iank
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| posted on 13/2/08 at 04:25 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by I love speed :-P
...
Another problem is if every car in the UK went electric over night, the government would lose billions in lost tax.
I find your naivety quite charming. Do you really think they wouldn't find a way to make it up?
--
Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.
Anonymous
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I love speed :-P
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| posted on 13/2/08 at 04:28 PM |
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no no, they would find another way they cant afford not to , its called road pricing i.e. £1 a mile at rush hour etc but what I meant they go on
about cutting CO2 in cars etc but they don't really want to because of all the easy cash they get from it.
[Edited on 13/2/2008 by I love speed :-P]
Don't Steal
The Government doesn’t like the competition
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smart51
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| posted on 13/2/08 at 06:43 PM |
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Its basically powered by a steam engine, except that compressed air rather than compressed steam drives the pistons. The engine, then, has the
potential to be very efficient and has the steam engine's advantage of delivering full torque at zero speed.
The disadvantages are that at full throttle, it is quite inefficient with air and that as your air runs low, so does the pressure, and therefore the
torque.
Overall, the scheme has merit. I suspect that the compressor / engine combination is more efficient than internal combustion, but power for the
compressor is another story.
Personally, I'd like to see a diesel fuelled compressor driving it. A couple of horsepower ought to do it. Automotive power is all peaks and
troughs and designing an engine that is good at all speeds severely limits the efficiency. Marine diesels turn at 1 speed for days on end and are
tuned for excellent efficiency at that one speed. A compressor motor could do the same. Being a hybrid, you could also run it in
"stealth" mode if needed. Though it sounded noisy in the film, that's all down to the silencer.
The thing that always strikes me is that whenever anyone designs a new type of power train, they always fit it to an ugly noddy car. Why? Why would
you do that?
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jambojeef
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| posted on 13/2/08 at 07:16 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
and my point about the safety issue of carrying large cylinders of compressed gas on a light weight platform
What are the safety implications of carrying tanks of compressed air?
Are they worse than me carrying around 65 litres of liquid petroleum gas in my spare wheel well?
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Mr Whippy
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| posted on 13/2/08 at 07:42 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by jambojeef
quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
and my point about the safety issue of carrying large cylinders of compressed gas on a light weight platform
What are the safety implications of carrying tanks of compressed air?
Are they worse than me carrying around 65 litres of liquid petroleum gas in my spare wheel well?
I think you've just pointed it out yourself.
Your tank is in the spare wheel well. Now have a look at the size and number of those the tanks in the other car, we're not talking about a
little camping gas cylinder here. That's the difference.
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JoelP
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| posted on 13/2/08 at 07:45 PM |
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the idea has some merit, but to discuss it it would be easier to seperate the arguments out. This is just another form of displaced emission vehicle.
So one argument is comparing normal cars, ie petrol and diesel powered, to those that produce no emissions in use by using stored power, ie fuel
cells, compressed air, rubber bands etc. Then another argument is about the best of the different types of DECs (sorry, i made that acronym up  )
I think the fuel cell is the best idea of those listed, you have stored chemical energy which must surely be more joules per cc of energy storage than
compressed air? Also more efficient as compressing air would produce lots of heat that would need scavanging to keep efficiency high, and also gets
super cold when you decompress it in the car.
There might be some merit in the idea of using regenerative braking via heat, warming up the next batch of compressed air.
rant over 
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