Showing posts with label Engine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Engine. Show all posts

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Car Runs On Air? - Don't Fall For This!

The other day a guy at work sent me this link to a story about a car that runs on air.  Compressed air motors are nothing new.  Our boys had little cars that shot across the room after they pumped up the air tank.  Before there were tiny gasoline engines that powered model airplanes, they used compressed air.  I have read numerous articles about compressed air motors for years, some of the inventors making amazing claims about how far and fast they can travel on a tank of compressed air.

What got me about this video were not the claims by the inventor but the ridiculous conclusions by the reporter.  Anyone who has filled an air mattress on a camping trip or blown up one of those huge inflatable swimming pools knows first hand that compressed air is NOT FREE!  It comes with a price, and sometimes a huge price depending upon the volume of air or the pressure of the air that is required.  Can you imagine blowing up the tire of your car with your lungs?  Compressed air is not free!  Not only is it NOT free, but it is also not an efficient way to power a motor, like the motor of a car.

The main inefficiency comes when the air is compressed.  Wherever this takes place, there is a huge energy loss due to the heating of the air during the action of compressing the air.  It is the same when you pump up your bike tire with a hand pump.  The base of the bike pump can get so hot you can't touch it without burning yourself.  All that energy that is used to heat the air is lost into the atmosphere.  It takes a lot of electricity to compress air.  A lot more energy that you get out of it in the motor of a car that runs on air.

It is a scam!  Don't believe it, especially at the end of the video when the reporter starts talking about perpetual motion and using compressed air to generate more compressed air.  It is ridiculous!

http://www.flixxy.com/zero-pollution-automobile.htm

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Steering Skateboard

This is a fun invention of mine. The kids call it the Steering Skateboard. It is 3 feet wide by 5 feet long and rides on 18 skateboard wheels. It is powered by a 40 horsepower snow-mobile engine which turns a 4 bladed propeller. We have only had it up to 30 mph in our neighborhood, but based upon its maximum static thrust, it is capable of speeds of at least 55 mph. You can hear it in the video but it is really loud!