LA Metro Authority Signs Deal To Install Kinetic Energy Harvesting Technology From Rail Lines

Looking for a solution to yearly increasing energy costs, the LA Metro Authority has signed a $3.6 million deal with the technology company VYCON to design a system for the city’s railways that will capture and store kinetic energy for reuse from train braking systems.

The Metro said in a committee report that it “annually spends approximately $26 million to $29 million for electricity with about $20 million for propulsion power” and for which it faults “the volatile and costly energy market.”

The Metro added that as the years have progressed, it has “seen electricity costs rise due to periodic utility rate increases,” and is now “embracing sustainability, energy efficiency, conservation, and installation of renewable energy sources” as a primary way of gaining control of, and reducing the transit energy usage, costs, and energy dependence.

VYCON designs and manufacturers high-speed energy storage flywheel systems, and plans to install into the transit system a “Wayside Energy Storage Substation (WESS) at the LA Metro Red Line Westlake/MacArthur Park Station” incorporating the company’s REGEN clean energy flywheel system.

To understand it a little better, VYCON explains that the “flywheel-based energy storage systems holds kinetic energy in a spinning mass, and converts this energy to electric power through the use of a high-speed electric motor generator.”

VYCON says that the technology used in the LA transit authority will recycle part of the energy in the system by absorbing and storing kinetic energy generated by braking trains, and returning the stored energy to the trains during acceleration.

The Metro expects that the WESS will have a capacity of 2MW, compatible with the operation of the line for most of the daily schedule, alternating two to four car trains during off-peak hours, and that the system will be “expansion ready”  for up to 6MW through additional flywheel units at a later time.

The Metro also expects an “average projected savings using this technology at one location could be as much as $52,000 per year.”

Of added benefits, the Metro expects that the new technology will “significantly reduce electrical power consumption, improve train performance, decrease resistor bank heating (wasted energy), and minimize carbon emissions.”

The Metro says the new technology is part of the transit authority’s goal of increasing renewable energy use by another 13 percent by 2020. The technology will largely be funded by a grant from the Federal Transit Authority.

The technology of the VYCON flywheel is really very interesting. It contains contact-free magnetic bearings that are used to levitate and sustain the rotor during operation. The rotor assembly of the flywheel operates in a vacuum provided by an external vacuum pump, and by removing the air from the rotating area of the motor, all windage losses from the system are eliminated, thereby increasing efficiency.

The magnetic bearings levitate the rotating assembly through the force of a magnetic field.

Another important aspect of the technology is that the magnetic bearings allow the motor rotor assembly to rotate at very high speeds with no physical contact to stationary components, thereby virtually eliminating maintenance requirements because there are no contact points.

VYCON says that this allows it to offer its flywheel technology with a 20-year life, with no bearing maintenance required.

VYCON’s flywheel technology is also currently used in sectors including: hospitals, universities, broadcast studios, manufacturing plants, and data centers to protect “critical” computing equipment.

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