To what only methods do not resort auto manufacturers in order to attract the attention of consumers. The shopper is bewitched by fashionable futuristic designs, unprecedented security measures, greener engines, and so on and so forth.
Personally, I am not very touched by the latest delights of various design studios - even more: for me, the car has been and will remain an inanimate piece of metal and plastic, and all the attempts of marketers to tell me how high my self-esteem should rush into the sky after buying “our newest model"There is nothing but a concussion of the air. Well, at least for me personally.
More exciting to me, as a car owner, is the issue of economy and survivability. Fuel costs far from three kopecks, besides, in the vastness of the "great and mighty" there are too many followers of Vasily Alibabaevich from "Gentlemen of Fortune". Auto manufacturers have been trying to switch to the use of alternative fuels for a long time. In the US, electric cars have taken a fairly strong position, but not everyone can afford to buy such a machine - it's very expensive. Now, if budget-class cars were made electric ...
We set an interesting goal French manufacturers PSA Peugeot Citroen, they initiated an interesting program to reduce fuel consumption. This group of auto manufacturers is developing a hybrid power plant which could spend only two liters of fuel per hundred kilometers. The company's engineers already have something to show - today's developments make it possible to save up to 45% of fuel compared to an ordinary internal combustion engine: even with such indicators of two liters per hundred, it is not yet possible to fit in, but by 2020 they promise to conquer this milestone.
The statements are quite bold and interesting, but it would be more interesting to take a closer look at this hybrid and no less economical installation. The system is called Hybrid Air and as it becomes clear from its name, in addition to traditional fuel, it uses the energy of air, compressed air.
The Hybrid Air concept is not so complicated and is a hybrid of three cylinder engine internal combustion And hydraulic motor- pump. Two cylinders are installed as alternative fuel tanks in the central part of the car and under the trunk space: the larger one is for low pressure; and the one that is smaller, respectively, for the high. The acceleration of the car will take place on the internal combustion engine, after a speed increase of 70 km / h, the hydraulic engine is turned on. Through this same hydraulic motor and ingenious planetary transmission, the energy of compressed air will be converted into rotational motion of the wheels. In addition, an energy recovery system is also provided on such a car - during braking, the hydraulic motor acts as a pump and pumps air into a low-pressure cylinder - that is, such a desired energy will not be wasted.
According to the company's engineers, a car with hybrid plant Hybrid Air, even despite the greater mass by 100 kg compared to a traditional engine, will have fuel economy indicators of at least 45%, and this despite the fact that the refinements in this field of engine building are far from complete.
Hybrid systems are expected to be the first to be used in Citroen hatchbacks C3 and Peugeot 208, and it will be possible to ride on the “air” already in 2016, and French managers see Russia and China as the main markets for cars with the Hybrid Air hybrid.
At the beginning of the century, numerous media prophesied that the mass production vehicles that use air instead of fuel.
The reason for such a bold statement was the presentation of a car called e.Volution at the Auto Africa Expo-2000 exhibition, which took place in Johannesburg. The astonished public was told that e.Volution can travel about 200 kilometers without refueling, reaching speeds of up to 130 km / h. Or within 10 hours of average speed 80 km/h It was stated that the cost of such a trip would cost the owner 30 cents. At the same time, the machine weighs only 700 kg, and the engine - 35 kg.
The revolutionary novelty was presented by the French company MDI, which immediately announced its intention to start serial production of cars equipped with an engine compressed air. The inventor of the engine is the French engine engineer Guy Negre, known as the developer starting devices for Formula 1 cars and aircraft engines.
The inventor stated that he managed to create an engine that runs exclusively on compressed air without any impurities of traditional fuel. The Frenchman called his brainchild Zero Pollution, which means zero emission. harmful substances in atmosphere.
The motto of Zero Pollution was "Simple, economical and clean", that is, the emphasis was placed on its safety and harmlessness to the environment. The principle of operation of the engine, according to the inventor, is as follows: “Air is sucked into a small cylinder and compressed by a piston to a pressure level of 20 bar. At the same time, it warms up to 400 degrees. Then hot air ejected into a spherical chamber. Cold compressed air from cylinders is also supplied to the “combustion chamber” under pressure, it immediately heats up, expands, the pressure rises sharply, the piston of the large cylinder returns and transfers the working force to crankshaft. It can even be said that the “air” engine works in the same way as conventional engine internal combustion, but there is no combustion here.”
It was stated that car emissions are no more dangerous than carbon dioxide emitted by human breathing, the engine can be lubricated with vegetable oil, and electrical system consists of only two wires. It was planned to build "air filling" stations capable of filling 300-liter cylinders in just three minutes. It was assumed that sales of "air cars" will begin in South Africa at a price of about 10 thousand dollars.
But after loud statements and general rejoicing, something happened. All of a sudden, everything was quiet, and the "air car" was almost forgotten. The reason is ridiculous: the page on the Internet supposedly cannot cope with the huge flow of requests.
It is believed that environmental development was sabotaged automotive giants: foreseeing the approaching collapse, when they released gasoline engines no one will need them, they allegedly decided to strangle the upstart in the bud.
However, many independent experts are rather skeptical, especially since a number of large automotive concerns, for example, Volkswagen, were already conducting research in this direction in the 70-80s, but then curtailed them due to complete hopelessness. Automobile companies already spent a lot of money experimenting with electric cars which proved to be inconvenient and expensive.
However, the wait was not long. Probably, already in the coming year we will find out exactly what this compressed air engine developed by MDI is - a revolution in the automotive industry or in every sense of the word an inflated sensation.
The Internet has Commercial offer, addressed, apparently, to the government of Moscow. In this document, one metropolitan company invites officials to “read the proposal automotive company MDI on the production of absolutely environmentally friendly and economical cars in Moscow”.
Of interest is the invention of Rais Shaimukhametov - a “gardener”, which is “driven by compressed air: under the hood small engine and serial compressor. Air rotates autonomously from each other two blocks (left and right) of eccentric rotors (pistons). The rotors in the block are connected by a caterpillar chain through the running wheels.
As a result, there was a double impression: on the one hand, the story with the French “air car” is not fully understood, and on the other hand, a much clearer feeling that “air” transport has been used for a long time, and especially for some reason in Russia. And besides, from the century before last.
Of all the modern alternatives to cars with an internal combustion engine, the most unusual and interesting look vehicles working compressed air. Paradoxically, there are already many such vehicles in the world. We will talk about them in today's review.
Australian Darby Bicheno has created an unusual motorcycle-scooter called EcoMoto 2013. This vehicle does not run on an internal combustion engine, but on the impulse given by compressed air from cylinders.
In the production of EcoMoto 2013, Darby Bicheno tried to use only environmentally friendly materials. No plastic - only metal and puff bamboo, from which most parts of this vehicle are made.
It's not a car yet, but it's not a motorcycle either. This vehicle also runs on compressed air and at the same time has relatively high technical characteristics.
The AIRpod tricycle weighs 220 kilograms. It is designed to carry up to three people, and is controlled using a joystick on front panel this semi-auto.
AIRpod can drive on one full supply of compressed air 220 kilometers, while developing a speed of up to 75 kilometers per hour. Filling the tanks with "fuel" is carried out in just one and a half minutes, and the cost of movement is 0.5 euros per 100 km.
And the first in the world stock car with a compressed air engine Indian company Tata, known throughout the world for the production of cheap Vehicle for poor people.
Automobile Tata OneCAT weighs 350 kg and can travel 130 km on one supply of compressed air, while accelerating up to 100 kilometers per hour. But such indicators are possible only with the maximum filled tanks. The lower the air density in them, the lower the average velocity becomes.
And the speed record holder among the currently existing compressed air vehicles is a car. In tests that took place in September 2011, this vehicle accelerated to 129.2 kilometers per hour. True, he managed to drive only a distance of 3.2 km.
It should also be noted that the Toyota Ku:Rin is not a serial passenger vehicle. this machine created specifically in order to demonstrate the ever-increasing speed capabilities of machines with compressed air engines in demonstration races.
The French company Peugeot is giving a new meaning to the term "hybrid car". If earlier it was considered a car that combines an internal combustion engine with an electric motor, then in the future the latter can be replaced by a compressed air engine.
Peugeot 2008 will be the first in the world in 2016 serial car equipped with the innovative Hybrid Air power plant. It will allow you to combine driving on liquid fuel, on compressed air and in combined mode.
Yamaha WR250R - the first compressed air motorcycle
The Australian company Engineair has been developing and manufacturing compressed air engines for many years. It was their products that the engineers from the local branch used. Yamaha to create the world's first motorcycle of this type.
True, there are no Aeromovel trains own engine. Powerful jets of air come from the rail system along which it moves. At the same time, the absence of a power plant inside the train itself makes it very light.
Now Aeromovel trains operate at the airport in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre and at the Taman Mini theme park in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The world's first mass-produced car with a compressed air engine was produced by the Indian company Tata, known throughout the world for the production of cheap vehicles for poor people.
The Tata OneCAT car weighs 350 kg and can travel 130 km on one supply of air compressed to a pressure of 300 atmospheres, while accelerating up to 100 kilometers per hour. But such indicators are possible only with the maximum filled tanks. The lower the air density in them, the lower the maximum speed indicator becomes.
4 cylinders made of carbon fiber with a Kevlar shell, 2 long and a quarter of a meter in diameter each, located under the bottom, contain 400 liters of compressed air at a pressure of 300 bar.
Inside, everything is very simple:
But this is understandable, since the car is positioned mainly for use in a taxi. By the way, the idea is not without interest - unlike electric vehicles with their problematic recyclable batteries and low efficiency of the charge-discharge cycle (from 50% to 70% depending on the level of charge and discharge currents), air compression, its storage in a cylinder and subsequent use are quite economical and environmentally friendly.
If you fill Tata car OneCAT air to the compressor station, it will take three to four minutes. “Pumping” with the help of a mini-compressor built into the machine, powered by an outlet, lasts three to four hours. " air fuel” is relatively cheap: if you translate it into a gasoline equivalent, it turns out that the car consumes about a liter per 100 kilometers.
In an air car, there is usually no transmission - after all, the air motor produces maximum torque immediately - even when stationary. The air engine also requires virtually no maintenance, standard mileage between two technical inspections is no less than 100 thousand kilometers. And he practically does not need oil - a liter of "grease" is enough for the engine for 50 thousand kilometers (for ordinary car about 30 liters of oil will be required).
The secret of a new car is that it four-cylinder engine with a volume of 700 cubes and a weight of only 35 kilograms, it works on the principle of mixing compressed air with outside, atmospheric air. This power unit resembles a conventional internal combustion engine, but its cylinders are of different diameters - two small, drive, and two large, working. When the engine is running outside air is sucked into small cylinders, compressed there by pistons and heated. Then it is pushed into two working cylinders and mixed there with cold compressed air coming from the tank. As a result air mixture expands and sets in motion the working pistons, and they - the crankshaft of the engine.
Since no combustion occurs in the engine, its " exhaust gases» will only exhaust clean air.
Developers air engine from MDI calculated the total energy efficiency in the chain "refinery - car" for three types drive - gasoline, electric and air. And it turned out that the efficiency of the air drive is 20 percent, which is two times once again exceeds the efficiency of a standard gasoline engine and one and a half times - the efficiency of the electric drive. In addition, compressed air can be stored directly for future use, using unstable renewable energy sources such as wind turbines - then the efficiency is even higher.
When the temperature drops to -20C, the energy reserve of the pneumatic drive is reduced by 10% without any other harmful effects for its operation, while the energy reserve of electric batteries will decrease by about 2 times.
By the way, the air exhausted in the air motor has low temperature and can be used to cool the car interior in the hot season, that is, you get air conditioning almost for free, without unnecessary energy costs. But the heater, alas, will have to be made autonomous. But this is much better than an electric car - which has to spend energy on both heating and cooling.
By the way, glass-carbon fiber cylinders are quite safe - if damaged, they do not explode, only cracks appear in them through which air escapes.
Sometimes you need to have low power motor, which converts the energy of fuel combustion into mechanical energy. As a right, such engines have a very difficult assembly, and if you buy a ready-made one, then you need to say goodbye to a tidy sum from your wallet. Today we will consider in detail the design and self-assembly one of these engines. But our engine will work a little differently, on compressed air. The scope of its application is very large (models of ships, cars, if supplemented with a current generator, you can assemble a small power plant, etc.).Let's begin to consider each part of such an air engine separately. This engine capable of giving from 500 to 1000 revolutions per minute and, thanks to the use of a flywheel, has decent power. The supply of compressed air in the resonator is enough for 20 minutes continuous work engine, but you can also increase the operating time if you use car wheel. This engine can also be operated with steam. The principle of operation is as follows - a cylinder with a prism soldered to one of its sides has a hole in its upper part, which passes and swings through the prism together with the axis fixed in it in the bearing of the rack.
Two holes are made to the right and left of the bearing, one for air inlet from the tank into the cylinder, the second for exhaust air. The first position of the engine shows the moment of air intake (the hole in the cylinder coincides with the right hole in the rack). The air from the reservoir entering the cylinder cavity presses on the piston and pushes it down. The movement of the piston through the connecting rod is transmitted to the flywheel, which, turning, brings the cylinder out of its extreme right position and continues to rotate. The cylinder assumes a vertical position and at this moment the air inlet stops, since the holes of the cylinder and the rack do not match.
Thanks to the inertia of the flywheel, the movement continues and the cylinder moves to the leftmost position. The hole of the cylinder coincides with the left hole in the rack and through this hole the exhaust air is pushed out. And the cycle repeats over and over again.
Air engine parts
CYLINDER - made of brass, copper or steel tube with a diameter of 10 - 12 mm,. As a cylinder, you can use a brass sleeve of a suitable caliber rifle cartridge. The tube must have smooth inner walls. A prism cut from a piece of iron should be soldered onto the cylinder, in which a screw with a nut (swing axis) is tightly fixed, above the screw, at a distance of 10 mm from its axis, a hole 2 mm in diameter is drilled through the prism into the cylinder for air inlet and outlet.
ROD - cut out of a brass plate 2 mm thick. one end of the connecting rod is an extension in which a hole with a diameter of 3 mm is drilled for the crank pin. The other end of the connecting rod is designed to be soldered into the piston. Connecting rod length 30 mm.
PISTON - cast from lead directly in the cylinder. For this in tin can pour dry river sand. Then we insert the tube prepared for the cylinder into the sand, leaving a protrusion of 12 mm outside. To destroy moisture, a jar of sand and a cylinder must be heated in an oven or on a gas stove. Now you need to melt the lead into the cylinder and immediately you need to immerse the connecting rod there. The connecting rod must be installed exactly in the center of the piston. When the casting has cooled, the cylinder is removed from the can of sand and the finished piston is pushed out of it. We smooth out all irregularities with a small file.
ENGINE RACKS - must be made according to the dimensions indicated in the photo. We make it from 3 mm iron or brass. The height of the main drain is 100 mm. In the upper part of the main rack, a hole with a diameter of 3 mm is drilled along the central center line, which serves as a bearing for the swing axis of the cylinder. The two uppermost holes with a diameter of 2 mm are drilled along a circle with a radius of 10 mm drawn from the center of the swing axis bearing. These holes are located on either side of the rack centerline at a distance of 5 mm from it. Through one of these holes, air enters the cylinder, through the other it is pushed out of the cylinder. The entire structure of the air engine is assembled on the main rack, which is made of wood with a thickness of about 5 cm.
FLYWHEEL - you can pick up ready-made or cast from lead (used to produce cars with inertial engine, there is the flywheel we need). If you still decide to cast it from lead, then do not forget to install a shaft (axle) with a diameter of 5 mm in the center of the mold. The dimensions of the flywheel are also indicated in the figure. There is a thread on one end of the shaft for fastening the crank.
CRANK - cut out of iron or brass with a thickness of 3 mm according to the drawing. The crank pin can be made of steel wire with a diameter of 3 mm and soldered into the crank hole.
CYLINDER CAP - we manufacture 2 mm brass and after casting the piston is soldered to the top of the cylinder. After assembling all the parts of the engine, we assemble it. When soldering brass and steel, you should use a powerful Soviet soldering iron and saline acid for strong soldering. The tank in my design is used from paint, rubber tubes. My engine is assembled a little differently, I changed the dimensions, but the principle of operation is the same. The engine used to work for me for hours, it was connected to homemade generator alternating current. Such an engine may be of particular interest to modellers. Use the engine where you see fit and that's it for today. Good luck with the build - AKA
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