摘要 |
A flywheel energy storage system, including a plurality of pumps arranged in parallel for simultaneously drawing-off and absorbing substantially all of the gases that evolve from a flywheel assembly during high-speed operation, is disclosed. The plurality of pumps includes at least one pump, e.g., a water sorbent, for pumping mainly water vapor; and, at least one pump, e.g., a getter pump, for pumping mainly active gases. The plurality of pumps is disposed in a gas storage chamber that is separate from the main housing of the flywheel system. A drag pump assists the plurality of pumps in the gas storage chamber by pumping the evolved gases from the main housing to the gas storage chamber for subsequent absorption by the plurality of pumps. Because the water sorbent has a relatively fast pumping speed, and the getter pump has a relatively slow pumping speed, getter material used with the getter pump degrades at a substantially slower rate, thereby reducing the cost of using the getter pump in the flywheel energy storage system.
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