Most motorcycles in the world today use engines that burn
gasoline, contributing to greenhouse gasses and adding air
pollution to the surrounding area. Now two scientists in
India have conceptually designed a new, cleaner motorcycle
engine that uses compressed air to turn a small air turbine,
generating enough power to run a motorcycle for up to 40
minutes.
The use of compressed air for running prime mover like
air turbine offers a potential solution to these issues
because it does not involve combustion in producing shaft
work. The great advantages such as availability of air as
fuel and the absence of emissions are also apparent from
air motors. Compressed air driven prime movers are also
found to be cost effective compared to fossil fuel driven
engines. Such prime movers have perennial compressed air
requirement, which needs some source of energy for running
the compressor. The overall analysis shows that the compressed
air system is quite attractive option for light vehicle
applications.
The energy conversion technology based on compressed air
is in state of infancy, but worldwide researches are going
on to make it a sustainable alternate for transport and
other utilities. Pioneering work in the area of compressed
air engine has been done by the French technologist Negre
and also by an inventor of a quasiturbine, Saint Hilaire.
For running a compressed air driven engine, the compressed
air energy storage system can be filled up to 20 bars of
pressure. In view of these attractive features, the compressed
air engine may become the dominant technology in place of
the electric and hydrogen vehicles. The air engines developed
so far are basically running on hybrid systems such as compressed
air and gases and are not 100% pollution less. A study on
high efficiency energy conversion system for liquid nitrogen,
design and verification of airfoil and its tests, influence
of tip speed ratios for small wind turbine, and parabolic
heat transfer and structural analysis were also carried
out for conceptualizing the energy conversion system and
design of the air turbine. In the paper the study and analysis
of a very small capacity air turbine with vane type rotor
have been carried out to study the effect of vane angle
and inlet air pressure variation on air turbine performance.
Their design, described in a recent issue of the Journal
of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, could be combined with
a compressed air cylinder as a replacement for traditional
internal combustion engines. In areas where motorcycles
are a major source of public transportation, such a technology
could cut emissions substantially if widely implemented.
According to Bharat Raj Singh, one of the two authors on
the paper and a researcher at the SMS Institute of Technology
in Lucknow, India, some 50 to 60 percent of present emissions
in some areas could be reduced with the new technology,
though a number of technical challenges remain. Designing
a compact but high-capacity air tank to store sufficient
"fuel" for long rides is a major hurdle. Existing
tanks would require someone to stop about every 30 km (19
miles) to swap tanks.
Here is an excerpt from white paper which has been published
JRSE (Journal of renewable & sustainable energy) by
these 2 Indian Engineers:
The use of compressed air for running prime mover such as
air turbine offers a potential solution to these issues
as it does not involve combustion in producing shaft work.
The great advantages such as availability of air as fuel
and the absence of emissions are also apparent from air
motors.
Compressed air driven prime movers are also found to be
cost effective compared to fossil fuel driven engines. Such
prime movers have perennial compressed air requirement,
which needs some source of energy for running the compressor.
The overall analysis shows that the compressed air system
is quite attractive option for light vehicle applications.
The article, "Study of the influence of vane angle
on shaft output of a multi-vane air turbine" by Bharat
Raj Singh and Onkar Singh was published May 6, 2010 in the
Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy.
See: http://jrse.aip.org/jrsebh/v2/i3/p033101_s1
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