Gyrobus: The Incredible 1950s Flywheel Powered Bus

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a lot of attention is being placed on how to reduce fossil fuel usage cars are one of the largest sources of damage that has been done globally automobile emissions only account for roughly 10 of all greenhouse gas emissions in the united states where public transportation leaves a bit to be desired to put it charitably that number rises to 29 of greenhouse gases both electric cars and increased use of public mass transit systems are emphasized as important steps to reduce future climate change with that in mind let's go back 70 years to a time when this problem may have already been solved it's october 1953 you step on board a brand new swiss gyro bus a remarkable electric bars powered by a flywheel you immediately notice that unlike electric trolleys there are no wires overhead meaning that the bus is free to take whatever route it wants rather than follow the rails it's also both the quietest and smoothest ride you've ever taken you think that surely this must be the technology of the future that this no gyro bus will revolutionize public transportation not just in switzerland but all around the world and yet seven years later the gyro bus would be extinct let's dive in seeing as the flywheel is the mechanism that powered the gyro bus is probably important that we understand how such a device actually works as the name implies a flywheel is a large wheel or disc usually made of steel or other metals energy is applied externally to the wheel to make it spin on its axis of symmetry which is fixed in place because of the conservation of angular momentum the wheel will store kinetic energy in the form of rotational energy for later use flywheels have a number of uses and as such they date back thousands of years the potter's wheel invented around 3500 bc and the spindle dating back to around 10 000 bc are both early examples of the flywheel it's no surprise that the origins of the object would date back so long ago because at its core it's kinda just a wheel the use of flywheels as a more general mechanical device goes back to the 11th century once rotating the flywheel can serve multiple purposes simultaneously most relevant to the gyrobus the flywheel is a means of storing energy because of its consistent rate of rotation it can be used to smooth out the energy output of a less consistent energy source the wheel will act as an intermediary storing the energy as it is generated and outputting it at a constant rate it can also be used to output more energy than a generator would normally be able to produce the flywheel can collect energy over time and then release it at a greater rate of output than the energy source was capable of generating finally and also relevant to the gyrobus a flywheel can be used to control the orientation of a mechanic system because of its gyroscopic properties the greek word four flywheel is gyro hence the bus's name bijan storzens the head engineer of swiss engineering company maschinen fabrig ola khan identified a problem with the contemporary public transportation system of switzerland electric trolley buses were common for public transport but they were only able to operate on the rails that were built for them and installing new overhead lines to power them was just too expensive many of the routes these buses needed to cover simply didn't have enough riders to justify the cost but there still needed to be a solution to service these routes straws and wanted to build a type of bus that was less bulky and less likely to interfere with the existing electrical lines but that was not confined in its route the way that the trolley buses were the immediate solution that comes to mind may be diesel or a gas burning bus but motor buses at the time were loud uncomfortable and unreliable switzerland was also seeking to gain energy independence following two world wars so electrical power was much more appealing than fossil fuel the next consideration would be a battery-operated bus but this also posed issues batteries were rather heavy for the amount of energy they provided to the point that much of their efficiency was lost simply by trying to move their own weight the technology just wasn't there yet and battery-powered electrical buses are now only potentially just becoming commercially viable when storzen filed his patent for his flywheel system for his vehicles his main objective was for them to be used in short-range industrial vehicles like mining locomotives but of any possible uses that he proposed it was the gyro bus that would receive the most attention the prototype gyro bus was built using the chassis from a 1932 bus the flywheel was located inside of the chassis between the two axles yup that means it was taking up space that would otherwise be used for passengers in a traditional bus but being able to see the flywheel that operated the bus would certainly be an interesting novelty at least at the bus's inception now if you're worried that a giant metal wheel weighing pounds and spinning at 3000 rpm might be dangerous for the passengers then fear not the flywheel was encased in an airtight chamber and this was done primarily for the functionality of the device as the chamber in which it was enclosed was filled with hydrogen gas it reduced pressure to limit air resistance from impacting the wheel but it had the happy side effect to protecting the device from the hands of stupid children who if left unsupervised for even a second would undoubtedly try to touch the massive incredibly fast spinning wheel because of course they would with the prototype now complete it was time to release this bad boy into the wild the prototype gyrobus made its first appearance in 1950 where it performed test runs around zurich it provided airport service and received a great deal of media attention and then it was tested in other nearby towns zurich's public transport showed a lot of interest in the gyro bus but they didn't actually order any they already had troy buses trams and motor buses so adding a fourth type of vehicle to their arsenal just seemed like overkill [Music] commercial use of the gyro bus wouldn't begin until three years later in 1953. it was october of that year that a private company the society anorm gyrobossy bird and grandson ygy would inaugurate a bus service between the towns of uverden and granson the gyg purchased two gyro buses to service this route unlike the prototype the chassis of these buses were designed specifically for the gyrobus which allowed them to cut down on weight so how did the service go well it was technically successful in the buses did their job the route between uverden and granson was 4.5 kilometers long and the gyrobus could travel at 50 to 60 kilometers now for as much as six kilometers without needing to recharge while they could theoretically make the trip every time without needing to charge road and traffic conditions can be unpredictable so there were four recharging points between the beginning and the end of the route the recharging points were located at normal bus stops which allowed for minimal delays for charging the buses were charged utilizing three booms attached the roof of the bus that would come into contact with an overhead pole to provide three-phase charging a means of ensuring maximum charging efficiency to recharge the bus took from 30 seconds to three minutes depending on how much charge was needed despite everything working according to plan demand for this route was not high enough for the venture to be commercially viable still in october of 1967 years after the experiment began the gyro bus service was shut down this was the first of three locations to attempt use of the gyro bus and the final one to end its service the second order of gyro buses came from the belgian congo the city of leopoldville ordered 12 buses to service four separate routes covering a total of 20 kilometers this was the largest area covered by a gyrobus service and the buses built for leopoldville were the longest gyro buses at 10.4 meters long these buses had constant problems some were mechanical such as gyro ball bearings braking or other mechanical issues stemming from high humidity one of the biggest problems however was the drivers the drivers like to take shortcuts which took them off the city streets and onto dirt roads after rainfall the soggy dirt paths were no match for the bus's weight at nearly 11 metric tons ultimately those problems were manageable and what killed this operation was simply the price the high energy consumption was deemed too expensive and the gyro buses were swapped out for diesel-fueled motor buses in the summer of 1959. the final location to try out these gyro buses was ghent in belgium ghent ordered three gyro buses in 1956 that would service a route between ghent and merobag this was meant to be part of a large network of gyro buses but after three years the buses were taken out of commission once again the gyro buses were faced with problems the operator of the belgium railways felt that these buses were unreliable and was quoted as saying that the buses were spending more time off the road than on the extreme weight of the vehicles also proved to be an issue in ghentwa the buses reportedly caused damage the road's surface once again cost was a major factor the gyro buses were intended to replace a tram line but each bus consumed 20 to 50 more electricity than a tram and held much lower capacity of passengers on the surface the gyrobus seems like a fantastic idea it was a fully electric means of mass transportation that did not require rails allowing it to take any number of routes with only minimal infrastructure needed to construct the recharging stations at bus stops it was a smooth quiet ride that was extremely environmentally friendly as the buses themselves produced no pollution one major issue was the weight though the gyra buses were extremely heavy especially compared to the number of passengers they carried however the quality of roads has greatly increased since the 1950s especially in europe and roads are subjected to far heavier vehicles without it causing any undue wear and tear on the road itself another issue comes from the flywheel itself we mentioned earlier that in addition to storing energy one of the uses of the flywheel is directional stability not only was this not the intended effect of the flywheel on the gyro bus it was an unwanted effect handling these gyro buses was particularly challenging for the drivers the gyroscopic motion meant that the bus didn't like to change direction so the drivers had to adopt different driving techniques to maneuver the bus but at the end of the day it really all came down to cost most of the issues with the early operations of the gyro bus were external factors not issues with the buses themselves the quality of the roads has improved and drivers should know better than to take a passenger bus off-roading through the mud even the issue of maneuverability can be easily solved by having two contra-rotating flywheels attached to the same axis to counteract the gyroscopic effects on driving with those other issues being solvable and with the original swiss buses traveling from uverden to granson for seven years with no issues other than a lack of profitability cost was the big factor a small issue is that the gyrobus was new and an experimental project had it taken a larger foothold in the transportation industry economies of scale would have driven the price of the buses themselves down leaving the only cost as the electricity to power them this was the real problem as electricity was expensive at least relatively speaking in the united states one kilowatt hour of energy in 1953 cost 32 cents and in the best case scenario for the gyrobus it would take three kilowatt hours to travel one kilometer gasoline on the other hand cost 27 cents a gallon and the average bus gets approximately 10 miles per gallon at those prices it was roughly 56 times more expensive to power the buses using electricity rather than gas since then gas has dramatically increased in price while electricity has come down while both gasoline and electricity prices vary by country the cost in electricity to run the original gyro buses is approximately 1.5 to 2 times the cost in gas depending on the country one could argue that that's a small price to pay for a much more environmentally friendly option to city-wide mass transit much less than the 56 times modifier from the 1950s but it's important to note that technology has come a long way in the past 62 years since gyrobus has stopped running and it's possible newer designs could bring the operational cost of these electric buses to be lower than the cost of motor buses [Music] many attempts have been made to recreate something like a gyro bus but thus far nothing has been successful one of the major concerns is weight is a flywheel suitable for powering an entire vehicle weighs tons however flywheels are again being implemented in vehicles in an auxiliary role flywheels are implemented in kinetic energy recovery systems or kers in this role they store some of the energy that is wasted when braking for future use by the vehicle this is being used in a variety of vehicles from trams in dresden germany to formula one race cars perhaps someday a suitable solution will be found such that flywheels can power buses or cars more effectively and the research is still ongoing [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Megaprojects

Views: 107,965

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Id: eygNSRW03l0

Length: 14min 25sec (865 seconds)

Published: Mon May 23 2022