 | Home > Off Topic > Tata, full of air! |
 
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| Zagato Site Supporter Member Since: 08 Jan 2011 Location: Billingshurst West Sussex Posts: 5026  
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28th Aug 2012 8:33am |
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| SimonR Member Since: 28 Jun 2012 Location: Horsham, West Sussex Posts: 77
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This is one of the things I've been interested in!
A couple of years ago, I built an electric Freelander http://www.4x4offroads.com/electric-land-rover-freelander.html which I've been driving to work ever since - but batteries are expensive and heavy. I wondered about air power - and designed a nice little 3 stage radial air motor to go with it! Now I have 4th Axis on my mill - its a little closer to a prototype! The main issue is the efficiency of compressing the air - which generates a lot of heat. My intended solution was to use the heat evolved to heat our domestic hot water. The equivalent of each gallon of fossil fuel in compressed air will generate 30kwh of heat (quite a lot to get rid of). If you can re-use some of it, it makes the whole thing more viable. The second issue is that as the air expands, it cools - and has to take the 30kw from the environment. In India this will be a great plus as the car will have it's own source of air conditioning! Slightly less useful in the UK though! It should make a good propulsion technology though as you get maximum torque at 0 rpm and a flat power curve. Similar to an electric motor, it means you can build a vehicle with fixed gearing (no gear change). I look forward to seeing how it develops! Si |
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28th Aug 2012 10:15am |
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| T1G UP Member Since: 08 Dec 2009 Location: Bath Posts: 3101  
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we, as a family, would benifit from an electric car for the short journeys for sure.
maybe i should look into building such a thing |
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28th Aug 2012 11:14am |
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