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Performance Flywheels



What is a Flywheel and what does it do?

A flywheel is a machine that stores rotational energy by resisting changes in rotational speed. Stored energy is proportional to the rotation speed square. You can change the preserved power of the machine by applying a torque to increase or reduce its rotational speed. Every time a machine or vehicle slows down or stops, it loses its momentum. The flywheel makes up for that lost momentum by supplying it with its reserved power.

A flywheel is a weighty wheel that requires a lot of force to rotate on its axis. When the wheel is in motion at a high speed, it keeps spinning unless you stop it by applying a lot of force. When it rotates, it retains a large amount of kinetic energy that it will later use to power up a vehicle or machine when the engine starts or speeds up.

On a manual transmission car, it gives one of the friction surfaces for the clutch. The clutch pressure plate is bolted to it and the clutch disk is sandwiched between them.

On an automatic transmission car, it is actually known as a flex plate and the torque converter of the transmission bolts to it.

How does a Flywheel work?

You can compare it to the mechanical battery mechanism. Whereas the battery stores energy in a chemical form, the flywheel retains power in the form of motion or kinetic energy to be precise. 

A flywheel will be able to store more energy if it rotates at a higher speed or has a higher moment of inertia, which means bulkier. However, it always works best if you spin it faster than increase its mass. For example, the wheel will produce twice as much energy as the one that weighs half of it, given that both are rotated at the same speed. On the other hand, spinning the lighter wheel twice as fast will quadruple the amount of energy stored.

Once the engine is started, the crankshaft converts the up-and - down movement of the pistons into rotary motion. However, this motion is stupid, as power is generated only twice (for a four-cylinder engine) or four times (for an eight-cylinder engine) during a single engine revolution. The mass of the flywheel is applied inertia in order to keep the engine crankshaft rotating between each of these piston fires, so that the rotation speed of the crankshaft is kept constant and the engine is running smoothly.

As the pistons are offset from the center of the crankshaft, the engine vibrates and vibrates as each piston burns at a different angle. The heavy weight of the flywheel suppresses this side-by - side motion, helping to stabilize and balance the engine on its mounts and reduce vibration throughout the vehicle.

By stabilizing the movement of the engine and smoothing its speed, the flywheel reduces wear and tear on other drivetrain components. Although the engine and the transmission shafts are parallel to each other, there are no connections between the axle and the transmission; the drive shaft uses universal joints that constantly change angles as they rotate. Flywheels help to reduce the wear on these joints.

Keep your transmission running smoothly with Vivid Racing's Performance Flywheels. We carry Flywheels from Clutch Masters, ACT, Cusco, JUN, Nismo, Spec Clutch, Stillen, Unorthodox Racing, Fidanza, Exedy, and more. If you don't see what your looking for, please contact us at 1-480-966-3040.

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