Accumulators are a collective term for energy storage devices, in a similar way that ‘sport’ includes baseball and gridiron football. Those two sports are different although they all make use of balls. There are many different varieties of accumulators too.
The Main Categories of Accumulators
Every accumulator accepts energy, stores energy, and releases it on demand. Some accumulators accept it slowly and then release it quickly, while others work the other way around.
A third category stores and releases energy at a similar rate. However, the definitions of quick, slow, and similar are on a sliding scale.
A particular accumulator may store thermal (temperature), mechanical (kinetic) or electrical energy (e.g. batteries and capacitors). Real life examples are steam accumulators, mainsprings, flywheel energy storage, hydraulic accumulators, capacitors, rechargeable batteries, compensated pulsed alternators, and pumped-storage hydroelectric plants.
Familiar Accumulators Encountered in Daily Living
The London Tower Bridge lifted the central span with stored pressurized water (kinetic energy) from 1894 to 1974. Since then it used an electro-hydraulic system instead. Fifty years ago, small children played with model railways powered by windup mainsprings.
During the late 1980’s to early 1990’s inventor Trevor Baylis dreamed of windup radios so people in poor countries could receive information about AIDS. Finally, in a flash of inspiration, he assembled the first prototype in 30 minutes.
The original components were an electric motor from a toy car, a musical box clockwork mechanism, and a small transistor radio. Subsequent models used energy from a hand crank stored in an accumulator spring. When the user wanted to listen to the radio, they released the spring to drive an electrical generator.
Travel Well, Trevor Baylis
Trevor Baylis passed away on March 5 2018. He was a humble man who helped other inventors get their products to market. All the people in his windup radio factory were disabled. He once remarked, “The key to success is to risk thinking unconventional thoughts.
“Convention is the enemy of progress.” Then he added, “As long as you’ve got slightly more perception than the average wrapped loaf, you could invent something”. We will say amen to that!
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Preview Image: Original Baygen Clockwork Radio
