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We often hear about the technology of the future at New Era Body Shop. There have been many transportation advances over the years that were invented and tested, but never quite caught on. One of these was the Gyrobus, a vehicle that probably never traveled on the roads in Oxnard, CA.
Conceived by Bjarne Storsand, the chief engineer at Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon (MSO) in Switzerland, the Gyrobus was an emissions-free bus tested during the 1940s and 1950s. The name comes from the Greek word for flywheel—gyros.
At the time, the Swiss were looking for transportation that was more efficient and cleaner than using gas or diesel. The Gyrobus was quiet, pollution free and ran without rails.
Rather than using overhead wires like a trolley bus, the bus was powered by a rear-mounted electric motor and run by the stored energy of what is called a flywheel. The five-foot diameter flywheel was located in the middle of the bus and could spin up to 3,000 RPM. When the gyros reached a bus stop, more energy was added to the flywheel through three tall conductors.
Five facts about the gryobus:
Since 1959, there have been many who have done research in this area and attempted to further the concept of the flywheel.
There are two notable projects based on the flywheel concept. One is the Autotram in Germany, which has run since 2005. Powered by a small flywheel, the Autotraum looks like a modern tram but moves on a flat surface rather than tracks. A fuel cell is the main source of energy. Another is the Capabus, which was used at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Similar to the gyrobus, it was charged with electricity at the various stops; however, it used electric capacitors for energy storage instead of a flywheel.
Sources: Tech News, Huffington Post and USA Today
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