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Author Topic: Air Powered Car  (Read 1709 times)

  • Offline Jaimz

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  • Offline Serious

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Re:Air Powered Car
Reply #1 on: July 17, 2008, 04:15:45 AM
Has been posted before, a couple of times. The problem is the actual mileage they have been getting per fill of air is rather lower than what is stated in the news item, so either its not true, or they have managed to massively increase the efficiency.

Otherwise it isnt that ugly and would be damn cheap to run here.
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  • Offline Leon

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Air Powered Car
Reply #2 on: July 17, 2008, 04:20:30 AM
First thing that comes to mind is the air powered wheelchair in American Dad :P

Interesting concept but for some reason i cant see it workng. Also did I miss it but the article didnt actually say what sort of speeds these things do? Range of 200km at *insert speed wind is blowing here* would be possible.
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  • Offline bear

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Air Powered Car
Reply #3 on: July 17, 2008, 11:13:56 AM
Even if I doubt the range it is a good idea for a city car.

I said this for 20 years ago why store windpower in batteries
?  Make compressed air and store in large tanks for many uses.
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Air Powered Car
Reply #4 on: July 17, 2008, 11:16:37 AM
when I was in India I saw a couple of compressed air powered cars... didnt really get a chance to see them tho... they were just quiet from what i could saw... (/heard)

tho... going by the bumper stickers more than half the cars in India were running on compressed natural gas... and they ran exactly like petrols... Ive looked into it over here but cant find any... at all... or a way to convert a petrol engine :(

(Id have a compressor hooked up to the gas main in about 5 seconds flat!)


oh / ps

Ive looked at compressed air powered cars before, and Im pretty sure they basically just let the air out through a pump which gave you power... but the ones linked are different... they take a cylinder full of outside air, compress it so it reaches about 400C and then injects some of your high pressured (cold) stored air into the cylinder... which immediately gets heated up, expands and forces the cylinder down....   quite a cunning idea :o
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Re:Air Powered Car
Reply #5 on: July 17, 2008, 11:22:12 AM
Imagine having the bloke who thought of that round for dinner... :0hnoes:
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  • Offline bear

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Air Powered Car
Reply #6 on: July 17, 2008, 12:01:13 PM
Quote from: knighty



oh / ps

Ive looked at compressed air powered cars before, and Im pretty sure they basically just let the air out through a pump which gave you power... but the ones linked are different... they take a cylinder full of outside air, compress it so it reaches about 400C and then injects some of your high pressured (cold) stored air into the cylinder... which immediately gets heated up, expands and forces the cylinder down....   quite a cunning idea :o



Reminds me somehow of Stirling engines.
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  • Offline Serious

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Air Powered Car
Reply #7 on: July 17, 2008, 13:19:48 PM
Quote from: Dooms

Interesting concept but for some reason i cant see it workng. Also did I miss it but the article didnt actually say what sort of speeds these things do? Range of 200km at *insert speed wind is blowing here* would be possible.


The thing works rather like a steam engine, although using compressed air rather than compressed steam. The problem is as the air expands it cools reducing the temperature in the cylinder. That means it might never reach the full potential that was expected. It can reach motorway speeds but the only test done so far gave a range of under 8 miles on a filling. The makers are claiming much better performance at city speeds (under 30mph). Lithium ion batteries have more potential at the moment but putting this together with a petrol engine as a hybrid might be far more useful. With a hybrid the air engine would keep the petrol one cooled and the petrol one supplies the heat needed to expand the gas. Might need some intelligent electronics to decide which to use at a given time. Using the compressed air motor as a starter you could save on weight, no electric starter motor needed.

Quote from: knighty


tho... going by the bumper stickers more than half the cars in India were running on compressed natural gas... and they ran exactly like petrols... Ive looked into it over here but cant find any... at all... or a way to convert a petrol engine :(


Like Liquid Propane gas supplied at fuel stations? OK not the same gas, but it shouldnt be that dufficult to convert a car.
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Air Powered Car
Reply #8 on: July 18, 2008, 19:55:13 PM
Quote from: knighty
when I was in India I saw a couple of compressed air powered cars... didnt really get a chance to see them tho... they were just quiet from what i could saw... (/heard)

tho... going by the bumper stickers more than half the cars in India were running on compressed natural gas... and they ran exactly like petrols... Ive looked into it over here but cant find any... at all... or a way to convert a petrol engine :(

(Id have a compressor hooked up to the gas main in about 5 seconds flat!)


oh / ps

Ive looked at compressed air powered cars before, and Im pretty sure they basically just let the air out through a pump which gave you power... but the ones linked are different... they take a cylinder full of outside air, compress it so it reaches about 400C and then injects some of your high pressured (cold) stored air into the cylinder... which immediately gets heated up, expands and forces the cylinder down....   quite a cunning idea :o


Er... LPG? Its quite prevalent around here, most black and white cabs run on it.
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Air Powered Car
Reply #9 on: July 18, 2008, 19:56:34 PM
Quote from: Serious

Quote from: knighty


tho... going by the bumper stickers more than half the cars in India were running on compressed natural gas... and they ran exactly like petrols... Ive looked into it over here but cant find any... at all... or a way to convert a petrol engine :(


Like Liquid Propane gas supplied at fuel stations? OK not the same gas, but it shouldnt be that dufficult to convert a car.


Er no. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquified_petroleum_gas Propane got nowt to do with the name of it. :)
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Air Powered Car
Reply #10 on: July 18, 2008, 23:38:11 PM
Quote from: M3ta7h3ad
Er... LPG? Its quite prevalent around here, most black and white cabs run on it.


nooo, thats liquid petroleum gas !


theres compressed natural gas which is methane at room temp ~4000psi

or liquid natural gas which is methane at -170C and about 4psi

(numbers are from memory!)
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  • Offline Goblin

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Air Powered Car
Reply #11 on: July 19, 2008, 00:17:43 AM
Hmm, if its Tata doing this we could see air powered Land Rovers and Jags soon ;)

Air powered Range Rover Sport - that ought to confuse the loony greens, theyll be so conflicted.
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