Behold the CityCAT air car, powered by compressed air.

Discussion in 'General Motoring' started by Useful Info, May 25, 2007.

  1. Useful Info

    Useful Info Guest

    Read all about it, here: http://Muvy.org
     
    Useful Info, May 25, 2007
    #1
  2. More spam by the tinfoil hat site. Gotta say, they advertise the normal
    stuff and leave teh weird subjects until you actually look at the site.

    Mike
     
    Michael Pardee, May 25, 2007
    #2
  3. More spam by the tinfoil hat site. Gotta say, they advertise the normal
    stuff and leave teh weird subjects until you actually look at the site.

    Mike
     
    Michael Pardee, May 25, 2007
    #3

  4. Gee...at my age, I have plenty of...uh "compressed air".
    Maybe I ought to look into one of these!
     
    Hachiroku ハチロク, May 26, 2007
    #4

  5. Gee...at my age, I have plenty of...uh "compressed air".
    Maybe I ought to look into one of these!
     
    Hachiroku ハチロク, May 26, 2007
    #5
  6. Useful Info

    Jeff Guest

    Uncrossposted.
    You shouldn't be around my nephew. He's seven. I guarantee you he
    doesn't have much compressed air. He lets it out all the time.

    Age has nothing to do with it.

    Jeff
     
    Jeff, May 26, 2007
    #6
  7. Useful Info

    Jim Yanik Guest

    That aint "air". ;-)



    (it's a greenhouse gas!)
     
    Jim Yanik, May 26, 2007
    #7
  8. Useful Info

    Fishface Guest

    So, skip right to the source:
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=QmqpGZv0YT4
    A "Beyond Tomorrow" segment, worth the watch.
     
    Fishface, May 26, 2007
    #8
  9. Useful Info

    Fishface Guest

    So, skip right to the source:
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=QmqpGZv0YT4
    A "Beyond Tomorrow" segment, worth the watch.
     
    Fishface, May 26, 2007
    #9
  10. Useful Info

    Jeff Guest

    I think for things like the fork lifts, as well as lawn mowers, it is a
    great thing. It really get rid of fumes and will really help the
    environment. All you're doing is taking energy in one form and putting
    it in another. I could be wrong, but I don't see how it will increase
    fuel efficiency that much. Effectively, you're just making the CO2 at
    the electric power plant rather in the car engine (assuming the air is
    compressed with electric motors).

    I think it has many advantages like weight. And it is probably more
    reliable. I mean far fewer parts to break. But, I would have to see the
    evidence that it is really that much more efficient to believe it.

    Jeff
     
    Jeff, May 26, 2007
    #10
  11. Useful Info

    Jeff Guest

    I think for things like the fork lifts, as well as lawn mowers, it is a
    great thing. It really get rid of fumes and will really help the
    environment. All you're doing is taking energy in one form and putting
    it in another. I could be wrong, but I don't see how it will increase
    fuel efficiency that much. Effectively, you're just making the CO2 at
    the electric power plant rather in the car engine (assuming the air is
    compressed with electric motors).

    I think it has many advantages like weight. And it is probably more
    reliable. I mean far fewer parts to break. But, I would have to see the
    evidence that it is really that much more efficient to believe it.

    Jeff
     
    Jeff, May 26, 2007
    #11
  12. Worse than that, air (and most gases that have low boiling points) are not
    very "elastic." Air has a ratio of specific heats of around 1.4, so about
    1/3 of the energy is lost just to the compression and expansion. Batteries
    can do a lot better. The compressed air has to be used at raw pressure -
    that's the point, after all - and it is very difficult to make motors that
    can maintain efficiency over the range of pressures necessary to make the
    system work. It's much more like charging a giant, lossy capacitor. I'd be
    shocked at getting anything near 50% overall efficiency, something EVs do
    with ease.

    Mike
     
    Michael Pardee, May 26, 2007
    #12
  13. Worse than that, air (and most gases that have low boiling points) are not
    very "elastic." Air has a ratio of specific heats of around 1.4, so about
    1/3 of the energy is lost just to the compression and expansion. Batteries
    can do a lot better. The compressed air has to be used at raw pressure -
    that's the point, after all - and it is very difficult to make motors that
    can maintain efficiency over the range of pressures necessary to make the
    system work. It's much more like charging a giant, lossy capacitor. I'd be
    shocked at getting anything near 50% overall efficiency, something EVs do
    with ease.

    Mike
     
    Michael Pardee, May 26, 2007
    #13
  14. Useful Info

    Dan G Guest

    Nevertheless, this type of thinking is what will save us from fossil fuels.
    The compressed air cars are doing pretty well, and if you use solar power to
    charge them up, it's free energy. The car I saw on NG channel, (maybe
    Discovery), was still in development, but the engine was also able to be the
    compressor, and he was developing an electric motor to make the car
    self-contained. If the technology was pushed to it's limits, it could do a
    lot better. Hey, if you put the car in reverse, and roll forward down a
    hill, it'll charge it's own tanks!

    Batteries are very very bad for the environment.
     
    Dan G, May 26, 2007
    #14
  15. Useful Info

    Dan G Guest

    Nevertheless, this type of thinking is what will save us from fossil fuels.
    The compressed air cars are doing pretty well, and if you use solar power to
    charge them up, it's free energy. The car I saw on NG channel, (maybe
    Discovery), was still in development, but the engine was also able to be the
    compressor, and he was developing an electric motor to make the car
    self-contained. If the technology was pushed to it's limits, it could do a
    lot better. Hey, if you put the car in reverse, and roll forward down a
    hill, it'll charge it's own tanks!

    Batteries are very very bad for the environment.
     
    Dan G, May 26, 2007
    #15
  16. The physics of the technology pretty much cap the energy storage efficiency
    at 50% max, and it's going to be hard to break the 35% barrier. The ratio of
    specific heats problem (the same thing that makes a basketball "deader" than
    a superball) won't go away as long as this universe is in existence.
    Adaptive air motors are possible but always tricky. Using only the "top
    half" of the pressure charge means hauling around a lot of dead weight.

    Batteries don't have to be bad for the environment at all. The heavy metals
    that are most to blame for batteries' bad rep are completely recyclable. The
    larger batteries get the less likely they will escape the recycling stream;
    even standard car batteries are rarely dumped any more.

    Air powered cars have been around longer than electric cars - there are
    reasons they haven't caught on. In a time when efficiency is seen as more
    important than ever, the inherent inefficiency of compressed air makes this
    a tough sell.

    Mike
     
    Michael Pardee, May 26, 2007
    #16
  17. The physics of the technology pretty much cap the energy storage efficiency
    at 50% max, and it's going to be hard to break the 35% barrier. The ratio of
    specific heats problem (the same thing that makes a basketball "deader" than
    a superball) won't go away as long as this universe is in existence.
    Adaptive air motors are possible but always tricky. Using only the "top
    half" of the pressure charge means hauling around a lot of dead weight.

    Batteries don't have to be bad for the environment at all. The heavy metals
    that are most to blame for batteries' bad rep are completely recyclable. The
    larger batteries get the less likely they will escape the recycling stream;
    even standard car batteries are rarely dumped any more.

    Air powered cars have been around longer than electric cars - there are
    reasons they haven't caught on. In a time when efficiency is seen as more
    important than ever, the inherent inefficiency of compressed air makes this
    a tough sell.

    Mike
     
    Michael Pardee, May 26, 2007
    #17
  18. Useful Info

    Eeyore Guest

    Seen it before.

    It just shows how easy it is to pull the wool over the eyes of TV reporters.

    Graham
     
    Eeyore, May 26, 2007
    #18
  19. Useful Info

    Eeyore Guest

    Seen it before.

    It just shows how easy it is to pull the wool over the eyes of TV reporters.

    Graham
     
    Eeyore, May 26, 2007
    #19
  20. Useful Info

    Eeyore Guest

    No it won't.

    They are *less* efficient that EVs, so need MORE energy to keep them running.

    Where exactly ? Except in your fantasies ?

    Damn you're an ignorant prick of the first order. Use the same cutesy 'solar
    energy' in EVs and you'll easily go *TWICE* as far - probably more since EVs can
    reclaim energy by regenerative braking.

    Graham
     
    Eeyore, May 26, 2007
    #20
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