May
26th 2002
SEN. MURRAY ANNOUNCES $1 MILLION GRANT TO AFS-TRINITY POWER FOR FLYWHEELS IN HYBRID VEHICLES
Source:AFS
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) -- U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) announced that the Department of Transportation has begun funding a $1 million award to AFS Trinity Power Corporation through WestStart-CalStart for the advancement of flywheel energy storage in hybrid vehicles.
The grant will help
further develop an emerging alternative energy technology that conserves
energy while reducing emissions. Murray secured the funding in last year’s
Transportation spending
bill.
"I am proud to have helped secure funding for an innovative Washington state company that is developing an energy efficient technology," said Murray. "Flywheel energy storage has the potential to help reduce fuel consumption, lower vehicle emissions and reduce operating costs. And by putting more advanced flywheel batteries into hybrid vehicles, America could reduce the toxic waste problems from chemical batteries."
In a hybrid vehicle, the flywheel provides extra power for acceleration and stores energy that would otherwise be lost in braking. As a result, these vehicles require smaller engines and less fuel, which therefore reduces operating costs.
The flywheel is a high-speed rotating mass suspended by magnetic bearings in a vacuum. The very low friction made possible by the magnetic bearings and vacuum allow the AFS Trinity flywheel to spin at the more than 40,000 rpm required to store sufficient kinetic energy to run an auxiliary electric motor in hybrid vehicles.
As Chair of the Transportation
Appropriations subcommittee, Murray secured the $1 million grant for AFS
Trinity Power in the 2002 transportation appropriations bill.
AFS Trinity Power
