change
3:53
to allow hybrid systems to be introduced an
3:56
informal 1 racing, and fly grid was started
3:59
to develop hybrid 4 formula 1 racing.
4:04
We really looked at all of the different
4:06
ways how you can store energy that could
4:09
be relevant for former 1 racing car.
4:11
We choose flywheel because the nature of a
4:14
former 1 racing class that it is subjected
4:17
to very dynamic 2 cycle.
4:19
So formula 1 racing car constantly
4:22
accelerates a full power, and then the tribe
4:24
slams on the brakes to slow down as
4:26
fast as possible,
4:28
drives around the corner and goes full throttle
4:30
on the on on the again.
4:33
Think back to the portrait at her wheel.
4:35
Getting the flywheel spinning takes real effort. Those
4:38
initial kicks on the edge of the wheel.
4:40
As she works a clay, friction slows its
4:42
spin. But it only takes a gentle tap
4:45
at the center of the flywheel to maintain
4:46
its speed.
4:52
As a formula 1 car accelerates along a
4:54
straight,
4:55
it draws power from the engine.
4:58
As the driver approaches a corner, they break
5:01
turning that energy into heat.
5:03
But what if rather than being lost, that
5:06
energy could be stored.
5:08
That was the vision behind adding a flywheel
5:11
to these cars. And so the idea of
5:14
of a hybrid system is that. When when
5:16
the driver hits the brakes instead of using
5:18
the friction breaks, you use the hybrid system
5:20
to slow the vehicle down. And in our
5:22
case, with a flywheel wheel, we basically accelerated
5:25
the flywheel,
5:26
to slow the vehicle down. So we exchanged
5:28
kinetic energy from the vehicle with kinetic energy
5:31
in the flywheel we So as the vehicle
5:33
was getting slower, the flywheel was getting faster
5:35
and faster and faster.
5:36
And like this, you then store an energy
5:38
with flywheel that you then can use to
5:40
accelerate again
5:42
when the car written around the corners.
5:45
There are alternatives to flywheel wheels. Typical hybrid
5:48
cars use batteries to saw excess energy. But
5:51
these take time to charge and have only
5:53
a limited number of charging cycles.
5:56
What works well with the gentle stop start
5:57
of a score rental or commute? Is less
6:00
suited to the needs of a high performing
6:02
sports car.
6:03
If you look at the characteristics of batteries
6:05
and flywheel, batteries are much better than flywheel
6:09
to store large amount of energy to store
6:11
them store that energy for a long period
6:13
of time and to discharge that energy over
6:17
a long period of to Right? And and
6:18
the fly flagships are kind of the opposite.
6:20
Fly to install a lot of energy. But
6:22
if you need a lot of power and
6:24
you need it quickly and you need it
6:25
frequently,
6:26
then the the flywheel can play to their
6:28
advantages, and that's for it works so well
6:30
for for these duty cycles.
6:32
The chemical battery
6:34
typically has
6:37
lifetime full charge and discharge cycles of around
6:40
3000 cycles.
6:42
If you have an electric vehicle that can
6:44
do 400 miles from a single charge to
6:46
do that 3000 times why you have 600000
6:48
miles
6:49
lifetime range, your battery
6:52
sufficient. Right? But if you have a probably
6:54
1 racing car, that does, you know, 500
6:56
fracking events
6:58
in an hour whatever right? Or you have
7:01
industrial applications that are very in dynamic duty
7:04
cycles, then it's it's a different story.
7:07
As the rules of formula 1 changed, the
7:09
use of flywheel hybrids became impossible.
7:12
But those industrial
7:14
applications suggested a new use for the technology.
7:17
The construction industry, they're really innovative, and they're
7:20
really trying hard to reduce emissions. Right? And
7:23
they obviously operate a lot of heavy machinery
7:27
over,
7:28
you know, 10:12 hours some construction sites of
7:31
operate for 24 hours a day. And so
7:33
they have a high consumption of fuel of
7:36
fossil fuels. And they also have a lot
7:38
of emissions that I associated to that. And
7:40
then again, a lot of the construction sites
7:42
are in our city centers, where we have
7:44
local air quality issues. Right? And so,
7:47
these guys in the cons... Guys are girls
7:49
in the construction industry are are way
7:52
very focused on finding ways to reduce their
7:55
impact in terms of emissions and in terms
7:57
of fuel consumption.
7:59
1 of the large
8:02
construction companies
8:04
in Scotland and 1 of the leading Scottish
8:06
construction companies they approached us regarding a construction
8:09
site that they had in Edi edinburgh. And
8:11
we work together with a company called S
8:13
Fund who a power rental company. So they
8:15
typically went, diesel chance that's to to the
8:19
construction industry. Right? And
8:21
we work together to develop a solution of
8:24
how they could which use their,
8:26
fuel consumption on that side. And on that
8:28
side, they basically had 2 tower cranes 2
8:31
big tower that were working hard. And also
8:35
a h. So that's a material horse that
8:37
goes up and down the side of the
8:38
building.
8:44
This equipment designed to move construction materials around
8:47
a job site shares little at first glance
8:50
with a formula 1 car.
8:56
But beneath the hood, there is a lot
8:58
of similarity.
8:59
These are ideal examples of dynamic duty cycles
9:02
because basically, every time that h goes ups
9:05
up and down. There's a big power spike
9:07
when it lifts up basically when it drops
9:09
down, right, there's no no power required right,
9:11
at that's on on on on gravity.
9:14
That initial movement mode when when the lift
9:16
starts to overcome that initial friction. Right? That's
9:20
a big spike. And then as it moves
9:21
up the power also a little bit lower.
9:23
And the same is true for the for
9:25
the tower brain. So whenever the power lifts
9:27
up below that initial movement when it lifted
9:29
up, it requires a huge amount of power.
9:31
And then when it moves around or drops
9:33
the load, the power demand is very low.
9:35
And so when you when you recall the
9:38
power that's being requested from a diesel sensor,
9:40
you get a super spiky
9:42
powerful profile. You know, constantly spiking up and
9:45
then stopping down again?
9:47
That poses a problem for equipment users.
9:50
To cover the peak demands of a tower
9:52
crane or h,
9:53
they must either have a high power grid
9:56
connection or use a diesel generator.
9:59
Those grid connections are hard if not impossible
10:02
to get installed at most construction sites.
10:05
And a generator must be big enough and
10:07
burn enough fuel to hit those peak demands.
10:10
This power profile is more dynamic than a
10:13
former 1 racing car. Right? This like constantly
10:15
sleepy be when the car is working hard.
10:17
With this engine is constantly being asked to
10:19
go full power and no power, full power,
10:21
no power, full power, no power. And, of
10:23
course, you know, when you have a least
10:25
chance that and you see that sometimes, when
10:27
they have to go from either to full
10:28
power, sometimes they tough out the black lot
10:31
of smoke of un unbalanced fuel, right? The
10:33
dual a diesel engine doesn't like that kind
10:36
of dynamic
10:37
load application. And so what we do, we
10:40
we add a flywheel system,
10:42
into the mix. And the flywheel is very
10:44
good at dampening out these high power spikes.
10:47
Right? And as a result, the diesel engine
10:50
can run much closer to the average power
10:53
consumption on on on on such a construction
10:56
side.
10:56
To put that into some perspective, like, 1
10:59
of these tower brands, they might have a
11:01
peak power demand of around 200 kilowatts.
11:04
But the average power demand might only be
11:06
20 kilowatts. Right? So factor of 10.
11:09
And so it's it's it's a it's a
11:10
huge huge difference.
11:14
The flywheel can take just enough power from
11:16
the generator to set its spinning.
11:18
When the crane or h needs a boost
11:21
of power to start lifting a load it
11:23
draws power from the flywheel.
11:25
The flywheel slows, but soon picks up speed
11:28
again is the generator or low power grid
11:31
connection tops it up.
11:33
But because the flywheel is storing energy and
11:35
is then deliberately... Able to deliver power on
11:38
top of the diesel chips.
11:39
You can achieve with a small diesel chances,
11:42
the performance of a much, much larger diesel
11:45
chances. And if you compare the fuel consumption
11:47
of the last hd chance versus the small
11:49
1 is our plywood system on, then you
11:51
have a massive fuel saving. Typically on the
11:53
tower crane, we have usually fuel savings in
11:56
the region of 55 percent to 60 percent
11:59
at order of Magnitude. So it's it's really
12:01
quite significant.
12:02
And, I mean, on h, it's even even
12:05
more. So we have some h where we
12:07
where we choose a fuel consumption by 70,
12:09
71 percent.
12:12
The built environment contributes to well over a
12:14
third of carbon emissions and power used during
12:18
construction
12:18
accounts for a significant proportion of this.
12:21
The construction sector ability to move to electric
12:24
power has been hindered by peak demands of
12:26
equipment like tower cranes.
12:29
By reducing these demands, Du flywheel can slash
12:33
the size of generators on sight and eliminate
12:35
the need for high our grid connections.
12:38
They have been well accepted by the industry
12:40
demonstrating their widespread
12:42
potential.
12:44
Since winning the gold champion engineering matters award,
12:46
Du has signed a global
12:48
distribution deal with Wolf cra, 1 of the
12:51
leading manufacturers of Tower cranes.
12:54
Du second entry in the awards demonstrated a
12:57
different application for flywheel technology.
13:00
In Northern Ireland, they are being used not
13:02
to smooth power demand, but power supply.
13:06
We have been doing this now
13:08
working on climate now for, say 16 years.
13:11
Right? I mean,
13:12
and we still get people phone up with
13:15
applications that we have never thought about.
13:18
We got
13:20
approached by a company called Iso, about problem
13:23
that they were having with turbines in in
13:25
Northern Ireland.
13:28
Buyers understands the possible uses of flywheel wheels
13:31
as well as anyone.
13:33
But even he didn't see this potential application.
13:36
I'm a mechanical engineer, and III
13:40
looked at a lot of different applications with
13:42
dynamic duty cycles. Right? From formula 1 cast
13:45
to ex
13:46
to buses driving in city centers Think everybody
13:49
can understand that these kind of applications are
13:51
dynamic where constantly the powers high end and
13:53
low right, that we buses accelerating was slowing
13:55
down. If the next incubator loading a truck
13:58
gets constantly moving its very vision. But
14:01
to be honest, III
14:02
drove passed a lot of turbines in my
14:04
life, and I never thought that the turbine,
14:06
is a dynamic application. Right? Because when you
14:08
look at the turbine,
14:10
the speed of the blades
14:12
seems to be pretty constant most of the
14:14
time. And the speed is also relatively constant.
14:18
But, of course, power is related to speed
14:21
times torque, and the torque on a wind
14:23
turbine is created by the wind pressing against
14:25
the blade. And, of course, the wind is
14:27
not constant on a wind turbine. It's dusting
14:29
up and down. And so when you look
14:31
at a power output
14:33
on a on a wind turbine, and the
14:35
power profile is very dynamic. You know, it's
14:38
it's, again, more dynamic than a former 1
14:40
racing car. Right? And that's maybe not so
14:42
obvious in in in in in the first
14:44
place.
14:46
Aaron D is Ceo of,
14:48
the company that made that approach.
14:50
It supplies software to the energy sector and
14:53
works closely with Ever run an energy management
14:56
company.
14:57
We provide software
14:58
mainly in the in the wind industry for
15:00
monitoring of wind turbines.
15:03
We also provide a lot of services to
15:05
unlimited to kind of a sister company, 2
15:08
Liaison, and and they provide the all our
15:10
maintenance for, a lot of the wind turbines
15:13
in Northern Ireland.
15:15
Many of the wind turbines that ever maintains
15:18
are aging.
15:19
They are still well capable of delivering power
15:22
but as more and more renewables come online
15:24
it's become necessary to more closely synchronize their
15:27
power output to the grid.
15:29
The network operator, N or Northern Ireland electricity
15:33
had begun to enforce regulations demanding a very
15:37
tight power factor for these turbines.
15:40
Everyone, we're tasked with making the older turbines
15:43
compliant.
15:44
A lot of New York turbines could simply
15:45
you could just go in and could modify
15:47
those turbines.
15:48
Change a few settings, and they would be
15:51
compliant with the new requirements.
15:53
With these older ones, they were never conceived
15:56
with the requirements in mind.
15:58
So the... You... A lot of you can
15:59
even get comm to the equipment. You know,
16:02
So,
16:03
initially, we had to provide columns to it.
16:05
We had to gwen reverse engineer, you know,
16:08
all of the protocols,
16:10
and then, remotely communicate to those star turbines?
16:12
The turbines had been designed in the early
16:15
stages of the renewables revolution. They could not
16:18
meet the requirements N I headset. 1 of
16:20
those requirements was to control
16:23
the par factor on these wind turbines. And
16:27
there really wasn't a way that we could
16:28
do it within the requirements. So
16:31
the requirements were that it it would also
16:32
be fast acting,
16:34
which would mean that, you know, was Anna
16:37
e, that the D o sent the command.
16:39
That it would have to respond within a
16:41
certain amount of time, to that request.
16:44
And and that really just using the installed
16:47
equipment, that just wasn't possible.
16:50
To maintain the stability of the grid, N
16:53
sends requests to supply electricity at a very
16:55
narrow power factor. This is measured from 0
16:58
to 1.
16:59
There's a certain load. The equipment is putting
17:01
on the grid,
17:03
and
17:04
was that's how much true part. How much
17:06
of it's actually,
17:08
generating in par.
17:09
But due to the fact that the current
17:12
the voltage me maybe O sync in an
17:14
Ac current,
17:16
that
17:16
that you may not be getting all the
17:18
par because 1 cons are sort of all
17:20
out.
17:21
And,
17:22
depending on hai far, I think they are
17:24
that's the sort of ratio that you're getting
17:26
there. So a... You know, for the east
17:29
particular turbines, they they had to be within
17:31
not 0.95
17:33
to not 0.98,
17:34
which is, you know, very close to getting
17:36
most of par, I'd Out do it.
17:39
But, you know, with
17:41
induction motors and generators,
17:43
generally, they will none a lot lower,
17:46
than not, there maybe from 0.6 to, you
17:48
know, 0.7.
17:50
And you need Dandy to install capacitors,
17:54
which rethink the voltage in the current together,
17:58
and and bring that more towards
18:01
unity, which is 1 par factor.
18:11
Capacitors would allow the wind turbines to sync
18:14
with the grid, but they could not meet
18:16
all of N n requirements.
18:19
You could fix this problem with capacitors essentially.
18:22
The trouble was, you know, the fast acting
18:24
bit of it,
18:26
and also,
18:27
not only that but it had to be
18:29
more precise. So, you know, if if the
18:31
the d was requesting,
18:33
not 0.96.
18:35
Then, you know, you have to hit that
18:37
mark. You have to head it pretty accurately.
18:39
Capacitors got lots of headaches like friends, you
18:41
know, whenever you discharge, you, you know, you
18:43
can't bring it back on again, so straight
18:45
away.
18:46
You know, so there's lots of inherent problems.
18:49
You could manage that with more capacitors, but
18:51
the solution was never going to be the
18:53
most passionate efficient solution. Very early at home.
18:55
We decided that that was not the way
18:57
to go in regards to managing this problem.
19:01
Explored a range of solutions. But none of
19:03
them would allow them to meet N nr
19:05
requirements efficiently.
19:08
The company had already been talking to Du,
19:10
then known as punch about power smoothing. They
19:13
had pictured using the flywheel to ensure that
19:16
the output from the wind turbines remained steady.
19:20
Regardless of weather conditions.
19:22
But eyes on soon realized
19:24
that they could also be used to meet
19:26
N
19:27
power factor requirements.
19:29
The first time we reached out the punch.
19:31
It wasn't actually about the par factor I
19:32
little... That was part of the conversation.
19:35
It was also in relation to smoothing the
19:38
par that's actually to distribute it to the
19:39
grid.
19:41
And really that's where punch were very unique
19:43
because they have a flywheel product
19:46
that allows you to absorb energy and then
19:49
dispatch it very, very quickly.
19:52
And and generally,
19:54
without any sort of where either
19:56
We, approach
19:58
punch fly in order to
20:01
provide a solution
20:02
for the smoothing of it but they also...
20:05
The Centimeters equipment would actually then be able
20:07
to meet the requirements of the par factor
20:09
correction part of it, which was just fantastic.
20:13
The team at Du ray worked with eyes
20:16
to adapt the flywheel software to allow them
20:18
to quickly shape the power factor of the
20:20
turbines, in line with N nr requirements. What
20:23
we have ended up with it with is
20:24
a solution that is there to beat the
20:27
grid requirements, but also
20:29
can be extended
20:30
to install flywheel,
20:32
which will then help move the par going
20:34
on the onto the grid,
20:37
which, you know, sets us up for the
20:39
nature because, the the turbine types are are
20:42
quite wall old and they don't have the
20:44
same control of the active afar.
20:47
That's
20:48
you know, the Ones do. So having that
20:51
ability to, not only plug control ability for
20:53
a power factor, but also in regard to
20:56
the output
20:57
of the, wind car turbines. I mean, that's
21:00
that's just gm changing because that puts us
21:03
at a level that, you know,
21:05
for the output we are equivalent to a
21:08
modern day turbine in regard to good compliance
21:11
and and quality.
21:14
There's nothing simple when it comes to working
21:17
with the electric grid,
21:18
but taken on those terms,
21:21
this was as simple as it gets.
21:23
Of the solution is is it easily plug
21:25
and play as you get,
21:27
when you're dealing you know, with that type
21:29
of equipment
21:30
it's that's lots of current ability for coming
21:33
from a generator
21:35
on a wind. So you're looking maybe, you
21:37
know, 7 800 amps that we're talking about
21:40
there. So, yeah, all the cable sizes are
21:42
massive and we're dealing with the significant industrial
21:45
equipment.
21:46
But after that, it really is this... Matter
21:49
of just collecting up,
21:51
installing a few,
21:53
measurement devices so that we can control it
21:55
all.
21:56
And everything else is is is self contained
21:59
within,
22:00
the flavor unit.
22:03
Has adopted the technology
22:05
across the wind turbines, they and ever support.
22:09
So overall, I think we've installed about a
22:12
hundred and 40 panels at this point in
22:14
time, we're still installing some at the minute.
22:17
But at the minute, we're around a hundred
22:19
hundred and 40. So it's this is no
22:20
significant amount, of wind turbines.
22:23
There's only around,
22:25
600 wind turbines in
22:28
saint wind turbines in Northern islands. So,
22:30
you know, a a significant percentage of them.
22:35
And the flywheel wheels aren't just allowing these
22:37
turbines to meet N nr power factor requirements.
22:41
They also smooth the overall output as winds
22:44
rise, full and gas.
22:48
Well we shouldn't forget is there's 2. There's
22:49
2
22:50
solutions to this here, So there's r factor
22:52
1, which is fast acting power factor, which
22:55
isn't really available with any other sort of
22:57
technology.
22:59
And then there's also the smoothing of the
23:02
power output.
23:05
With renewables and and renewable generation, that is
23:07
1 of the problems that you have with
23:09
it is it's very baggy
23:11
It's, you know, it's not always
23:13
great to have a
23:14
Put which is, you know,
23:17
double m might 1 minute and and half
23:18
of it the next the next second
23:20
you have enough equipment that it sort of
23:22
averages itself out.
23:24
But
23:25
if you if you don't have that on
23:26
1 particular subs station, you know, you've only
23:28
have 3
23:30
wind turbines,
23:32
connected to that,
23:34
substitution. You know, there's there's a lot of
23:36
problems with the up and down of the
23:37
par. That you get there, the, you know,
23:39
so having a device like this, which can
23:41
smooth out that generation, it just makes it
23:43
the par more usable.
23:46
And that problem exists
23:48
direct towards where there's renewable energy.
23:53
The flywheel is 1 of our most basic
23:56
technologies.
23:57
Pot have use them for hundreds if not
23:59
thousands of years the smoother spin of their
24:02
wheels.
24:03
But today, they're playing a new role in
24:05
the energy transition. They are slashing power demands
24:08
on construction sites by as much as 90
24:11
ascent by delivering peak output from a trickle
24:14
of supply.
24:15
And they're making older wind turbines fit for
24:17
the future. While smoothing out their output. Du
24:21
is putting an entirely new spin on an
24:24
ancient technology.
24:40
Entries for the 20 25
24:42
engineering matters awards are now open. You can
24:44
find all the details on how to enter
24:46
at engineering matters dot re dot media slash
24:50
awards.
25:01
Engineering matters is a production of Re media.
25:04
This episode was written and produced by Will
25:06
North. Your hosts were me, Johnny Dow and
25:09
R Owen.
25:11
Sound engineering by Ross Mc mcpherson,
25:13
siri supervision by John Young, and the highly
25:16
engineered mass that conserve our momentum is Rory
25:19
Harris.
25:20
Thank you for listening. You can find engineering
25:23
matters on all podcast apps on our website,
25:26
engineering matters dot ruby dot media
25:28
and on Linkedin.