A flywheel is a mechanical device with a significant moment of inertia used as a storage device for rotational energy. Flywheels resist changes in their rotational speed, which helps steady the rotation of the shaft when a fluctuating torque is exerted on it by its power source such as a piston-based engine, or when an intermittent load, such as a piston pump, is placed on it. Flywheels can be used to produce very high power pulses for experiments, where drawing the power from the public network would produce unacceptable spikes.
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flywheel A mechanical device with a significant moment of inertia used as a storage device for rotational energy.
