flywheel
noun
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A heavy wheel attached to a rotating shaft, a flywheel smooths out delivery of power from a motor to a machine. The inertia of the flywheel moderates fluctuations in the speed of the engine and stores the excess energy for intermittent use. In automobile engines, the flywheel smooths out the pulses of energy provided by combustion in the cylinders, and provides energy for the compression stroke of the pistons. In power presses, the punching, shearing, and forming are done in a fraction of the operating cycle. During the rest of the cycle, the speed of the flywheel is built up by a comparatively low-powered motor, and most of the required energy for the cycle is provided by the flywheel.
Examples of flywheel in a Sentence
Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Apr. 2024
Iger has never been afraid to take bold leaps to expand the flywheel, with masterstrokes such as Disney’s new $1.5 billion investment in video game maker Epic Games.
—Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 2 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for flywheel 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'flywheel.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Flywheel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flywheel. Accessed 29 May. 2024.
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