As long as I can remember, I have always been fascinated by the idea of using compressed air to power vehicles – you know – just like in steam locomotives. Interestingly, I watched a show that featured a compressed air car on the Science channel that made me feel sane again.
The idea of a compressed engine is actually simple. The motor is powered by compressed air that is stored in tanks that can withstand very high pressures of about 4500psi. The concept car that I saw on TV had 2 huge tanks to hold the compressed air. And the logic is that you can eventually have tanks that run an engine that, in turn, runs a compressor which fills more compressed air into the storage tanks. I mean that is very simple, right? Wrong; it more challenging than you think. There are scientific theories about air expansion/contraction such as the Charles law that come into play, and thereby affect our simple model. Without getting into technical details here which I hardly comprehend anyway, let just say that we have to install a heat exchanger. And people that have tinkered with this thing admit that it is one the most challenging items in the whole compressed air car technology.
Nevertheless, a car that runs on compressed air sounds very promising. For one, it will be as clean as the source the electricity that is used to fill the air storage tanks. But the car has zero emission, nonetheless. Also the cost of running this car will be minimal since all you have to worry about is getting those tanks filled up with air.
But as much as I would like to dream of owning one in the near future, reality check demands that I put a few things into perspective. First there are not so many serious contenders apart from Tata which holds the Motor Development International (MDI) license for India. And the consensus seems to be that pneumatic combustion hybrid is more feasible, and can, in fact, compete with electric vehicles.
Although there are many real challenges to the compressed air car technology, it is important to note that this is, indeed, a leap in the right direction; for the engine has remained pretty much unchanged for more than 100 years.
Sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztFDqcu8oJ4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed_air_car
http://www.gizmag.com/tata-motors-air-car-mdi/22447/
Hi Moses,
ReplyDeleteGreat writing here, even better, you have introduced, at least to me a great field in which lay an enormous deal of potential to become a worldwide game changer. I, a layman in the field of engineering, believe this type of vehicle technology would become realized in this lifetime, not even knowing of the limitations it may have in the realm of physics and engineering, which I find secondary because of all that our species has been able to bring to fruition. Flying, computing, nanotechnology.
Thanks again
Interesting article you have written here. After watching this video I have now been introduced to an engine that can run on compressed air. I love how at the start of the video the narrator says this process is simple. Doesn't seem that simple to me. In theory this seems to good to be true. I do have some concerns. The weight of the car is very light which is not good for safety, I believe that car can run 200 km on a tank which is not very far. The only problem I find with these ideas is that they don't take to good here in America. We have really good hybrid cars and people still have suv's all over wasting more and more gas. Europe and South America seem a logical place for this technology and then many years later maybe we can then invest.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of this clean technology. I think what intrigues me the most is the concept that the engine is propelled by compressed air, and that the operation of the engine moves the vehicle and may also generate compressed air to refuel. Can you imagine if they are able to come up with a continuous refueling process that is efficient enough to not require refueling for months? Good-by oil! Great article Moses.
ReplyDelete