Falcon adds flywheels to generator fleet

Falcon has more than 20 years’ experience with diesel generators but recent expansion has seen it set up Falcon Power Generation Ltd as a separate entity, with more than 400 diesel generators.

To complement this fleet, Falcon has now taken delivery of a number of fuel-saving Punch Flybrid systems, which will predominantly be used for the group’s tower crane hire division.

As previously reported, the Punch Flybrid system uses flywheel technology to boost the power of the diesel generator to cover the peaks required for tower crane operation.

Generators on construction sites are typically sized for peak loads. However, most of the time they run at low load factors, which results in poor fuel economy and high emissions. This is especially the case when running equipment like tower cranes, which oscillate between total idleness and full power. By connecting a Punch Flybrid unit to the generator set, the flywheel load-levels the peak power that the generator set has to deal with. The Flybrid system delivers energy immediately at high power during an increasing load step and captures excess energy (in a spinning tube) during a decreasing load step.

Flybrid technology thus enables a smaller generator to be able to cope with these occasional surges of demand and take the place of a larger generator. Using a smaller generator alongside a Punch Flybrid system reduces the generator size required on site, reduces the fuel in which the generator consumes, and more than halves the CO₂ emissions produced.

Given the removal of rebated red diesel in April 2022 and recent increased fuel costs, supplying a Punch Flybrid system is at worst cost neutral, while saving many tonnes of harmful emissions, Falcon says. However, depending on the power demand of the application, it can save the client a significant amount of money as well as CO₂ emissions.

Falcon’s first Punch Flybrid system was installed last week on an HS2 project at Little Missenden in Buckinghamshire.

Andrew Teanby, general manager of Falcon Power, said: “We all strive to reduce our carbon footprint, it is now more important than ever. The trade-off has always been the more money you spend the more CO₂ you can save – not anymore. With a Punch Flybrid system, we are proving to our customers that there is a significant, real term, cost saving to this system, whilst reducing their CO₂ emissions by over half.”

Punch Flybrid managing director Tobias Knichel added: “Punch Flybrid units are designed, developed and manufactured in the UK, by using state-of-the-art manufacturing methods and materials that the UK manufacturing industry is known for worldwide. This not only minimises the full life cycle emissions – which include the manufacturing, usage and recycling phases – it also ensures outstanding reliability which is so critical for the operation of tower cranes.

“Punch Flybrid units work particularly well on Stage V generator sets. The flywheel system supports the generator to be loaded correctly which then ensures that the Stage V after-treatment functions.”

Together with the Flybrid systems, Falcon Power have ordered a number of Stage V generators from Atlas Copco for delivery in late 2022, early 2023. The new regulations surrounding Stage V machinery initially came into force in 2020 but were not initially enforced due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

• Punch Flybrid's Tobias Knichel featured in Re:Construction, The Construction Index podcast, last year to discuss the use of flywheels with construction machinery. If you missed it, dig out episode 82 from 29^th September 2021, available for free from all regular podcast platforms or listen online via www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/podcast

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