Frictional Torque in flywheel Bearings

University of Mauritius

Course:
B.Eng Chemical and Environmental Engineering

Module:
Applied Mechanics (MECH1213)

Report submitted by

Tirukumaren Periacarpen 0612824,

To

Dr.K.Elahee
Frictional Torque in flywheel Bearings

Experiment 2: Frictional Torque in flywheel Bearings

Objective of the Experiment

To determine the frictional torque of a flywheel supported on bearings.

Experimental Apparatus used

Flywheel with supported brackets, rule and stopwatch

Experimental Procedure

 The wheel is spun by hand and simultaneously the stopwatch is started.

Note that this step should be carried out with at least two persons, one turning the wheel
while the other starting the stopwatch to decrease error due to reaction time.
 The number of revolution is taken until the wheel stops and at the same time the
stopwatch is stopped. The time taken and the number of revolution are noted down.
Note: If the wheel has travelled more than ¾ the distance from its starting point, this
should be considered as a revolution else we do not consider it as one revolution.
 The above steps are repeated four more times.
 The weight of the flywheel-shaft combination is noted.
 The diameters of the flywheel and of the shaft were taken using an outside caliper.
 The lengths of the flywheel and shaft were taken using a ruler.
Parallax error should be avoided by placing the eye perpendicularly to the scale.
Frictional Torque in flywheel Bearings

Experiment 2: Flywheel
Results
Flywheel & Shaft Dimensions
Weight of combination of flywheel and shaft = 9.206 kg
Dimensions Diameter (m) Length (m)
Shaft 0.025 0.126
Flywheel 0.175 0.051
Table 3.Dimensions of flywheel and shaft

Number of
Expt No. Time, s
revolutions, N
1 4 5.79
2 5 6.61
3 6 7.12
4 7 7.46
5 12 9.94
Table 4.Results of number of revolutions and time
Frictional Torque in flywheel Bearings

Calculations
Volume of shaft,

Volume of cylinder = πr2h

π × d2× h
=
4

π × 0.0252 × 0.126
=
4

= 6.185 × 10-5 m3

Volume of flywheel,

Volume of cylinder = πr2h

π × d2× h
=
4

π × 0.1752 × 0.051
=
4

= 1.227 × 10-3 m3

Mass
Density =
Volume

Since the flywheel and shaft are made of the same material, their densities are the same.

MT = Mf
VT Vf
Mf = MT × Vf
VT
9.206 × 1.227× 10−3
Mf =
1.227× 10−3 +6.185 ×10−5
9.206 ×1.227 ×10−3
=
1.2885 ×10−3
= 8.764 kg

Mass of shaft = Total mass – Mass of flywheel

= 9.206 – 8.746
= 0.442 kg
Frictional Torque in flywheel Bearings

Weight of Flywheel, W (kg) 8.764

Weight of Shaft, w (kg) 0.442

Diameter of flywheel, D (m) 0.175

Diameter of shaft, d (m) 0.025

Table 5.Results as required for flywheel & shaft

2π ×N
Average Angular velocity, ω =
t

Final angular velocity, ω2 = 0

Average Angular velocity = ω1 + ω2

2

4 π×N
Initial angular velocity, ω1 =
t
4 π ×4
=
5.79

= 8.681430476

= 8.68 rad/s

initial angular velocity−final angular velocity

Angular retardation, α =
t

8.681430476
=
5.79

= 1.499

= 1.50 rad/s2

W ( D2 +d 2 ) W d 2
Polar moment of Inertia, I = +
8g 8g

W ( D 2 +2 d 2)
=
8g

= 8.746 ¿ ¿

= 0.003552227
Frictional Torque in flywheel Bearings

= 0.00355 kg m s2

Frictional Torque, Tf = Iα

= 0.003552227 × 1.499

= 0.00532615

= 0.00533 kg m2

Anugular
Initial Velocity, ω Frictional Torque,
Expt No. Retardation, α
(rad/s) Tf = Iα (kg m)
(rad/s2)
1 8.68 1.50 0.00533
2 9.51 1.44 0.00511
3 10.59 1.49 0.00528
4 11.79 1.58 0.00561
5 15.17 1.53 0.00542
Table 6.Final Results for frictional torque of flywheel

Limitations
 The flywheel-shaft combination was rusted which leads to an inaccurate values of
retardation.
 Exact time was not noted for complete revolutions in some cases.

For example, if the wheel travelled less than ¾ the distance from the starting point, this
revolution was not counted but the stopwatch was stopped not at the last revolution but
after it. Also it is the same if the wheel travelled more than ¾ the distance from the
starting point, this revolution was counted but the stopwatch was stopped before the
flywheel completed a revolution.

Conclusion
The values of the angular velocity, angular retardation and frictional torque show little linearity.
The larger the initial angular velocity, the more revolutions the flywheel makes. The angular
retardation increases, as the initial velocity increases, which in turn increases the frictional
torque. As the initial push is increased, the initial velocity of the flywheel is increased; this
causes an increase in frictional torque, which produces a large retardation.

Therefore, the initial angular velocity is directly proportional to the frictional torque.
Frictional Torque in flywheel Bearings

This experiment technique cannot allow reliable conclusions to be drawn since the values are not
accurate enough. One possible improvement would be to have large initial pushes, thus the error
in the number of revolutions and in the time recorded would be considerably decreased.

REFERENCE
 Morris. D. H, Riley. F. W, Sturges. D. L, 1995, Statics and Mechanics of Materials, John
Wiley & Sons, INC. New York America.

 Hannah & hillier (ed) 1995, Applied Mechanics, Longman Publisher, Great Britain.