Flywheels are nothing but circular disc-shaped objects which are mainly used to store energy in machines.
To determine the moment of inertia of a flywheel we will have to consider a few important factors. First, we have to set up a flywheel along with apparatus like a weight hanger, slotted weights, metre scale and we can even keep a stopwatch.
Then we make some assumptions. We will take the mass as (m) for the weight hanger as well as the hanging ring. The height will be (h). Now we consider an instance where the mass will descend to a new height. There will be some loss in potential energy and for which we write the equation as;
Meanwhile, there is a gain in kinetic energy when the flywheel and axle are rotating. We express it as;
I = moment of inertia
ω = angular velocity
Similarly, the kinetic energy for descending weight assembly is expressed as;
Here, v = veocity
We also have to take into account the work that is done in overcoming the friction. This can be found out by;
n = number of windings of the string
Wf = work done in overcoming frictional torque
If we state the law of conservation of energy then we obtain;
We will substitute the values and the equation will now become;
mgh = (½)Iω 2 + (½) mv 2 + nWf
Moving on to the next phase, we look at the flywheel assembly’s kinetic energy that is used in rotating (N) number of times against the frictional torque. We get;
NWf = (½ ) Iω 2 and Wf = (1 / 2N) Iω 2
Further, we establish a relation between the velocity (v) of the weight assembly and the radius (r) of the axle. The equation is given as;
We have to substitute the values for Wf and v.
mgh = (½) Iω 2 + (½ )mr 2 ω 2 + (n / N) x ½ Iω 2
If we solve the equation for finding the moment of inertia, we obtain;
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