Man creates vehicle that runs on compressed air...

[Clashman]

I'm not sure if this has been posted elsewhere, but I found this pretty interesting:

http://www.rednova.com/news/stories/3/2004/08/26/story002.html

The article makes no mention, however, how far you can drive one of these things at a time. It would be interesting to find out, though.

 

[Evil_Cloud]

After oil and water, we have to pay for air? :?

 

[K.I.L.E.R]

After oil and water, we have to pay for air? :?

I hope not.

I have an air compressor machine right here at home.
What are they going to do? Arrest me for having it?

Maybe in the future it could happen. Not for a while yet and I don't see such a silly thing occuring in all countries unless we destroy our environment to the point we all need to wear oxygen tanks when we walk outside.

 

[PatrickL]

There are a lot of people claiming to have such engine, including one in the south of france that is said trying to sell it to Renault

 

[Clashman]

The difference is, that this one appears to be working, and actually appears as though it is going to be used, (at least tried out), commercially.

 

[Sxotty]

This is silly, you could feed compressed air into a regular engine and with tiny modifications make it run, but it would be pointless b/c the amount of energy stored is miniscule so you need either huge tanks, super high pressure or some combination.

 

[muted]

i'Ve seen a documentary on these cars , they're also VERY loud

 

[Evil_Cloud]

It would be cool if you could be sucked into the exhaust pipe of one of these cars while walking over the street.

 

[Sonic]

Sucked into the exhaust? I wonder what kind of exhaust that would be that sucks things in istead of releasing the used air/gas into the environment..

 

[Guden Oden]

A piston engine would be incredibly inefficient use for compressed air as a fuel. You'd need something like a triple-expansion steam engine setup with pistons of varying diameter to make it work. A turbine would be much more suited to something like this.

Still, I think it's a totally hare-brained idea when we could stick like, liquid natural gas or hydrogen in that pressure vessel instead and burn it instead and get orders of magnitude more power on the turbine shaft...

If bicycle-sized one-man cars catch on in a big way, maybe compressed air could be feasible for short city trips (provided you could recharge the air tank at any parking space or some such), but otherwise...no. Not the right way to go.

 

[Natoma]

I wonder how long it'll take someone to devise a system of deriving fuel from farts. Eat a can full of beans and power your way to work.











Ok that was my K.I.L.E.R moment for the year. Don't expect another one until 2005.

 

[PC-Engine]

Haven't you guys ever heard of those toys by TOMY back in the 80's?

http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/8410/hoomdorm.html

http://www.nmpproducts.com/toys.htm

TOMY also made a motorcycle and buggy. They were called Air Jammer Cycle Slammer and Air Jammer Road Rammers respectively. They all used compressed air and they sounded really cool too. You can even see the piston being driven by the compressed air.

This site has a picture of the buggy (warning includes popup ads).

http://www.angelfire.com/pq/philgee/toys.html

I guess someone just took this idea to the next level and used it in a real vehicle.