Williams Hybrid Power electric flywheels contain no toxic or potentially combustible chemistries and are therefore free of some of the full-life-cycle challenges and associated costs of competing energy storage technologies such as batteries and ultracapacitors.
A particular challenge for the flywheel is the recycling of composites where, increasingly, legislation and
environmental responsibility forbids landfill disposal. However, benefiting from close industry focus as the use of composites increases, various commercial aircraft recycling initiatives are now bearing fruit. Reclamation technologies give scrapped aerospace-grade carbon fibre new possibilities and a lower price point in non-structural/conductive applications.
Williams Hybrid Power Ltd (WHP) has developed a novel, patented electromechanical composite flywheel system that provides a high-power, cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution for mobile or stationary energy recovery and storage.
Williams Hybrid Power was established in 2008 and immediately set about developing a new flywheel energy recovery system for the Williams F1 Team While other teams were pouring their efforts into electric battery systems for the 2009 Formula One season, Williams F1 opted to go down the flywheel route because of a strong belief in the technology's wider applications.
The rigours of Formula One offer a stringent proving ground for automotive technology and whilst the flywheel KERS was never raced due to regulation changes, WHP has developed industry-leading capabilities that now transcend the world of motorsport.
Based at the Williams F1 headquarters in Grove, Oxfordshire, Williams Hybrid Power benefits from world leading expertise and cutting edge technology in design,development and manufacture.
22 April 2013. The Audi R18 e-tron quattro, powered by Williams Hybrid Power’s electric flywheel hybrid system for the second year in a row, continued where it left off last season by clinching a dominant win in the first round of the 2013 F.I.A. World Endurance Championship.
The Audi number two car, driven by Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Loïc Duval, took the lead in the fifth hour of the race after 151 laps and eventually crossed the finish line with a 3.4-second advantage. The sister number one car, driven by Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer completed Audi’s one-two. This result followed the one-two result in the non-championship Sebring 12 Hours in March. It also comes on the back of a dominant 2012 that saw the Audi R18 e-tron quattro become the first hybrid car to win Le Mans and ultimately clinch the World Endurance Championship.
Williams Hybrid Power’s flywheel energy storage system was first developed for the Williams F1 Team’s 2009 car, but has since become a race winning technology on the endurance racing circuit as well as non-motorsport applications such as buses and trams. The key benefits of the WHP system are a high power density and correspondingly low mass, the ability to continuously deep power cycle, high efficiency energy transfer to and from the e-storage, and an insusceptibility to performance or life degradation over a wide range of operating temperatures. These defining features are highly suited to endurance racing and have helped power the Audi R18 e-tron quattro to the top of the standings.
Ian Foley, Managing Director of Williams Hybrid Power, commented, "Williams Hybrid Power are pleased to be working with Audi Sport once again this year to supply our flywheel technology for the innovative hybrid system on the R18 e-tron quattro. We had a very successful 2012 and hopefully 2013 will see that success continue. We continue to bring our fuel saving technology into areas beyond motoracing such as public transport, but racing is a fantastic testing ground for our flywheel and it is a testament to the team at Williams that our system continues to perform at the highest level."
