Air-powered car?

[Brock]

I don't think they plan on Compressing their 3200 CF @ 4500 PSI in three minutes . Since I am also a SCUBA diver I know about these pressures. It is just above what many dive shops keep their fill station tanks at. A dive shop down in Madison, WI uses a ballast tank out of an old submarine (60,000 CF I think). They have a small (I think 10hp) compressor that runs almost constantly to "charge" the ballast tank during the busy time. You can walk in and get 80 CF @ 3000 lbs. in under a minute. The compressor can't fill it that fast, but you get the idea. This also relieves some of the heat issue.

One catch is the tanks can get very warm or cold depending on filling or draining. I think that would be an issue if you filled this car that fast.

I have see a hole through a concrete brick wall made from an exploding SCUBA tank, pretty impressive, then again I have seen a much more violent explosions from just 1/4 gallon of gasoline, I can't imagine 10 or 15 gallons!

On a side note my father always tells the story about what would happen now if we were to introduce electricity, think about it. "OK guys I have this idea to run high voltage to all the homes in the US." Is this dangerous? "Yes, if you touch it, it will kill you." How can we make it safe? "Just put about 1/16" of plastic around the wires." The story goes on and on, you can see how this would happen. Gasoline is probably the most explosive material most people will ever come in contact with, yet we deal with it all the time without thinking about it. Just keep an open mind.

 

[Darell]

Good question indeed. Radio? AC? heater? blower? Lots of questions. EVERYTHING is electric in my car including the steering pump, the rear brakes (yes, electronic), heat and AC. Lots harder to do this stuff with air (well, maybe not the brakes, but you get the idea). I know these cars exist, so they've figured it out somehow. Maybe there are tons of glow rings onboard.

 

[Silviron]

Yes, I'm sure that they would have larger tanks- I was just calculating the energy it would take- and whether it is a 10 HP engine constantly running or a 600 HP running intermittantly, it is still the same energy usage. I probably could have stated it better though.

The manufacturer's website claims that a charging station will refill the vehicle to 3200CF @ 4500 psi in three minutes,- I'm not sure that carbon fiber composite could handle that amount of heat-

When I get my steel oxygen welding tanks refilled, it takes about 5-7 minutes to fill 280cf @ ~ 2,500psi, and the tank can hit 180 F.

The carbon fiber itself would be no problem because you have to get it up to around 800C before it begins to oxidize, but all of the carbon fiber stuff I've seen has been in a polymer binder, and that stuff starts to burn at about 400-450 F.

Maybe they have used a different binder- maybe a silicone based one that is good up to about 1000 F for a few minutes- But then, you wouuld lose rigidity... I don't know--- I haven't followed materials science in the past few years and they could have come up with something else.

Gasoline in liquid form isn't really that dangerous- it is really only truely explosive when it is compressed with the right volume of air (oxygen), or so dispersed as a vapor in air in an enclosed space.

Heck when that TV news show did the piece on exploding pickup trucks they had to rig the gas tanks with 1/2 pound "booster" detonators (used to initiate the main explosive in large scale ANFO blasting) and try 3 or 4 times to get the gasoline to explode enough to make a "nice" fireball for their cameras.

Yeah, we had a neighbor who blew the roof off their house and burned the rest of it down because they stored a partially filled gasoline can in the same closet with their gas water heater. Half or quarter filled (or "nearly empty") is more dangerous than completely filled... gives room for vapor to form and has the air there to support combustion.

Just my humble opinion.

 

[McGizmo]

Maybe they use liquid air and as it warms, it expands and the presure increases

 

[Wits' End]

I have to agree that the web site doesn't say a lot. A google search showed a lot of hits but nothing with as much info as I have seen here. To echo what someone said on another thread, CPF is great what an eclectic group.

 

[Silviron]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Saaby:
.... Also, how are the headlights etc. powered? Some magical air battery?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Good question- but easy answer-

There would be no problem generating power for lights and the CD player etc. You could either run a generator/alternator with an air turbine anywhere between the air storage tank and the exhaust, or you could run it off of a pulley on any of the rotating components on the "engine" or driveshaft or even build it into the wheels.

Same with the AC compressor.

Only real problem with that is that the "engine" is rated at 25 horsepower, and running the AC & the lights would suck up about 1/4 of the available HP before you could translate it into motive power.

You would have to have a battery or massive storage capacitor too, or the lights & AC would go out every time you came to a stop, unless you ran them on an independant turbine.

 

[Saaby]

Not to mention your AC will suck a good 10 or 15 HP...Hmmmmm something seems not right here.

 

[Darell]

Originally posted by Silviron:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by Saaby:
.... Also, how are the headlights etc. powered? Some magical air battery?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Good question- but easy answer-
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Man, I missed this the first time around. You answered the question and invalidated your answer all in the same post. I thought *I* was the only one allowed to do that.

 

[Wits' End]

I got excited when I saw this on active Daily. They are supposed to be making these soon in the States but they have been in use in "Second World" large cities where breathing is a problem due to hydrocarbon powered vehicles.
I think Mexico City?