Compressed air powered car?

[Grav]

What does the forum think of this then?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7241909.stm

[madastoast]

Still needs other fuels to make it work but seems like an interesting concept

[Grav]

All it needs is a flammable liquid and that doesn't necessarily mean Petrol. It could run using Alcohol as the heating agent. Definitely an interesting concept.

[madastoast]

would alcohol be stable enough in a day to day use

[BlackPig]

It's French ?

What use is a car that only does a 35 hour week !! :D

[Grav]

Vodka seems to stay on the shelf for ages without going off......

I can't stand the stuff but would gladly burn it to get from A to B.

Mind you, i bet some bright spark chemist knows what chemical will keep alcohol stable enough to use a fuel and inert enough to be able to store safely.

[Grav]

It's French ?

What use is a car that only does a 35 hour week !! :D

Careful, they will blockade your drive..... :D

[BlackPig]

Careful, they will blockade your drive..... :D


No worries , don't 'ave one. 'sides the point that them is all sittin' at the bar in front of me !!! :D :D :rolleyes:

[Yoda]

but they say
"The first buyers will be people who care about the environment," says French inventor Guy Negre.

so what they actually mean is it is going to be bloddy expensive :)

[madastoast]

but they say


so what they actually mean is it is going to be bloddy expensive :)
£2500 isn't too bloddy much for a car is it?

[greg]

seen this a few weeks back looks like a good idea for the city driver not shure about us valley types

[Yoda]

£2500 isn't too bloddy much for a car is it?
My Bad missed the price :) :)

that actually sounds prety good

[John Hopkins]

I can see the future of this car, we still have the power to weight ratio and the tanks are going to weigh more than the car, we have all seen examples of compressed air powered vehicles and first they take a lot of air to start moving, and second they only run for a few seconds. put a fat bloke and his shopping in it and it will run out of air after 100 yards. So either we have air stations every 100 yards along all the roads, or we have these things dumped on every street..That's the future of this car..not the car of the future..Just an opinion but I wouldn't put any money on these being produced in bulk... :D John

[John Hopkins]

but they say


so what they actually mean is it is going to be bloody expensive :)

Could cost as little as £2,500 means if they mass produce them in India, which is where they are trying to sell them, and after production line set up costs, they could cost the factory over £2,500 each to produce, retail price will be 3 or 4 times that...Ok so I'm a cynic..prove me wrong by buying one for £2,500.... :rolleyes: John

[bird]

reckon you'd be able to fill it up from a petrol station airline for 20p?

[shaggy696969]

Couldnt you just get an adapter to go from the Mrs Mouth to the Fuel Tank .......... :confused: Pepretual motion ;) :D

[Grav]

Snigger....... :D

[Dougie]

Not really a new concept tho',chemical plants used what they termed "fireless" steam locomotives which were normal loco chassis with a bloody great tank in place of the firebox and boiler which they filled from the factory's steam plant,Swap steam for compressed air............
Anyhow they test steam motors with compressed air.

[Grav]

Right, as I understand the engine on this air powered car, it works like a compressor in reverse. The compressed air drives the pistons, yes?

Well, why waste the air? Why not recycle the air back into the air tank by using the same engine to pump the air back into the tank like a normal compressor?

Is this possible?

Grav
has an idea.

[hacky]

not really cos the heat generated by the movement turns the air into water.....nothing left to re-cycle.... :D

[Dougie]

Sounds like Malcolm's heated bike/supercharger........ :rolleyes:
BUT,if you could use the engine as a compressor during braking and downhill running you could probably extend the range a tad.

[John Hopkins]

not really cos the heat generated by the movement turns the air into water.....nothing left to re-cycle.... :D

You make it sound like the difference between spit and dribble...



...So we have a spit driven car.. :D John

[hacky]

Compressed air is stored in carbon or glass fiber tanks at a pressure of 4,351 pounds per square inch (psi). This air is fed through an air injector to the engine and flows into a small chamber, which expands the air. The air pushing down on the pistons moves the crankshaft, which gives the vehicle power.


thats some pressure................................

[Louis]

Unless you are using something like a waterwheel to create the compressed air you are burning fuel and loosing energy to the mechanical components to create the compressed air and then the engine releasing the compressed air is losing energy to the mechanical components so making it practically twice as expensive in energy loss to usethis engine... :confused: :confused: :confused:

[John Hopkins]

On long journeys a petrol burner heats the air..So now it has a petrol tank and petrol which weighs something, costs something, and pollutes the air, luxury items which the market are used to will add to the cost...Yeah like seats, and a heater, winscreen wipers, a horn, indicators, lights, battery, by the time they have put an alternator on the drive there won't be much left for the wheels...sounds like a motorboat and handles like a bread van...no..sorry..I cant see it ever working, it's just a french version of the C5...anyway even if it works, I don't like the French... :D John

Bloody hell that didn't take long, they have already gone up to 9,200 euros

http://www.mdi.lu/eng/affiche_eng.php?page=minicats

[bird]

I wonder if you into crash one and pierce the carbon fibre air tanks, whether it just pops like a balloon.

That'd be funny to watch. Not to be in, though.

[Louis]

I wonder if you into crash one and pierce the carbon fibre air tanks, whether it just pops like a balloon.

That'd be funny to watch. Not to be in, though.
£2500 with Carbon fibre Air Tanks more like £25000.....I work somewhere where they make that stuff.....

[gothtec]

Its the carbon fibre tanks that makes it viable, but its also the problem area in development.

I seem to remember that many science classes used compressed air to illustrate how motors worked.

If you use an electric heater, you could generate electricity through traveling but then it gets a bit complicated.