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| spirytus |
 Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2007 10:34 am Post subject: Air powered car (Icarus: Gaz engine?) |
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Joined: 05 Dec 2006
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Icarus' thread really got me thinking the other day, so I did some more back-chair research and found this gem:
World's First Air-Powered Car: Zero Emissions by Next Summer
http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4217016.html
Motor:
Yes, I do realize the energy needed to power the compressor isn't free. However seeing as this energy can be provided from the power grid, meaning the emissions can be controlled, and can be provided by alternative energy sources such as solar, wind, hydro, and nuclear power plants, This is a very good concept indeed.
Safety is an issue with this thing, especially on our roads. A 150kg fiberglass put-put like this, loaded with 340 L of compressed air @4350 psi, VS a 15 ton semi brings a whole new meaning to "Pop Goes the Weasel"
But still - that's an engineering problem worth solving...
Discuss.
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| spirytus |
| Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2007 11:20 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| The first product, the CityCAT, reaches a top speed of 68mph and can go about 125 miles without refilling the carbon fiber compressed air chambers. The CityCAT's made of lightweight, glued-together fiberglass and foam, and the engine is made up almost entirely of aluminum. The air tanks hold 52 gallons of compressed air at 4,351psi, and refueling can take only three minutes at your local gas station. You can also plug in the vehicle for about four hours, so the on-board compressor can fill the tanks at a cost of about $2. |
And a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFbKINlXzRk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iXrM02g_yc&eurl=
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There are 10 types of people; those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
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| Scifor Refugee |
| Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2007 12:43 pm Post subject: Re: Air powered car (Icarus: Gaz engine?) |
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| spirytus wrote: |
Safety is an issue with this thing, especially on our roads. A 150kg fiberglass put-put like this, loaded with 340 L of compressed air @4350 psi, VS a 15 ton semi brings a whole new meaning to "Pop Goes the Weasel"
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True. But whenever people point out the safety problems associated with alternative ways to power cars, I like to point out that people are already willing to drive around with 10+ gallons of liquid explosive in their car. |
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| spirytus |
| Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2007 12:56 pm Post subject: Re: Air powered car (Icarus: Gaz engine?) |
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| Scifor Refugee wrote: |
| True. But whenever people point out the safety problems associated with alternative ways to power cars, I like to point out that people are already willing to drive around with 10+ gallons of liquid explosive in their car. |
I was hoping someone else would point that out. Yes, I wholeheartedly agree.
Furthermore, any inherent safety problems with the tanks or the car can be solved, given capital and time.
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| The P-manator |
| Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2007 10:00 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Bachelors Degree
Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Posts: 485
Location: Toronto
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It has already been shown that hydrogen is safer than gasoline. The example shown is a car parked on the street with a leak in the tank. The gasoline will pool around the bottom of the car, around the engine parts, mostly unseen, while the hydrogen will escape up and float into the sky, meanwhile becoming water vapour. When someone starts the car, the gasoline explodes and the hydrogen isn't there anymore.
So... I'm seeing that a lot of people are just spending their time trying to find every single disadvantage of a new car powering system. If I wanted to, I could find more disadvantages about the current gasoline combustion engine than anyone will ever find about hydrogen, fuel cells, air cars, etc.
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Fight for our environment and our habitat at www.wearesmartpeople.com. |
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| icarus |
| Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 12:22 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you Spiritus for the name check  and the input to my original question. I must admit that I rather like the idea that Brunel's "Gaz Engine" remains one of history's "what ifs". I think it may have involved carbonic acid. |
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| streamSystems |
| Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 5:44 pm Post subject: |
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Banned
Joined: 22 May 2007
Posts: 950
Location: a reality you have all yet to properly explain
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I think the gravity spectrum is something we should be focussing our attention on. Understanding gravity, the physics behind it, will allow us to look at space-time as a potential unsnapped mouse trap.......able to release more energy in less time than anyone who thinks they can run off with the cheese and avoid the snap (sorry if I sound like I am rapping......).
From a mechanical engineering point of view, in knowing the gravity gradient of greater gravity potential to less gravity potential, we, in theory, should be able to make machines that focus on how to harness gravitational gradients. It would not be too much to surmize then that we would propel ourselves in crafts with large gravitational potential "rings" around us, crafts with gravitational potential rings around the craft-cockpit itself.
Still, in the absence of anyone showing a bit of spark in that general direction, why not go for "pop goes the weasel" technology.
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the www feature below can explain it better. |
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| miomaz |
| Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 10:28 am Post subject: |
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why not use pop goes the weasel? Because its dangerous.
Well, exploiting the universe is pretty hard and Nature was on this case for about as long as earth exists.
Nature itself is an exploit of the universe. Nature has tryed all kinds of ways for life to evolve and the ways that din't work didn't survive. Nature is the Master of the very small to the very large, from the ice cold to burning hot, from under the sea to far up in the sky. Nature has exploited turned and bent things to fit for life.
Point is nature already did a good job and finding a way of canceling out gravity is already beyond exploiting, to a cretain percentage but maybe there is a slight chance that it can work, you never know.
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| Cold Fusion |
| Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 5:14 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Bachelors Degree
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ANTIMATTER POWERED CARS!
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| dejawolf |
| Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 11:23 am Post subject: |
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more people die in traffic than anywhere else.
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| icewendigo |
| Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 11:05 am Post subject: |
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theres also an ingenous design from an australian inventor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq8aZVLpf-c
The engine is extremely small (yet powerful), but it is designed for short range applications (golf cart, short commute, factory cart, fork lifts etc) since its entirely air driven (unlike some other air engines that appear to be able to take gasoline when need be to go faster or on longer distances) |
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| KALSTER |
| Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 11:25 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 08 Sep 2007
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Location: South Africa
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You know, I've had an idea for a wind-up bicycle for ages. Before you laugh, think about it. A built in electric motor to wind it up: just plug in for a few minutes and your good to go. Fit the whole mechanism into the triangle between your legs?
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| icewendigo |
| Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 12:04 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 21 Jun 2006
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heres a link to the Aircar company's website (the one shown in spirytus initial post up there)
http://www.theaircar.com/
for anyone interested in getting more information |
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| Deathridesahorse |
| Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 11:37 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 25 Dec 2007
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Location: Perth, Western Australia
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>>>>So, when does it go into mass production?<<<<
A car that runs on compressed air -- and it's real.
The air car, also known as the Mini-CAT or City Cat, can be refueled in minutes from an air compressor at specially equipped gas stations and can go 200 km on a 1.5 euro fill-up -- roughly 125 miles for $3. The top speed will be almost 70 mph and the cost of the vehicle as low as $7000.
Which incompetent Detroit asshat will try to kill it or ban it from use in the United States? Will it be GM? Will it be Ford, whose stock price is at a pathetic $6/share? Or will it be the agri-businesses in the midwest who are betting on ethanol?
source: http://www.bobcesca.com/blog-archives/2008/01/this_is_awesome.html
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