27-11-2010, 12:46 PM
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Presented by:HARSHAKUMAR S. BADNUR
AIR POWERED VEHICLES
CONTENTS
Introduction
Historical Development
Details of Air Car
Air Tank
Chassis
Air Filters
Engine of Air Car
Body of Air Car
Principle of Working
Advantages of Air Car
Disadvantages of Air Car
Applications
INTRODUCTION
One of the major problems most developing countries facing today is air pollution and the major source of which is automobiles running on road.
Concerning resource availability there has been a strong warning indicating that petroleum resources may be depleted in the relative near future.
Gasoline which has been the main source of fuel for the history of cars. It produces carbon monoxide, Nitrogen oxides and unburned hydrocarbons which are the main pollutants and are responsible for bad effects of pollution.
There comes need to think about alternatives such as Biodiesel and natural gas, Electric cars, Hybrid cars, Hydrogen fuel cells but, these alternative fuels also have some drawbacks.
One possible alternative fuel is the compressed air.
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
One of the versions of an air-powered car is being developed by Abe Hertzberg.
The Washington researchers use liquid nitrogen as the propellant for their LN2000 prototype air car.
The researchers decided to use nitrogen because nitrogen makes up about 78 percent of the Earth's atmosphere.
The liquid nitrogen, stored at -320 degrees Fahrenheit (-196 degrees Celsius), is vaporized by the heat exchanger.
But LN2000 had developed some drawbacks like
Reduces the efficiency of the car.
It consumes about 5gallons of nitrogen fuel per mile also it reaches a top
speed of only 22 mph and fails to accelerate up on the hills.
Also the motor operates at less than 20 percent of efficiency.
Thus LN2000 has failed due to lack of power output, performance and
fuel economy.
With the same basic principle the next version of air car has been
developed by Guy Negre.
His used fuel has the compressed air for operating an engine.
AIR TANKS
The air tanks in air powered cars are composed of an interior thermoplastic container which ensures it is airtight.
This is held in a coiled and crossed carbon fibre shell.
This technique is the result of many studies into factors such as: mechanical specifications, density of material, choice of fibres etc.
The specifications of tank are,
Maximum effective pressure: (300 bars)
Temperature of use: (–40°C to 60°C)
The tanks weigh 35 - 40 kg for 100 liters of air at 300 bars.
The tanks are submitted to numerous tests to meet official approval such as:
1) Pressure testing
2) Rupture testing
3) Cycles at ambient and extreme temperatures
4) Fire-resistance testing
5) Resistance to cuts
6) Shock and fall testing
7) Airtight testing