I‘ve been scanning theaircar.com for 20 minutes and I still don’t quite get it. The Web site is mostly in English, but it runs into Spanish and sometimes French. The tech just isn’t translated well at times. Mostly they don’t want you to know what they are doing, the best way to keep a competitive edge and the worst way (to me at least) to market something.
The engine runs on either compressed air alone or a combination of compressed air and fossil fuel. The compressed air engine is for cities (only) reaching speeds of 31 mph. The dual propulsion engine will run on compressed air up to 31 mph and then switch to fuel mode. The engine will be able to use gasoline, gas oil, bio diesel, gas, liquidized gas, alcohol etc.
Moteur Developpment International (MDI) says that the car costs 1/10th that of a traditional petroleum car to run. When no combustion takes place, there is no pollution. Due to the lack of combustion, the vegetable oil lubrication only needs to be changed every 31,000 miles.
The pistons work in two stages: one motor stage and one intermediate stage of compression/expansion.The engine has 4 two-stage pistons, i.e. 8 compression and/or expansion chambers. They have two functions: to compress ambient air and refill the storage tanks; and to make successive expansions (reheating air with ambient thermal energy) thereby approaching isothermic expansion.
I think what they are trying to say here is that the dual piston design is used to motivate the car by compressed air, use the combination of cylinders to compress air for future use while the alternate piston is firing on fossil fuel... and here’s the cool part. The dual piston design and some weird patented mechanicals create a harmony in compression cycles that drastically reduces friction. Friction equals wasted energy.
Sounds a lot like the The Scuderi Air Hybrid Engine I reported on in a previous blog.
http://www.yorkblog.com/archives/2006/05/the_scuderi_air.html
While the car is running on fossil fuel, the secondary compression piston refills the compressed air tanks. The control system can maintain a zero-pollution emission output in the city at speeds up to 37 mph. Cars in many European cities will probably be required to run in a zero-emission mode. The Toyota Prius has this function in European models.
It’s a super light car built of composite materials, and it’s glued together. It will be built in France where it was invented
Other nuts and bolts of the invention:
--exhaust gas is cold enough to be used as a chiller for the air-conditioning system, thus not needing freon or power from an engine.
--the car needs a source of compressed air or has an on board compressor that takes longer to fill
--it is propelled by an electric motor for parking
--doesn’t need a clutch because the engine is shut off at idle
--the air compression system is used to stop the car and recover the energy loss.
--the car actually "cleans" city air because ambient air must be filtered when it is compressed
http://www.theaircar.com/
It's about time you commented on this vehicle. Seems ages ago that I gave you a "heads-up" on this vehicle(just a little razin' here).
There's many things about this vehicle that are really great and a few things that need to be changed for the use in an American market. But one expects that from "any" new design/innovation. The "auto manufacturer's" don't seem to want to "look" in this direction....to me, they'll still have to make vehicles, one way or the other, but maybe they can't see the tree in the forest yet. OR, they can't get their hands on the patents or will want to wait for them to expire....in 17 years. Mmmm, maybe about the time oil prices are really high????
The company seems to say that they will be creating "world cars", the trend in the past 10 years to make one design that can be sold on a global market
The engine configuration is scalable so that it can be a 4 cyl, 6 cyl, etc. So the build can match the application.
What I like about this "hybrid" is that it uses air as the storage device for motivation and regeneration. A somewhat simple model compared to chemical/electric - batteries. If the mechanicals are hearty, it might be cheaper to maintain with high miles
Thank you for writing this wonderful blogposting. I definitely much like the fashion which you use to compose about points. It had been very educational and I would like to thank you you for thaking the time to create about this. Lots of folks would clarify this stuff so far more complex, but with your statements I definitely realize now anything. I'm certain I'll check back your web site and my rss reader will like your stuff as well.
Many thanks for writing this wonderful blogposting. I truly much like the model which you use to write about things. It absolutely was extremely informative and I desire to thanks you for thaking the time to compose about this. A great deal of folks would clarify this stuff so additional complex, but with your statements I really realize now every thing. I am certain I'll examine back your website and my rss reader will like your stuff too.