Air Car

Air Cars: Fuel For Free (almost)

2009-11-12T07:07:00.000-08:00

Jules Verne would be right at home with the emerging state of the art car. Although compressed air technology was used in pneumatic locomotives and trams in the late 1800s, was the commercial scale in cars partly by the pressure of the oil industry in 1930 is blocked. This course should not be a surprise for the reader new information about the electric car GM of the 1980s has appeared recently (but that) is another article. With the race on the search for alternative eco-friendly fuel, the car seems to be a high priority on the efficiency ratio vs. clean fuel alternative. Although in the past people have rallied around the idea of an air, car air quality is the ultimate closer than you think.

How does it work?

An electric pump compresses air into a reservoir at high pressure and saves energy. As the air escapes, it pushes the piston, similar to a combustion engine. Compressed air is stored in large cylinders in the vehicle, and the only emission into the environment is cold air. In fact, the emissions in the exhaust air will remove cleaner than the air in the air from the TV through carbon filters against dust, dirt and other contaminants that could affect the performance of the engine. This makes it particularly attractive to car emissions, activists, worried about global warming. Not only that, but the energy it uses is minimal compared to other cars of the future than hybrids or bioethanol, which employ still controversial techniques of energy that can have a negative impact on environment and economy.

Zero Pollution Motors, the U.S. licensee, based in Luxembourg Motor Development International, an air-car for production in the U.S. in late 2009 or beginning of 2010. To fill, simply by giving your local station for air service for a few minutes or an electrical outlet at home for four hours. At speeds over 35 mph the air car, the small amounts of fuel in the air in a boiler room heat and allow the car to get mph top speed is estimated to be 96th
Infrastructure.

No major infrastructure is needed to support the Air Car, other than charging high pressure about 300 psi. Of course, this makes the car look very attractive, since most of our stumbling blocks are in the search for alternatives to oil changes to the infrastructure. Of course, gas stations can change system configurations generalized space for compressed air. While fossil fuels are still needed to win to electricity for recharging, it will always be a net saving energy and reducing CO2 emissions and pollutants. Course be used, such as wind and solar power are increasingly used as primary energy generators, and power for running the electric pump the car will also be from clean sources.

Air cars have a good future and are expecting one of the great hopes for an easier transition than in a new era of clean fuel. It will be exciting to see these first prototypes of cars seem to transform and effective instruments for the 21 Century.

What is the air car?

2009-11-11T00:01:00.000-08:00

An air car is one that uses alternative fuels such as bio-products such as gasoline-ethanol and other products, in contrast to ordinary fuels on the market. This car has a speed range up to 125 miles mph, and can be taken at least 68th The car may at any gas station, equipped with customized offer is being refueled. The tank can also be charged with the built-in compressor by connecting to a network of electricity for four hours.

The general idea is to use a different method of powering a car engine. In recent years, the drastically increased fuel prices which led to the desire for alternative and cost-effective to power machinery, cars and look for moving objects. This has to explore other possibilities, which led them to see in these difficult economic times. Environmental concerns have also been forced to take the energy further and aims to reduce the release of harmful gases in the atmosphere, forcing the governments concerned to invest in other means of energy production.

In particular, the air car equipped with an engine that is emissions free piston. The piston is driven by compressed air. French Guy Negro was the first engineer to invent environmentally friendly the car. The energy from the heating of the ambient air in the cold storage tank is compressed. The only problem is the cold air, which can under-150C and the cold air is to be transformed as a product, cooling the car to be used. The delivery of air through a fuel injection system. Ammonia is running as an alternative fuel for the engine for this car, and this is because of its ability to be converted easily to in light situations without operating hazardous products of combustion environments. The gas is easily accessible and can be done by electricity, can and should easily transported from one place to another in fixed quantities and harmful products from the steam and nitrogen.

In 1908 to 1927, was the Ford Model T, the first car, ethanol (alternative) method of using air as fuel. Methanol can also be used separately or in combination with ethanol for motor power. They can be obtained from natural gas and petroleum. However, ethanol is more reliable because their availability. It can even be produced from starch or sugar in agricultural products like grain cane sugar, lactose, and the general culture. It is naturally produced when yeast reacts with sugar solution, even from overripe fruit. In addition, methanol is considered toxic. Other products have been tested are butane, which can be obtained from the fermentation of plants. Regardless of all the tests, ethanol is superior to the others. Obviously, ethanol has some negative effects, it decomposes easily some of the rubber compounds are used in the gaskets and fuel lines. It may also be impossible for the vehicle to be launched with a high percentage of ethanol fuel, because ethanol is less volatile than petrol, more than in the cold season. Electrical conductivity of ethanol has raised concerns it may corrode fuel pumps at the beginning and the tank sensors.

Twelve principles of efficiency of fuel for the use of compressed air to provide energy to an air engine

2009-11-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

To receive) the maximum use of the internal energy of air (warm room, so do not see that is the first phase of the power is in an expansion phase, many rise above the ambient temperature. Maximum cooling process can be achieved by the first stage with the top cut, then heat can be added. Heat (ambient, but is not) should also be taken shortly before the first stage, such as electric heating pads on the elbows, where the cold is produced naturally and other places where expansion is taking place in the air approaches the engine.

Add heat to the air motor, if possible, only ambient heat record, then use the heat of compression, then add targeted heat generated, if necessary.
Reheating of compressed air to increase the pressure just before the recording engine has achieved a lot cheaper in the cost of energy equivalent to an increase in pressure by compressing more air.
Regenerative braking works well with the car air braking and compression can save the brakes and heats the air in the tanks.

It takes less work to would be the pressure of an air amount of 100 to 200 psi it will take to raise the same air of 0 bar to 100. This can be verified on the total energy Compressor table ever published. It is the reason for the plant closed loop pneumatic force that can do more work with smaller machines.

Any chance to get the pressure already compressed air instead of air compression, the relative size of investments required to accomplish this task, since more energy per unit volume of air to increase unless reduced by a reminder that a compressor to normal move even.

It's possible effect on the air at low pressure in a tank under high pressure against little resistance through the use of Bernoulli, who is known the answer to the riddle of physics in 1870 as a daemon, spray Maxwell. The potential and kinetic energy can be caused to change places so that everyone of what it does best and neither interferes with the growth objective that will hold the full fuel as cheaply as possible.

During the compression work is lost as heat. This little known fact is just from textbooks.
The energy that drives the pistons of the heat, pressure, not so when you run the use of solar heat source, a car on compressed air, the air car is a car-to-air refueling solar car.
The colder air is partly in the engine heat freely expanded, it will incorporate its environment. By promoting slow to act more like a sponge, heat, try the following: low-speed, multiple levels (composite) expansion, heat exchangers (not pipe bend) between steps.

Necessary to generate additional pressure for any reason within the process must be fed only when necessary to prevent the heat of compression and the storage pressure can now be minimized to be used. The more air you save in a specific area, the pressure is maximum storage capacity.

To find ways of compressed air at full pressure, such as jet-pressure pumps and heat exchangers. Design on the concept, rather than regulators reduce the pressure to the desired.

AIR final secret

2009-11-05T19:06:00.000-08:00

It's almost too simple for words. It is so easily overlooked, because their discovery little creative instinct of the inventor, or engineer has to satisfy hard-earned education for high-tech or craftsman love the gadgets. New inventions, theories, and gadgets are as useless as the last secret of compressed air, which is really the only efficiency, inherent in diverting and developed.

Efficiency of compressed air is connected can be provided by these facts:

_Air Is everywhere.
_Air Provides solar energy.
_Compressing Air is a simple process that its internal energy) (solar heat, without changing the air is chemically used. No conversion or thermodynamic changes are necessary in order to eliminate unnecessary steps.
_The Waste energy, carried by the compression of air in the form of heat which is the main fuel-air engine is, and shall be kept on the job market.

Design efficiency is the need to go further than Convention status quo in the production and use of compressed air. The two-stage process of compression and expansion of air produces introduce two ways to be effective measures for the design, to save energy.

By _Means expanding air can be made more energy available before exhausting through a relatively efficient engine air as a commercial aircraft using engine as opposed to.
_Means Conservation work of the compressor can be used to reduce the net cost of the intake air.

The last secret of the compressed air, which is itself on creating a central air-refueling everything you need to do is most of the energy contained in the expansion of the air and make or enjoy the energy invested in compressing the air. In other words, self-fueling the engine of the air is a natural process is common and not as an aberration of the edge of science or as a result of exotic devices. This basic fact is easy to prove mathematically using standard engineering formulas and tables. Gadgets and Widgets are fun, but useless, they are the stuff of research institutes. The first goal should be to show an air engine to normal operating temperature of a compressor and the regular maintenance of your tank full in the process. I repeat: The calculation shows, fast, what is possible.

The idealization of the conservation work of the compressor into the compressor tank. Fresh air from outside the tank into the tank is compressed, and the work in the compression of the reservoir is done dissipated as heat, the expanding amount of air for the fuel. Increasing the value of the fuel by maintaining the heat of compression is a value beyond what you expect of maps of engineers, but not beyond the scope of application of the usual engineering methods for quantification.

The idealization of the possible expansion of conservation is to expand the compressed air so slowly that the pressure does not fall, because the heat used to replace the pistons are absorbed by the push-ambient heat from the environment. This is especially from the handbook of thermodynamics.

The obvious practical difficulties of these idealizations are off topic, remains only on ways to identify walk in their general direction. For example:

Isolated shroud surrounding area would _an both the compressor head and the head of the engine think much of the heat of compression.
_A Multi-engine in the upper level with Inter-stage ambient heat, which is running at low speeds, would squeeze a lot of work a little air.
Both strategies could lead _Combining, develop the most practical.

Gadgets can be added later, such as the work of compression (as opposed to conservation work), unlike a normal compressor) with a series of check valves (and / or a jet pump in the tank, the low-pressure air is injected into a reservoir at high pressure can. Other possibilities are:

_heat Pipes
Resistance Heating _electric
_water proof cooled compressors, the heat flow in channels in the engine block into the air
_AS Last spring, while air motor can be made more efficient using the fuel in the air until the engine heat coefficient of performance (COP see Basics heat pump) exceeds unity, makes a hybrid power without the noise, pollution and cost a combustion engine.

If this is not easier in the air, was its use in the manufacture of solar energy long ago mastered. We need to stop flattering ourselves with our brilliant new ideas, and show, using self-feeding nature of the air with basic designs that the best characteristics of the air past its simplicity.

Wrong analogies from the freedom of FUEL
She said that the compression of the air there is the ability to work as self-evident that the building can operate a dam water to a wind power generation. Although these statements are true, they are not made in the scientific context of the energy investment. It would be wrong to say that the work can be directly invested in the outcome of the compressed air in the work of the compressed air, as it would be wrong of course, the work on the construction of a dam provided credit for the amount of water and disposal. In both cases, the work is done by the fluid under pressure, a fact, scientifically speaking, the sun's energy, while the compressor is working as the builders of the dams is an investment probably a coincidence of economic and material costs, but as a scientifically accurate accounting of the energy invested will pay off later in the available power.

WHAT IS THE LAW OF THE AIR What's Wrong With
Some of the air so-called drawbacks are the usual view of things from a perspective for the use of air for safety, mobility and convenience, efficiency is not built for some of its biggest advantages.
The classic case of that gap between thought and standard potential of air is assumed that the air to failure any attempt to produce energy is condemned because it is cold. The standard range is as follows: air in a cylinder of an engine and the air expands, becomes cold in the process. The air later in the cylinders will be cooled by the cylinder wall, so that part of its value before they can do any work. So really it's trying a self hope to make effective use of the air. My objection is that the cold by the expansion of the compressed air in a cylinder produces an advantage because it makes the press a sponge for warmth in the surrounding atmosphere when it is introduced into the system to work because of the enlightened design, the to use free energy for the piston.
Let's face it: If the Americans even the slightest suspicion that someone or something could be regarded as Wimpy, shun like the plague. Could it be that the general ignorance about the kind of subtle and unrecognized compressed the result of our macho nature is that our fears associated with ideas sissified?
As soon as I the maker of a machine efficient enough as compressed air, and when I asked why not, the engine was in the car, the salesman I spoke with told me that his boss can not remember that for the car to go everywhere, it is connected by a semi-trailer loaded with a compressed air supply.
Well, if this is not cons-production and Wimpy, I do not know what that is. It is truly un-American dispense so easily!
Likewise, it is thought to be just as ridiculous as a compressor air in a car would be the dumbest idea since even chewing gum. All that energy loss for the trickle of compressed air.
But wait a minute. Like everything that is power used?
It is used to heat.
And what it is in the air that can push him to the Pistons?
It's the heat.
And it is an extension of the air, it seems so objectionable as a piston press medium?
The cold product.
And what are the hot heat?
She sucks like a sponge.
Conclusion: The air is warmer when it is compressed, the more heat is available to be preserved is the colder the air when it is extended, more ambient heat, it can be incorporated from outside the machine.

Twelve principles of efficiency of fuel for the use of compressed air to provide energy to an air engine

2009-10-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

The Air Cars

2009-10-28T12:00:00.001-07:00

Compressed air is an energy source that can be used in a sustainable way to transport people and goods.
The main goal of Air Car Factories is to develop and produce a vehicle from a compressed air engine with a power level that the real needs of today's market driven requirements. To this end, we developed a comprehensive and start R & D plan for production.

This is the pioneer in the world car (CAR AIR) that are produced zero emissions and mass next summer (2008).
The car has some amazing technology behind it, and (by Guy, an ex-Formula Negro engineer) for Luxembourg-based MDI.India 's largest car maker 6000 produce zero emissions into the air, cars in August 2008 developed for the Indian roads ( when they say India stands at the door and takes things to another level).
The gas and oxygen explosions of internal combustion models can be a thing of the past, when the air car is a great success because it uses compressed air and has many benefits for our environment.
The $ 12,700 CityCat is only one of many planned models of vehicles, this model of air can be filled to 68 mph with a range of 125 miles of gas (custom units) compressor.
The astonishing fact that it then only $ 2 to fill the car with carbon-fiber tanks with 340 liters of air at 4350 psi ... I would like as a person in this world, such as high taxes on fuel.
The disadvantage is that the Air Car is made of all construction-May glue, it will ever mean to the UK or the U.S. coast, but MDI said it has signed contracts that makes its design in over 12 countries (including South Africa, Israel and Germany), so there is hope yet.Via mechanics union.

Like twice the power of a dollar value of compressed air

2009-10-25T21:43:00.000-07:00

If the compressed air was first tried, it was found that the loss of power is enormous. It was difficult, because filtered air quickly store it was expensive to produce, and there were problems with the thermo-dynamic applications without number. If a thousand cubic meter of air is trapped in the space of a year, a large amount of heat and developed to store and use the Air This heat must be withdrawn in some cases. Also, the high-pressure air cools when it released quickly. The result, if there is enough moisture, the freezing and clogging. For years it was believed that these difficulties are largely overcome.

But these difficulties are the same as a gain in the use of this excellent, even when aimed at an apparent paradox. There seems no sense to say that it is possible to gain too much power on a machine that you mean it in a system without friction and without waste. However, a concept very close to that condition seems to have been only in the case of compressed air. This is the warm-up on the development process. That the reader not familiar with the technical matter, there is not that they give their other properties. In compression, air is drawn into a flask, and then plunged into a reservoir surrounded by a water jacket, it took the heat generated by the compression. The machine that makes this work is a big part of what is known as the four kind of scene. That is, the air is cool at first brought the pressure to about eighty pounds, and then in a second cylinder, where it is transformed further compressed, then cooled, and then continued until the desired position. Thus, even two or three thousand pounds of pressure per square inch of air in the tank the rest somewhere in the vicinity of the temperature of the outer atmosphere. But if the air is in this situation not only an important part of the power lost in the compression works, but it is, as mentioned above, tend to freeze everything under control. But if, as it is released, it is passed through a heating or hot water heat killed, it is within the known properties of the air, an enormous growth potential. In practice, it was possible to add, warming, a PS for each power by compression develops eighth or one tenth of the original cost of the latter. That is, if a certain amount of air one U.S. dollars, the additional cost of ten cents warming his power is working to double production costs. Theoretically, the total return is actually greater than if the same amount of coal was burned in an ordinary steam engine and the power to be generated and used directly. In practical use, it is a bit less.

The Air Cars

2008-08-18T17:55:00.001-07:00

Compressed air is an energy vector that can be used, in a viable way, to transport both people and goods.
The main goal of Air Car Factories is to develop and manufacture a vehicle driven by a compressed air engine with a level of performance that will respond to the actual needs of today’s market. With this aim we have drawn up a full agenda and an R&D plan of action for production start up.

This is the world’s first air-powered car (AIR CAR) that has zero emissions and will be mass produced by next summer (2008).
The car has got some amazing technology behind it and is developed by Guy Nègre (an ex-Formula One engineer) for Luxembourg-based MDI.India’s largest automaker will be producing 6000 zero-emission Air Cars in August of 2008 for the Indian streets (when they say India is up and coming this takes things to another level).
The gas-and-oxygen explosions of internal-combustion models may become a thing of the past if the Air Car becomes a major success, as it uses compressed air and has many benefits for our environment.
The $12,700 CityCAT is just one of many Air Car models planned which this model can get to 68 mph with a range of 125 miles from the gas (filled up via custom air compressor units).
The amazing fact that it will then take only $2 to fill the car’s carbon-fiber tanks with 340 liters of air at 4350 psi…I so want one in this high taxed fuel world.
The bad side is that the Air Car is made of an all-glue construction which may mean it will never hitting the UK or American shores, but MDI has said they have signed deals to bring its design to 12 more countries (these include South Africa, Israel and Germany) so there is hope yet.Via popular mechanics.

How to Double the Power Value of a Dollar's Worth of Compressed Air,

2008-07-28T18:40:00.000-07:00

When compressed air was first tried, it was found that the loss of power was enormous. It was difficult to store, for the air leaked rapidly away; it was expensive to generate, and there were thermo-dynamic difficulties in its use without number. When a thousand cubic feet of air is jammed into the space of one, a large amount of heat is developed, and in order to store and use the air this heat must in some way be drawn off. Similarly, air at high pressure, when released, cools rapidly. The result, if there be a sufficient moisture, is freezing and clogging. For a long time it was thought these difficulties were largely insuperable.

Now, however, these very difficulties are turned to a profit—to such excellent profit, indeed, as to afford an apparent paradox. It seems idle to assert that it is possible to get as much power out of a machine as you put into it—this means a frictionless and wasteless mechanism. And yet a very near approach to just this condition seems to have been made in the case of compressed air. This is due to the development of the reheating process. Lest the reader be not familiar with the technique of the subject, it may not be idle to explain its broader features. In the process of compression the air is sucked into a piston, and then rammed into a reservoir surrounded by a water jacket, the latter drawing off the heat generated in the compression. The machine which does this work is a beautiful affair of what is known as the four-stage type. That is to say, the air is first driven up to about eighty pounds pressure and cooled; then turned into a second cylinder, where it is compressed still further, then cooled again; and so on up to the desired point. Thus even at two or three thousand pounds pressure to the square inch the air within the reservoir remains at somewhere near the temperature of the outside atmosphere. But if the air be used in this condition, not only will a large share of the power employed in compression be lost, but it will, as already noted, have a tendency to freeze everything within reach. If, however, as it is released, it is passed through a heater or is shot through superheated hot water it will, under the well-known properties of air, enormously expand. In actual practice it has been found possible to add, by reheating, one horse-power to each horsepower developed by compression, at one-eighth or one-tenth the original cost of the latter. That is to say, if a given quantity of compressed air costs a dollar to generate, the further expenditure of ten cents in reheating will double its power to do work. Theoretically the total efficiency thus obtained is actually greater than if the same amount of coal had been burned in an ordinary steam-engine and the power thus generated used direct. In practical use it is slightly less.

Twelve Principles of Fuel Efficiency regarding the Use of Compressed Air to Deliver Energy to an Air Engine

2008-07-20T20:47:00.000-07:00

To obtain maximum use of air’s internal energy (ambient heat), do not allow the air that goes to the first power stage in a multiple stage expansion to rise in temperature above ambient. Maximum practical cold production can be reached by means of first stage expansion with early cutoff, then heat can be added. Some heat (toward ambient but not above) should be absorbed just before first stage intake, such as electric heating pads on elbows where cold is naturally produced, and other places where expansion takes place as the air approaches the engine.

Add heat to engine air whenever possible; first absorb ambient heat, then recover compression heat, then add purposely generated heat, if any.
Reheating compressed air to raise pressure just prior to engine intake is much cheaper in energy cost than an equivalent pressure increase attained by compressing more air.
Regenerative braking works well with air cars, and compression braking saves brakes and heats the air in the tanks.

It takes less work to increase the pressure of a volume of air from 100 to 200 psi than it would take to increase the same air from 0 to 100 psi. This can be verified by looking at any air compressor power consumption chart ever published. It is the rationale behind the closed cycle pneumatic power plant, which can do more work with smaller machinery.

Any chance to boost the pressure of already compressed air instead of compressing atmosphere will lower the relative size of the machinery needed to do that task, because more energy per unit volume of compressed air is handled by a booster than by a normal atmosphere compressor with the same displacement.

It is possible to put low pressure air into a high pressure tank against very little resistance by taking advantage of the Bernoulli Effect, which is the answer to the 1870 physics riddle known as Maxwell’s Demon. Potential and kinetic energy can be caused to trade places so that each is used for what it does best, and neither gets in the way of the goal, which is to keep the tank full as cheaply as possible.

All compression work is lost as heat. This little-known fact is straight out of the textbooks.
The energy that pushes pistons is heat, not pressure, so if we arrange to use solar-source heat to run an air car, then the air car is a self-fueling solar air car.
The longer cold, partially expanded air stays in the engine, the more free heat it will absorb from its surroundings. To keep it moving slow, behaving more like a heat sponge, try the following: lower rpm, multiple-stage (compound) expansion, heat exchangers (no bends in piping) between stages.

Extra pressure needed for any reason as a part of the power process should be generated only as needed so that compression heat can be used immediately and storage pressure can be kept to a minimum. The more air you store in a given space, the higher the maximum storage pressure becomes.

Find ways to use compressed air at its full pressure, such as jet pumps and other pressure exchangers. Design around this concept, rather than using regulators to lower the air's pressure to that desired.

COMPRESSED AIR’S ULTIMATE SECRET

2008-07-17T20:14:00.000-07:00

It’s almost too simple for words. It’s so easily missed because its discovery does little to gratify the inventor’s creative instinct, or the engineer’s hard-won high-tech education, or the tinkerer’s love of gadgetry. New inventions, theories, and gizmos are so unnecessary as to distract from compressed air’s ultimate secret, which is really just efficiency, inherent and designed-in.

Compressed air's inherent efficiency is made evident by these facts:

_Air is everywhere.
_Air contains solar energy.
_Compressing air is a simple process that makes its internal energy (solar heat) usable without altering the air chemically. No thermodynamic conversions or changes of state are necessary, eliminating wasteful steps.
_The energy wasted in compressing air takes the form of heat, which is air engine fuel, and is conservable for use.

Design efficiency is the need to go one step further than status quo convention in the production and use of compressed air. The two-step process of compressing and expanding air creates two opportunities to introduce efficient design measures, that is, to conserve energy.

_Means of expanding air can be provided to use more of the available energy before exhausting it, by way of a relatively efficient air engine as opposed to a commercial air motor.
_Means of conserving compressor work can be used to decrease the net cost of making compressed air.

The ultimate secret of compressed air is that to create a self-fueling pneumatic power plant, all you have to do is make the most of the energy contained in expanding air, and/or make the most of the energy invested in compressing air. Simply put, the self-fueling air engine is a natural phenomenon of ordinary processes, and not some aberration of fringe science or a result of exotic devices. This basic fact is easily proved mathematically using standard engineering formulas and charts. Gizmos and gadgets are fun, but unnecessary; they are the stuff of research institutes. The first goal should be to show an ordinary air engine running an ordinary compressor and keeping its own tank full in the process. I repeat: the math easily proves this possible.

The idealization of conserving compressor work would be to put the compressor in the tank. The fresh air brought in from outside the tank is compressed into the tank, and the work done in the compressing dissipates into the tank as heat, expanding the volume of air available to the engine as fuel. The increase in fuel value due to the conserving of compression heat represents a value beyond what one would expect from engineering charts but not beyond the scope of ordinary engineering formulas to quantify.

The idealization of conserving expansion potential is to expand the compressed air so slowly that its pressure never goes down, since the heat used to push pistons is replaced by ambient heat absorbed from the surroundings. This is straight out of the thermodynamics textbook.

The obvious impracticalities of these idealizations are beside the point; it remains only to identify means of going in their general direction. For example:

_An insulated shroud enclosing both the compressor head and the engine head would conserve much of the compression heat.
_A multi-stage engine with inter-stage ambient heaters, which runs at a low RPM, would squeeze lots of work out of a little air.
_Combining the two strategies could lead to the most practical design.

Gizmos can be added later—such as reducing compression work (as opposed to conserving the work of a normal compressor)—with a series of check valves (and/or jet pump in the tank) that allows low pressure air to be injected into a high pressure tank. Other possibilities include:

_heat pipes
_electric resistance heaters
_water-cooled compressors that dump heat into channels in the air engine block
_As a last resort, any air engine can be made more efficient by using combustible fuel to heat engine air till the Coefficient of Performance (COP—see heat pump basics) rises above unity, making a hybrid power plant without the noise, pollution, and expense of an internal combustion engine.

If not for compressed air’s simplicity, its use in solar power production would have been mastered long ago. We must stop flattering ourselves with our brilliant new ideas, and prove the self-fueling nature of air with basic designs that take advantage of air’s best feature: its ultimate simplicity.

FROM FALSE ANALOGIES TO FREEDOM FROM FUEL
To state that compressing air gives it the ability to do work is like saying that building a dam gives water the ability to operate a power-producing turbine. While these are true statements, they are not made in the scientific context of energy investments. It would be false to state that the work invested in compressing air results directly in the work compressed air can do, just as it would obviously be false to credit the work of building a dam for the quantity of water power thus made available. In both cases, the work done by the pressurized fluid is a result, scientifically speaking, of the sun’s energy, while the work of the compressor, like that of the dam builder, is an incidental investment—you might say an economical consideration or hardware cost—rather than a scientifically correct accounting of the energy invested that later pays off in the power made available.

WHAT’S RIGHT WITH WHAT’S WRONG WITH AIR
Some of air’s so-called disadvantages, according to the usual way of looking at things—a viewpoint that is built around using air for safety, portability, and convenience, not for efficiency—are some of its greatest advantages.
The classic case of this glaring discrepancy between standard thinking and air’s real potential is the assumption that air is self-defeating in any attempt to produce power because of the fact that it gets cold. The standard line goes like this: air enters a cylinder of an air motor and expands, becoming cold in the process. The air subsequently entering the cylinder will be cooled by the cylinder walls, robbing part of its power value before it can do any work. Effectively then, it is a self-defeating hope to try and use air efficiently. My rebuttal is that the cold produced by compressed air’s expansion in a cylinder is an advantage because it makes the machinery a sponge for heat in the surrounding atmosphere which, if absorbed into the system because of enlightened design work, becomes free energy for the piston to use.
Let’s face it: once Americans get even the vaguest inkling that anyone or anything could be considered wimpy, they shun it like the plague. Could it be that the general ignorance of compressed air’s subtle and misunderstood nature is a result of our macho nature, our fear of being associated with sissified ideas?
Once I called the manufacturer of a fairly efficient compressed air motor, and when I asked why the motor wasn’t being put in cars, the salesman I spoke to informed me that his boss would remind me that in order for the car to go anywhere, it would have to be followed by a semi truck carrying its compressed air supply.
Now if that isn’t self-defeating and wimpy, I don’t know what is. It’s downright Unamerican to give up so easily!
Similarly, it is thought to be ever-so ridiculous, that a compressor on-board an air car would be the silliest notion since self-chewing bubble gum. All that power wasted, for the little trickle of compressed air made available.
But wait a minute. In what way is all that power used?
It is used to make heat.
And what is it about compressed air that makes it capable of pushing pistons?
It’s the heat.
And what is it about expanding air that makes it seem so objectionable as a piston-pushing medium?
The cold produced.
And what does cold do to heat?
It sucks it up like a sponge.
Conclusion: the hotter air gets when it's compressed, the more heat is available to be conserved; the colder the air gets when it's expanded, the more ambient heat it can absorb from outside the engine.

The Air Car - zero pollution and very low running costs

2008-07-13T20:58:00.000-07:00

March 19, 2007 Many respected engineers have been trying for years to bring a compressed air to market, believing strongly that compressed air can power a viable "zero pollution" car. Now the first commercial compressed air car is on the verge of production and beginning to attract a lot of attention, and with a recently signed partnership with Tata, India’s largest automotive manufacturer, the prospects of very cost-effective mass production are now a distinct possibility. The MiniC.A.T is a simple, light urban car, with a tubular chassis that is glued not welded and a body of fibreglass. The heart of the electronic and communication system on the car is a computer offering an array of information reports that extends well beyond the speed of the vehicle, and is built to integrate with external systems and almost anything you could dream of, starting with voice recognition , internet connectivity, GSM telephone connectivity, a GPS guidance system, fleet management systems, emergency systems, and of course every form of digital entertainment. The engine is fascinating, as is and the revolutionary electrical system that uses just one cable and so is the vehicle’s wireless control system. Microcontrollers are used in every device in the car, so one tiny radio transmitter sends instructions to the lights, indicators etc
There are no keys – just an access card which can be read by the car from your pocket.
Most importantly, it is incredibly cost-efficient to run – according to the designers, it costs less than one Euro per 100Km (about a tenth that of a petrol car). Its mileage is about double that of the most advanced electric carInnovation-At-Big-Companies Dec-07 (200 to 300 km or 10 hours of driving), a factor which makes a perfect choice in cities where the 80% of motorists drive at less than 60Km. The car has a top speed of 68 mph.
Refilling the car will, once the market develops, take place at adapted petrol stations to administer compressed air. In two or three minutes, and at a cost of approximately 1.5 Euros, the car will be ready to go another 200-300 kilometres.
As a viable alternative, the car carries a small compressor which can be connected to the mains (220V or 380V) and refill the tank in 3-4 hours.
Due to the absence of combustion and, consequently, of residues, changing the oil (1 litre of vegetable oil) is necessary only every 50,000 Km.
The temperature of the clean air expelled by the exhaust pipe is between 0 - 15 degrees below zero, which makes it suitable for use by the internal air conditioning system with no need for gases or loss of power.

How does it work?
90m3 of compressed air is stored in fibre tanks. The expansion of this air pushes the pistons and creates movement. The atmospheric temperature is used to re-heat the engine and increase the road coverage. The air conditioning system makes use of the expelled cold air. Due to the absence of combustion and the fact there is no pollution, the oil change is only necessary every 31.000 miles.

At the moment, four models have been made: a car, a taxi (5 passengers), a Pick-Up truck and a van. The final selling price will be approximately 5.500 pounds.

India’s Largest Auto Maker Contracts With MDI

2008-07-06T00:23:00.000-07:00

MDI recently completed an agreement with #1 Indian car manufacturer, Tata Group, which purchased licensing rights for India. This significant infusion of capital will allow MDI to finalize its technology for licensing throughout the world.
Tata Motors and technology inventor, MDI of France, sign agreement
MUMBAI, 5th of February 2007
Tata Motors, in keeping with its role as the leading company in India for automotive R&D, has signed an agreement, in yet another exciting engineering and development effort, with MDI of France for application in India of MDI’s path-breaking technology for engines powered by air.
The MDI Group is headed by Mr. Guy Negre, who founded the company in the 1990s in pursuit of his dream to pioneer an engine using just compressed air as fuel – which may be the ultimate environment-friendly engine yet. Besides, the engine is efficient, cost-effective, scalable, and capable of other applications like power generation.
The agreement between Tata Motors and MDI envisages Tata’s supporting further development and refinement of the technology, and its application and licensing for India.
Commenting on the agreement, Mr. Guy Negre has said, “MDI has for many years been engaged in developing environment-friendly engines. MDI is happy to conclude this agreement with Tata Motors and work together with this important and experienced industrial group to develop a new and cost-saving technology for various applications for the Indian market that meets with severe regulations for environmental protection. We are continuing the development with our own business concept of licensing car manufacturers in other parts of the world where the production is located close to the markets. We have also developed this new technology for other applications where cost competitiveness combined with respect for environmental questions has our priority.”
- About MDIMDI is a small, family-controlled company located at Carros, near Nice (Southern France) where Mr. Guy Negre and Mr. Cyril Nègre, together with their technical team, have developed a new engine technology with the purpose of economising energy and respect severe ecological requirements – at competitive costs.
- About Tata MotorsTata Motors is India’s largest automobile company, with revenues of US$ 5.5 billion in 2005-06. With over 4 million Tata vehicles plying in India, it is the leader in commercial vehicles and the second largest in passenger vehicles. It is also the world’s fifth largest medium and heavy truck manufacturer and the second largest heavy bus manufacturer. Tata cars, buses and trucks are being marketed in several countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and South East Asia and in Australia. Tata Motors and Fiat Auto have announced the formation of an industrial joint venture in India to manufacture passenger cars, engines and transmissions for the Indian and overseas markets. Tata Motors already distributes Fiat-branded cars in India. The company’s international footprint include Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Co. Ltd. in South Korea; Hispano Carrocera, a bus and coach manufacturer of Spain in which the company has a 21% stake; a joint venture with Marcopolo, the Brazil-based body-builder of buses and coaches; and a joint venture with Thonburi Automotive Assembly Plant Company of Thailand to manufacture and market pickup vehicles in Thailand. Tata Motors has research centres in India, the UK, and in its subsidiary and associate companies in South Korea and Spain.

New Compressed Air Vehicle Unveiled at X PRIZE Exhibit at 2008 New York Auto Show

2008-07-04T00:30:00.001-07:00

MDI Group, the French developer of the compressed air vehicle, and Zero Pollution Motors (ZPM) showcased MDI’s newest compressed air vehicle at this year’s New York International Auto Show (NYIAS) today, March 20. The vehicle was unveiled for for its first public appearance ever at the Automotive X PRIZE (AXP) booth at the show (see pictures).
The new MDI economy/utility car is one in a series of vehicles to be developed by MDI for production in various markets throughout the world. The vehicle is powered by the Compressed Air Engine (CAE) invented by Guy Negre, CEO and founder of MDI. Compressed air vehicles feature zero tailpipe emissions and high energy efficiency and represent an affordable, eco-friendly alternative to conventional gasoline powered vehicles and hybrids.
ZPM and MDI have entered a team to compete for the Automotive X PRIZE and will display the new vehicle at the AXP booth at NYIAS. The goal of the Automotive X PRIZE is to inspire a new generation of viable, super-efficient vehicles. The independent and technology-neutral competition is open to teams from around the world who can design, build and bring to market 100 mpg equivalent (MPGe) vehicles that people want to buy, and that meet market needs for price, size, capability, safety and performance. The size of the multi-million dollar prize purse, and the identity of the PRIZE’s title sponsor will be announced on March 20 at NYIAS.
ZPM plans to introduce a 6-seat, 4-door family-size version of the compressed air vehicle to the U.S. market. The ZPM model will achieve over 100 MPGe and over 90 mph, have zero to low C02 emissions, offer plenty of space for luggage, meet all safety requirements, and cost no more than an average economy to mid-size vehicle. The first ZPM manufactured compressed air car will roll off the production line in 2010 and will cost around $18,000.
MDI and ZPM will enter two vehicles in the Automotive X Prize: the U.S. production 6-seat, 4-door family-size model will compete in the Mainstream Class; and the 2-door, 3-seat economy/utility model on display at NYAIS will compete in the Alternative Class. The economy/utility model will be produced by MDI for sale in France and elsewhere 2009 at a price of beginning at around $5,000-$6,000 for the basic model.

The Air Car caused a huge stir

2008-06-30T18:38:00.000-07:00

When we reported last year that Tata Motors would begin producing it in India. Now the little gas-free ride that could is headed Stateside in a big-time way.

Zero Pollution Motors (ZPM) confirmed to PopularMechanics.com on Thursday that it expects to produce the world’s first air-powered car for the United States by late 2009 or early 2010. As the U.S. licensee for Luxembourg-based MDI, which developed the Air Car as a compression-based alternative to the internal combustion engine, ZPM has attained rights to build the first of several modular plants, which are likely to begin manufacturing in the Northeast and grow for regional production around the country, at a clip of up to 10,000 Air Cars per year. And while ZPM is also licensed to build MDI’s two-seater OneCAT economy model (the one headed for India) and three-seat MiniCAT (like a SmartForTwo without the gas), the New Paltz, N.Y., startup is aiming bigger: Company officials want to make the first air-powered car to hit U.S. roads a $17,800, 75-hp equivalent, six-seat modified version of MDI’s CityCAT (pictured above) that, thanks to an even more radical engine, is said to travel as far as 1000 miles at up to 96 mph with each tiny fill-up. We’ll believe that when we drive it, but MDI’s new dual-energy engine—currently being installed in models at MDI facilities overseas—is still pretty damn cool in concept. After using compressed air fed from the same Airbus-built tanks in earlier models to run its pistons, the next-gen Air Car has a supplemental energy source to kick in north of 35 mph, ZPM says. A custom heating chamber heats the air in a process officials refused to elaborate upon, though they insisted it would increase volume and thus the car’s range and speed. “I want to stress that these are estimates, and that we’ll know soon more precisely from our engineers,” ZPM spokesman Kevin Haydon told PM, “but a vehicle with one tank of air and, say, 8 gal. of either conventional petrol, ethanol or biofuel could hit between 800 and 1000 miles.” Those figures would make the Air Car, along with Aptera’s Typ-1 and Tesla’s Roadster, a favorite among early entrants for the Automotive X Prize, for which MDI and ZPM have already signed up. But with the family-size, four-door CityCAT undergoing standard safety tests in Europe, then side-impact tests once it arrives in the States, could it be the first 100-mpg, nonelectric car you can actually buy?

World's First Air-Powered Car: Zero Emissions by Next Summer

2008-06-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

This six-seater tax, which should be available in India next year, is powered entirely by a tank filled with compressed air.
By Matt Sullivan
Published in the June 2007 issue.

India’s largest automaker is set to start producing the world’s first commercial air-powered vehicle. The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre for Luxembourg-based MDI, uses compressed air, as opposed to the gas-and-oxygen explosions of internal-combustion models, to push its engine’s pistons. Some 6000 zero-emissions Air Cars are scheduled to hit Indian streets in August of 2008. Barring any last-minute design changes on the way to production, the Air Car should be surprisingly practical. The $12,700 CityCAT, one of a handful of planned Air Car models, can hit 68 mph and has a range of 125 miles. It will take only a few minutes for the CityCAT to refuel at gas stations equipped with custom air compressor units; MDI says it should cost around $2 to fill the car’s carbon-fiber tanks with 340 liters of air at 4350 psi. Drivers also will be able to plug into the electrical grid and use the car’s built-in compressor to refill the tanks in about 4 hours. Of course, the Air Car will likely never hit American shores, especially considering its all-glue construction. But that doesn’t mean the major automakers can write it off as a bizarre Indian experiment — MDI has signed deals to bring its design to 12 more countries, including Germany, Israel and South Africa.