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Post by Cool Dooly on Feb 13, 2008 17:10:03 GMT 7
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Post by oldmike on Feb 14, 2008 9:10:00 GMT 7
It runs on compressed air. The air is compressed up to 200 or 300 atmospheres ( nearly 3000 PSI). There are cylinders in the car, like scuba divers tanks, to store the high pressure air. The compressed air is then used to drive an engine, much like an old fashioned steam engine. If you do the compression with off peak electric power it can be pretty economical. The exhaust is just air. The only problem is the limited range.
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Post by Cool Dooly on Feb 14, 2008 9:59:10 GMT 7
Of course! What was I thinking?  But it does say in the video that the air is warmed, so while it is much more economical than fuel engines, there is still some pollution (including the energy necessary to compress the air. |
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Post by oldmike on Feb 14, 2008 13:05:41 GMT 7
The air cools down when it is expanded through the engine. You can see in the video that there are two cylinders. The high pressure air is expanded in the first cylinder and comes out very cold. ( -50 or so) If it is heated up before it is expanded in the second cylinder it does much more work than if it is expanded cold. That is why it will go further on a charge of air if the heater is used. Of course, they could use a thing like a car radiator to warm it up instead, and then there would be no pollution at all while it was running. Wind or solar power could be used to provide the energy for the compression. The problem with these power sources is that they do not produce power steadily and need some form of storage. This scheme provides that. It would be great for Singapore as the cold exhaust would provide natural air conditioning.
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Post by globetrotter on Feb 14, 2008 21:41:45 GMT 7
"It would be great for Singapore as the cold exhaust would provide natural air conditioning."  ;D |
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;D