Green Energy Fuel, Compressed Air.
Green Energy Fuel, Compressed Air.
Let’s talk about air as a green energy fuel. That is, cars running on compressed air.
Compressed air motors have been around for quite a while, and development of them for the motor car has been going on, on a small scale for a number of years. As usual the big car company’s are dragging their heels, and as far as I know, there is nothing in the pipeline from them, regarding compressed air as a fuel.
By now you all know that my own personal leanings are towards electric motive power, which I think scores on nearly all points over any other green fuel.
My first inclination was to dismiss compressed air as a green fuel, because of the usual problems of mechanical inefficiency, though of course there would be no energy loss through heat, but with a normal piston bore arrangement, there is still a reliance on a lot of mechanical components whirring around at vast velocities. There is however, a compressed air engine under development that could solve the above problem. Going along the theme of the old rotary engine, invented by Mr. Wankel, which died a very deserving death, or certainly should have, you will see in the latter part of the YouTube video below, that this engine has been revived, more or less, in a compressed air fuel form. Whereas the old Wankel engine was inefficient in the extreme, the air rotary engine seems to be exactly the reverse, and seems to have a much better power to weight ratio than the piston engine variety, though I can’t state this as a fact without seeing actual figures.
Of course, air driven green vehicles suffer the same draw back as all other green energy vehicles, that is; limited range. Though this problem is being addressed, but will still need the aid of a combustible fuel to heat the compressed, air to gain greater volume and expansion. So there will still be the same problem of air pollution, though on a smaller scale. The starting figures that have been mooted for the range of a combustible fuel assisted compressed air driven car are around 800 to a 1000 miles on 8 gallons of fuel,(6.4 UK gallons), which is impressive, but still leaves room for improvement. Once the big boys get in on the act, with serious investment, which they will do if they see a threat, or an advantage, then development may improve, though that doesn’t seem to be the case with the electric car.
When you see how the small private inventor develops a product, usually against mountainous odds, it really does put the large concerns to shame.
I have the feeling that there is still no real interest by the big chaps, in seriously developing green fuelled vehicles. This is only my opinion mind, but I do think that the conglomerates are keeping the range of green vehicles inadequate, so that there will still be a market for the gas guzzling, air polluting, natural resource diminishing, not to mention inefficient, internal combustion engined automobile. I hope you will excuse my little rant.
A thought has just occurred to me. As you know, here in the UK, we’re pretty heavily taxed, and not least on petrol and diesel fuel. If the compressed air car does gain a foothold, and we can pop into our local garage for a top up, then of course that fuel will be taxed, and so it will not be cheap at all, though of course it may be green, or certainly greener, our esteemed government will then actually have achieved their ultimate aim, which is, to tax Air.
I haven’t covered the safety aspects or concerns that are associated with compressed air. I would assume that these will be ironed out and tested before any manufacturing stage is reached.
Anyway, we will have to wait and see if compressed air is going to be a serious contender as a green fuel. Development in this area does seem to be gathering pace, with Tata, the Indian car manufacturer, seemingly ready for production.
As usual, I’ve added a small selection of YouTube video’s for your enjoyment. So sit back and enjoy.
