Luke,

Hydraulic Accumulator...

On Sun, 6 Aug 2006 15:37:30 -0700, Luke Sheridan wrote:

> This is basically a kinetic storage battery?

Strictly it's a potential energy storage battery - which is why it doesn't degrade with time-stored: height stays the same with no energy 
needed to keep it there (it needs force, of course, but since there's no movement and energy = force x distance, that's zero energy).

> I'm not sure about the  
> storage system mentioned here but wouldn't you need to raise 36,000  
> kg 10 meters to get 1 kwh? Is there some trick to the hydraulic  
> system that would let it work with less mass?

Sorry, my physics is so rusty that I can't remember the conversion factors in this, but that "feels" a lot!  The main accumulators for 
Tower Bridge had weights of about 100 tonnes, I believe, but I think their full travel was in the range of 6 to 8 metres, and they hed 
enough energy to perform at least one full open-close cycle.

Cheers,


Howard Winter
St.Albans, England


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