Designed by the French company Motor Development International (MDI), the AIRPod is powered by compressed air. Although it has been released since 2009, for a long time it caused only a condescending smile from everyone (with the exception of environmental fans). Indeed, initially it could only be operated in warm climates: the air-propeller engine developed in the early 1990s did not start when low temperatures... And although a compressed air heating system has already been developed, expanding the geography of AIRPod application, it can only be purchased in Hawaii (USA).
Road show
In the spring of 2015, the independent company ZPM (Zero Pollution Motor - "Zero Pollution Motor") held a public road-show during the prime time of the American TV channel ABC - a presentation aimed at attracting investors (literally translated into Russian as "road show"). ZPM bought from the French the right to manufacture and sell the new model AIRPod - so far only in Hawaii, selected as the "launch market".
The project of a plant for the production of environmentally friendly cars was presented by two ZPM shareholders - the famous American singer Pat Boone (his career peaked in the 1950s) and film producer Eitan Tucker ("Shrek", "Seven Years in Tibet", etc.). They offered potential investors (the so-called "business angels") 50% of ZPM shares for $ 5 million.
Investors were in no hurry to shell out. At the same time, Robert Herjavets, the owner and founder of the Canadian IT company Herjavec Group, who was considered the most promising of them, said that he was interested in the sale of AIRPod not in one particular state, but in the entire United States. So at present the ZPM management is negotiating with the French to expand the sales territory.
A few years ago, the news spread around the world that the Indian company Tata was going to launch a compressed air vehicle into the series. The plans remained plans, but pneumatic cars have clearly become a trend: several quite viable projects appear every year, and Peugeot planned to put an air hybrid on the conveyor in 2016. Why did pneumocars suddenly become fashionable?
Everything new is well forgotten old. Thus, electric cars at the end of the 19th century were more popular than their petrol counterparts, then they survived a century of oblivion, and then again "rose from the ashes." The same applies to pneumatic equipment. Back in 1879, the French aviation pioneer Victor Taten designed the A? roplane, which was supposed to rise into the air thanks to a compressed air engine. The model of this car successfully flew, although in full size the plane was not built.
The ancestor of air motors on land transport became another Frenchman, Louis Mekarski, who developed a similar power unit for the Parisian and Nantes trams. In Nantes, cars were tested in the late 1870s, and by 1900 Mekarski owned a fleet of 96 trams, proving the system's efficiency. Subsequently, the pneumatic "fleet" was replaced by an electric one, but a start was made. Later pneumatic locomotives found themselves a narrow area of \u200b\u200bwidespread use - mining. At the same time, attempts began to put an air engine on the car. But until the beginning of the XXI century, these attempts remained isolated and not worthy of attention.
Pros: no harmful emissions, the possibility of refueling the car at home, low cost due to the simplicity of the engine design, the possibility of using an energy recuperator (for example, compressing and accumulating additional air due to braking the car). Cons: low efficiency (5-7%) and energy density; the need for an external heat exchanger, since with a decrease in air pressure, the engine is greatly overcooled; low performance of pneumatic vehicles.
Air benefits
The pneumatic motor (or, as they say, the pneumatic cylinder) converts the energy of the expanding air into mechanical work... In principle, it is similar to the hydraulic one. The "heart" of the air motor is the piston to which the rod is attached; a spring is wound around the stem. The air entering the chamber overcomes the spring resistance with increasing pressure and moves the piston. In the release phase, when the air pressure drops, the spring returns the piston to its original position - and the cycle repeats. The pneumatic cylinder may well be called an "internal combustion engine".
A more common diaphragm scheme, where the role of the cylinder is played by a flexible diaphragm, to which a rod with a spring is also attached. Its advantage lies in the fact that such a high precision of fit of moving elements is not required, lubricants, and the tightness of the working chamber increases. There are also rotary (vane) pneumatic motors - analogs of the Wankel ICE.
The French MDI's tiny three-seater air car was presented to the general public at Geneva Motor Show 2009 year. He has the right to move on the dedicated bike paths and does not require driving license... Perhaps the most promising pneumocar.
The main advantages of an air motor are its environmental friendliness and low cost of "fuel". Actually, due to the wastelessness of pneumatic locomotives, they became widespread in the mine business - when using an internal combustion engine in an enclosed space, the air quickly becomes polluted, sharply worsening the working conditions. The exhaust gases of the air motor are ordinary air.
One of the disadvantages of a pneumatic cylinder is a relatively low energy density, that is, the amount of energy generated per unit volume of the working fluid. Compare: air (at a pressure of 30 MPa) has an energy density of about 50 kWh per liter, and ordinary gasoline - 9411 kWh per liter! That is, gasoline is almost 200 times more efficient as a fuel. Even taking into account the not very high efficiency of the gasoline engine, it "gives out" in the end about 1600 kWh per liter, which is significantly higher than the indicators of the pneumatic cylinder. This limits all the performance indicators of air motors and the machines they move (range, speed, power, etc.). In addition, the air motor has a relatively low efficiency - about 5-7% (versus 18-20% for an internal combustion engine).
Pneumatics of the XXI century
The urgency of the environmental problems of the 21st century has forced engineers to return to the long-forgotten idea of \u200b\u200busing a pneumatic cylinder as an engine for a road vehicle. In fact, a pneumatic car is more environmentally friendly than even an electric car, the structural elements of which contain harmful environment substances. The pneumatic cylinder contains air and nothing but air.
Therefore, the main engineering challenge was to bring the pneumocar to a form in which it could compete with electric vehicles in terms of performance and cost. There are many pitfalls in this business. For example, the problem of air dehydration. If there is at least a drop of liquid in the compressed air, then due to strong cooling when the working fluid expands, it will turn into ice, and the engine will simply stall (or even require repair). Ordinary summer air contains about 10 g of liquid per 1 m 3, and when filling one cylinder, additional energy (about 0.6 kWh) must be spent on dehydration - and this energy is irreplaceable. This factor negates the possibility of high-quality home refueling - dehydration equipment cannot be installed and operated at home. And this is just one of the problems.
Nevertheless, the topic of the air car turned out to be too attractive to forget about it.
With a full tank and full air filling, the Peugeot 2008 Hybrid Air can travel up to 1300 km.
Directly into the series?
One of the solutions to minimize the disadvantages of the air motor is to make the vehicle lighter. Indeed, a city minicar does not need a large range and speed, but environmental performance in a metropolis plays a significant role. This is what the engineers of the Franco-Italian motor Development International, who presented the MDI AIRpod pneumatic stroller and its more serious version MDI OneFlowAir to the world at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show. MDI began to "fight" for pneumocars back in 2003, showing the concept of Eolo Car, but only ten years later, having filled a lot of bumps, the French came to an acceptable solution for the conveyor.
MDI AIRpod is a cross between a car and a motorcycle, a direct analogue of a motorized wheelchair "disabled", as it was often called in the USSR. Thanks to the 5.45-horsepower air engine, the three-wheeled subcompact weighing only 220 kg can accelerate to 75 km / h, and its range is 100 km in the basic version or 250 km in the more serious configuration. Interestingly, the AIRpod does not have a steering wheel at all - the car is controlled by a joystick. In theory, it can travel both on public roads and on bike paths.
AIRpod has every chance of mass production, since in cities with a developed cycling structure, for example, in Amsterdam, such cars may be in demand. One refueling with air at a specially equipped station takes about one and a half minutes, and the cost of travel is about 0.5 per 100 km - there is simply nowhere cheaper. Nevertheless, the announced period for serial production (spring 2014) has already passed, and things are still there. Perhaps MDI AIRpod will appear on the streets of European cities in 2015.
A cross-country motorcycle built by Australian Dean Bensted on a Yamaha chassis is capable of accelerating to 140 km / h and driving non-stop for three hours at a speed of 60 km / h. The Angelo di Pietro air engine weighs only 10 kg.
The second pre-production concept is the famous project of the Indian giant Tata, the MiniCAT car. The project was launched simultaneously with the AIRpod, but, unlike the Europeans, the Indians put in the program a normal, full-fledged micro-car with four wheels, a trunk and a traditional layout (in AIRpod, note that passengers and the driver sit with their backs to each other). The Tata weighs a little more, 350 kg, the maximum speed is 100 km / h, the cruising range is 120 km, that is, the MiniCAT as a whole looks like a car, not a toy. Interestingly, Tata did not bother developing air engine From scratch, and for $ 28 million acquired the rights to use the development of MDI (which allowed the latter to stay afloat) and improved the engine to propel a larger vehicle. One of the tricks of this technology is the use of heat generated during the cooling of the expanding air to heat the air when filling the cylinders.
Tata originally planned to put the MiniCAT on the assembly line in mid-2012 and produce about 6,000 units per year. But the running-in continues, and serial production is postponed until better times. During development, the concept managed to change its name (previously it was called OneCAT) and design, so no one knows which version of it will eventually go on sale. It seems even representatives of Tata.
On two wheels
The lighter a compressed air vehicle is, the more efficient it is in terms of performance and economy. The logical conclusion from this statement is why not make a scooter or a motorcycle?
This was taken care of by Australian Dean Benstead, who in 2011 showed the world motocross bike O 2 Pursuit with powertrain developed by Engineair. The latter specializes in the already mentioned rotary air engines developed by Angelo di Pietro. In fact, this is a classic Wankeli layout without combustion - the rotor is set in motion by supplying air to the chambers. Benstede went from reverse to development. He first ordered an Engineair engine, and then built a motorcycle around it, using a frame and parts from the production Yamaha WR250R. The car turned out to be surprisingly energy efficient: at one gas station it covers 100 km and in theory develops a maximum speed of 140 km / h. These indicators, by the way, exceed those of many electric motorcycle... Benstede cleverly played on the shape of the balloon, fitting it into the frame - this saved space; the engine is twice as compact as its gasoline counterpart, and the free space allows you to install a second cylinder, doubling the motorcycle's mileage.
Unfortunately, the O 2 Pursuit remained just a disposable toy, although it was nominated for the prestigious James Dyson Invention Award. Two years later, Bensted's idea was picked up by another Australian, Darby Bicheno, who proposed to create, according to a similar scheme, not a motorcycle, but a purely urban vehicle, a scooter. His EcoMoto 2013 is supposed to be made of metal and bamboo (no plastic), but it hasn't moved beyond renderings and blueprints.
In addition to Benstede and Bicheno, a similar car was built in 2010 by Evin Yi Yan (his project was called Green Speed \u200b\u200bAir Motorcycle). All three designers, by the way, were students of the Royal Institute of Technology in Melbourne, and therefore their projects are similar, use the same engine and ... do not have a chance for a series, remaining research work.
In 2011 sport car Toyota Ku: Rin has set a world speed record for compressed air powered vehicles. Usually pneumatic cars do not accelerate to more than 100-110 km / h, while the Toyota concept showed an official result of 129.2 km / h. Due to the "sharpening" for speed, Ku: Rin could travel only 3.2 km on a single charge, but more than a three-wheeled single-seat car was not required. The record has been set. Interestingly, before that the record was only 75.2 km / h and was set in Bonneville by the Silver Rod car designed by American Derek McLeish in the summer of 2010.
Corporations at the start
The above confirms that air vehicles have a future, but most likely not in a "pure form". Still, they have their limitations. The same MDI AIRpod failed absolutely all crash tests, because its ultra-light design did not allow to properly protect the driver and passengers.
But using pneumatic technologies as an additional source of energy in a hybrid car is quite realistic. In this regard, Peugeot announced that from 2016 some of the Peugeot 2008 crossovers will be produced in a hybrid version, one of the elements of which will be the Hybrid Air installation. This system was developed in collaboration with Bosch; its essence is that the energy of the internal combustion engine will not be stored in the form of electricity (as in conventional hybrids), but in cylinders with compressed air. The plans, however, remained plans: at the moment, the installation is not installed on production cars.
Peugeot 2008 Hybrid Air will be able to move using the energy of the internal combustion engine, air power unit, or a combination of both. The system will itself recognize which source is more efficient in a given situation. In the urban cycle, in particular, the energy of compressed air will be used 80% of the time - it drives the hydraulic pump, which rotates the shaft when the internal combustion engine is off. The total fuel economy with this scheme will be up to 35%. When working in clean air, the maximum vehicle speed is limited to 70 km / h.
The Peugeot concept looks absolutely viable. Given the environmental benefits, such hybrids may well supplant electric ones within the next five to ten years. And the world will become a little cleaner. Or it won't.
One of the most significant problems of our time is the problem of environmental pollution. Every day, humanity emits a huge amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Every car powered by an internal combustion engine harms our planet and makes the environmental situation even worse. Unfortunately, this is not all. The energy problem is no less acute, because oil reserves are not endless, gasoline prices are still growing, and there is no reason to decrease them. In search of alternative sources of fuel, many projects have been invented, but all of them are either too expensive or ineffective. Although one of them looks very promising. Judging by it, perhaps ... air will become the new fuel of the future!
Sounds fantastic, doesn't it? Is it possible for a car to drive on air? Of course it is possible. But this air is not in the form in which we breathe it now - to move the car, you need compressed air. Compressed and under high pressure, the air moves the engine pistons and the car moves! After it has worked in the engine, the air returns to the atmosphere absolutely clean. There is enough tank for 200 kilometers, and the speed is also quite impressive - up to 110 kilometers per hour! (Surprisingly, car engines compressed air have a very long history. For the first time this technology was applied back in the eighties of the nineteenth century, when Louis Mekarski patented his invention, called the "pneumatic tram".) This car is not only completely environmentally friendly, it will also significantly save money for its owner! One full filling compressed air will cost one and a half euros, and in a matter of minutes the car will be ready for travel again. One and a half euros are practically equal at the price of two liters of gasoline. Calculate how much your car will travel on two liters - for sure the figure will be much less than 200 kilometers. After all, after small and simple calculations, the daily filling of the car with compressed air will cost at least 10 times cheaper! The inventor of this interesting concept, the tireless Frenchman Guy Negre, a former Formula 1 engineer, has been working on his project for over ten years. The original scheme of the engine, similar to a conventional internal combustion engine, made it possible to propel a car using compressed air stored in cylinders. The idea was borrowed by Nagrom precisely from the design of racing cars, which use a turbine for acceleration, powered by compressed air from a special cylinder. Guy Nagre started with an original concept hybrid car, which at low revs would be driven by air, and at high revs, it would start a conventional internal combustion engine. This car was developed in the mid-90s, but the inventor decided to go even further. 10 years of hard work have resulted in several models that run exclusively on compressed air. At the heart of Guy Negra's "air car" is a motor that is very similar in design to a standard ICE. The engine has two working and two auxiliary cylinders. Warm air is drawn directly from the atmosphere and is additionally heated. Then it enters the chamber, where it is mixed with compressed air cooled to -100 degrees Celsius. The air quickly heats up, sharply increases in volume and pushes the piston of the master cylinder, which sets in motion crankshaft... The first prototypes of a purely air car, created by the French from Guy Negra Motor Development International (MDI), were demonstrated in the early 2000s, and now, finally, it has come to a large-scale implementation of this remarkable development. Tata Motors Company, largest manufacturer cars in India, has agreed with MDI to launch licensed production of a small three-seat eco-car powered by compressed air. The MiniC.A.T model is equipped with a 90cc carbon fiber cylinder. m. of compressed air. At one air refueling, the car is able to travel from 200 to 300 km, with a maximum speed of 110 km / h. With the help of the compressors installed at the filling station, it will be possible to refuel it in 2-3 minutes, while paying some 1.5 euros. An alternative filling option is also possible using the built-in compressor connected to the regular network alternating current... It will take 3-4 hours to completely fill the “tank”. Despite the fact that electricity is produced mainly by burning fossil raw materials, an air eco-car turns out to be much more efficient than cars with an internal combustion engine. In terms of efficiency, it surpasses conventional cars by 2 times, and electric cars - by 1.5. In addition, it is distinguished by the complete absence of harmful emissions, as well as extreme unpretentiousness in maintenance: due to the absence of a combustion chamber, the oil in the engine can be changed no more often than every 50 thousand kilometers. Eco-mobile MiniC.A.T will be produced in four modifications. These include a three-seater passenger car, a five-seater taxi, a minivan and a light pickup truck. The cars will sell for about 5,500 pounds (about $ 11,000), which is quite affordable. Tata plans to produce at least 3,000 "air cars" annually. They plan to sell them in Europe and India, but if the project gains popularity, possibly all over the world. The initiative of the Indians was supported by the American company Zero Pollution Motors, which announced the imminent launch of compressed air cars built using Guy Negre technology on the American market. Zero Pollution Motors plans to produce CityCAT cars with an engine option (6-cylinder, 75-horsepower Dual-Energy), which allows it to operate in two modes: simply using compressed air, or using a small amount of fuel to increase the air temperature in the cylinders and, accordingly, power. In this mode, the car consumes about 2.2 liters of gasoline per 100 kilometers outside the city. CityCAT is a six-seater car with a spacious trunk. The body consists of fiberglass panels attached to an aluminum frame. The car will be able to travel 60 kilometers in the city on one supply of air, and out of the city with a low gas consumption - 1360 kilometers. The speed of the car when working only on compressed air is 56 km / h, when using gasoline - 155 km / h. The estimated cost of the car is 17.8 thousand dollars. The first batch should enter the market in 2010. Hopefully, this is not the last step in the development of sustainable modes of transportation. However, the reviews about the "air car" in the media gradually turned from enthusiastic into skeptical. About them - below.
In 2000, numerous media outlets, including the BBC, predicted that in early 2002, mass production cars that use air instead of fuel.
The reason for this bold statement was the presentation of the car called e.Volution at Auto Africa Expo2000, which took place in Johannesburg.
The amazed public was informed that e.Volution can travel about 200 kilometers without refueling, while developing speeds of up to 130 km / h. Or for 10 hours at an average speed of 80 km / h. It was announced that the cost of such a trip would cost the owner of e.Volution 30 cents. At the same time, the machine weighs only 700 kg, and the engine weighs 35 kg. The revolutionary new product was presented by the French company MDI (Motor Development International), which immediately announced its intention to start serial production of cars equipped with a compressed air engine. The inventor of the engine is the French engine engineer Guy Negre, known for his development of starters for Formula 1 cars and aircraft engines. The Negro said that he managed to create an engine that runs exclusively on compressed air without any admixtures of traditional fuel. The Frenchman called his brainchild Zero Pollution, which means zero emission of harmful substances into the atmosphere. The motto of Zero Pollution was “Simple, economical and clean”, that is, the emphasis was on its safety and environmental friendliness. The principle 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 of 20 bar. At the same time, the air heats up to 400 degrees. The hot air is then pushed into the spherical chamber. In the "combustion chamber", although nothing burns in it, cold compressed air from the cylinders is supplied under pressure, it immediately heats up, expands, the pressure rises sharply, the piston of the large cylinder returns and transfers the working force to the crankshaft. You can even say that the "air" engine works the same as a conventional internal combustion engine, but there is no combustion here. " It was stated that the car's emissions are no more dangerous than the carbon dioxide emitted by human breathing, the engine can be lubricated with vegetable oil, and the electrical system consists of only two wires. It takes about 3 minutes to refuel such an air vehicle. Representatives of Zero Pollution said that to refuel the "air car" it is enough to fill the air tanks located under the bottom of the car, which takes about four hours... However, in the future it was planned to build “air filling” stations capable of filling 300-liter cylinders in just 3 minutes. It was assumed that sales of "air vehicles" will begin in South Africa at a price of about $ 10 thousand. They also talked about the construction of five factories in Mexico and Spain and three in Australia. More than a dozen countries have allegedly already received a license to manufacture the car, and the South African company seems to have received an order for the production of 3,000 cars, instead of the planned experimental batch of 500 units. But after loud statements and general rejoicing, something happened. Suddenly, everything calmed down and the "air car" was almost forgotten. The silence seems all the more ominous since the official site of Zero Pollution "stalled" some time ago. The reason is ridiculous: the page supposedly cannot cope with a huge stream of requests. However, the creators of the site vaguely promise to "improve" it someday. The emergence of air vehicles on the roads was to pose a serious challenge to traditional transport. It is believed that the eco-friendly development was sabotaged by the automotive giants: foreseeing the impending collapse, when the gasoline engines produced by them would not be needed by anyone, they allegedly decided to "strangle the upstart". This version is partly confirmed by Deutsche Welle: “Car refineries and oil concerns unanimously consider the car with an air engine to be 'unfinished'. However, this can be attributed to their bias. However, many independent experts are rather skeptical, especially since a number of large automotive concerns - for example, Volkswagen, - already in the 70s and 80s, conducted research in this direction, but then curtailed them due to their complete futility. " Environmentalists share much the same opinion: “It will take a very long time to convince car manufacturers start production of "air" engines. Car companies have already spent massive amounts of money experimenting with electric cars, which have proven inconvenient and expensive. They don't need new ideas anymore. " Zero Pollution - Zero emission engines. In addition, they are lightweight and compact. But Deutsche Welle draws attention to the fact that in various publications "a description of the engine and circuit diagram his works are full of inaccuracies and errors, and, in addition, the versions in different languages \u200b\u200bnot only differ considerably, but sometimes directly contradict each other. Almost every edition has its own, different from others, technical specifications ... The range of numbers is so great that one involuntarily wonders: do they really refer to the same car? Another strange pattern is that with each next publication, the parameters of the car improve: either the power will grow, then the price will fall, then the mass will decrease, then the capacity of the cylinders will increase. So, doubts here are quite appropriate and justified. However, there was not long to wait. Probably, already in the coming year we will know for sure what this compressed air engine developed by MDI is - a revolution in the automotive industry or, in all senses of the word, a “blown” sensation ”. Meanwhile, it is quite possible that the intrigue with the "air car" will not be resolved in 2002 either. As a result of lengthy searches for information on the Web, one more or less "live" site was discovered, which promises the serial production of revolutionary cars in 2003. By the way, in the process of searching, a lot of interesting things on the "air" topic were found. It is curious that at the international toy fair held in February 2001 in Nuremberg, the Canadian company Spin Master offered buyers a model of an aircraft equipped with a compressed air engine. The mini-tank can be inflated with any pump, and the propellers take the original toy into the heavens. In addition, there is a commercial offer on the Internet, apparently addressed to the Moscow government. In this document, one metropolitan company invites officials "to familiarize themselves with the proposal of the car company MDI (France) to produce absolutely environmentally friendly and economical cars in Moscow." There was also a proposal by V.A.Konoshchenko, who reports on the car he invented that runs on compressed air, attaching a description of the device. Also caught my eye was the invention of Rais Shaimukhametov - "Sadokhod", which "is driven by compressed air: under the hood there is a small engine and a serial compressor. The air rotates independently of 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 completely clear, and on the other, there is a much clearer feeling that "air" transport has been used for a long time, and especially for some reason in Russia. And, moreover, from the century before last. There is evidence that a 33-meter submarine with a compressed air engine, designed by self-taught I.F.Aleksandrovsky, was launched in the summer of 1865, successfully passed a number of tests, and only after that sank. NEGRO'S MACHINE - BLOOLING SENSATION A dazzling idea - a compressed air car - turned out to be a myth Sergey LESKOV The known oil reserves on Earth will last no more than 50 years. They are trying to replace gasoline, which, among other things, is the main source of air pollution in big cities. And liquefied natural gas, and all kinds of synthesized gases and liquids, and even alcohol. For a long time, hopes were pinned on the electric car, but its specifications low, and the utilization of the energy source turned out to be a problem for the environment. And here is a new, stunning idea - a compressed air car. French engineer Guy Negro earned fame in automotive world its starters for Formula 1 cars and aircraft engines. There are 70 patents in his design dossier. This suggests that the Negro is not self-taught from among those who annoy everyone with their discoveries car companies the world. Several years ago, the esteemed Negro created the MDI (Motor Development International) company, which was engaged in the development of compressed air engines. The first reaction of any expert is nonsense, whim and again nonsense. But back in 1997 in Mexico, the parliamentary commission on transport became interested in this development, specialists visited the plant in Brignola and signed an agreement on the gradual replacement of all 87 thousand taxis in Mexico City, the most bitten capital of the world, with cars with clean "exhalation." Two years ago, at Auto Africa Expo 2000, the Negra team unveiled a concept car called e. Volution. As promised, he used compressed air as fuel. In Johannesburg, on the wave of general interest, the start of the serial production of the wonder car with the Zero Pollution engine was announced in 2002. In South Africa, it was supposed to make 3 thousand e. Volution. The appointed year is in the yard. Where is the "air vehicle"? There are many publications on this topic, but the characteristics are jumping, as if we are not talking about technology, but about an Arab stallion. If you average all the protocols, you get the following portrait: e. The Volution weighs 700 kg, the Zero Pollution motor 35 kg. The car can travel 200 km without refueling. Maximum speed - 130 km / h. At a speed of 80 km / h, it can move for 10 hours. Estimated price - 10 thousand dollars. It takes energy to pump air into cylinders, and power plants are also a source of pollution. The authors of the project calculated the efficiency in the chain "oil refinery - car" for a gasoline, electric and air engine: 9, 13 and 20%, respectively. That is, the "air vent" is in the lead by a noticeable margin. The refueling itself takes about 4 hours, and the cylinders are hidden under the bottom. The principle of operation of the "air vent" does not differ from the internal combustion engine. No, due to the lack of fuel, only the combustion itself. Besides, there are no ignition systems, fuel injection systems, or a gas tank. The air in the cylinders is under a pressure of 200 atmospheres. The idea of \u200b\u200bthe designers is as follows: part of the exhaust is sucked into a small cylinder and compressed by a piston to a pressure of 20 atmospheres. Air heated to 400 degrees is pushed into the chamber, which is analogous to the combustion chamber. It is supplied with compressed air from cylinders. It heats up - and as a result, the cylinder piston moves, transmitting the working force to the crankshaft. As we approach the announced release date, the inconsistency in publications on this topic is becoming more noticeable. It seems that Guy Negra's team is facing serious technical problems... To clarify the situation, "Izvestia-Nauka" turned to the most authoritative specialists in our country from the State Scientific Center "Scientific Research Automobile and automotive institute (NAMI) ". We calculated the operating cycle of this engine, - said the head of the gas cylinder equipment department at NAMI, Vladislav Luksho. - This is another attempt to deceive the fundamental laws of nature, to slip past the rules of thermodynamics. You can develop this idea: make the driver pump air with his feet. on compressed air is absurd, because its efficiency is very low. The energy obtained from mechanical compression per kilogram of weight is 20-30 times less than the chemical energy of hydrocarbon fuel. Gasoline has no competitors. Only atomic energy has higher performance. This e. Volution will be able to drive. only for short distances, like toys with pneumatic motors fly Skeptical attitude to the compressed air engine does not mean at all, NAMI experts are sure of this, that attempts to find an alternative to a gasoline engine are doomed. gas engines on propane-butane, which are inferior in fuel heat transfer to a gasoline engine only 1.5 times. In continuation of the precepts of Chonka's friend Gladyshev, efforts are being made to master the biogas engine, which is obtained from all kinds of waste. Hydrogen has great prospects, and the ways of its use are very diverse - from additives to gasoline to liquefaction or use in the form of compounds with metals (hydrides). According to latest developments US, it is better not to burn hydrogen: it reacts in the fuel element, electricity, which is converted into mechanical energy. Another option is alcohol, which is energetically "stronger" than gas, although "weaker" than gasoline. Alcohol engines are popular in Brazil. True, in Russia it's not even worth talking about the introduction of this design - it's just stupid.
In most countries of the world, cars with internal combustion engines are still the main means of transportation. In the countries of the "golden billion", where the requirements for cars are much higher, the situation looks different - there, cars powered by electricity and other alternative fuels are now becoming the leading direction in production.
However, the emergence of the electric vehicle as a new standard in the automotive industry did not stop the initiative of scientists and developers of new types of vehicles.
Over the past twenty years, many different car prototypes have been created in the world: hydrogen fuel, biofuel, solar panels, etc. However, it cannot be said with certainty that any of these alternatives have real prospects to compete with "traditional" gasoline cars and electric vehicles.
The problem here is that the decisive factor is always the simplicity and low cost of production, and if an alternative option is unprofitable, then all its other advantages are no longer of particular importance.
In such a situation, the experiments of large car companies have a much better chance of acceptance and mass production. An example of this development is the Air Hybrid, an innovative hybrid unit consisting of an advanced combustion engine and hydraulic compressor, designed and built by PSA. Peugeot citroen.
This French concern, combining the potential of two well-known automobile companies, set out to create a new type of engine, in which compressed air would be used instead of electricity. Air Hybrid was the successful completion of the next stage of the company's program, which is aimed at reducing fuel consumption in brand cars to a record 2 liters per 100 kilometers.
The revolutionary Air Hybrid is that such an engine can operate in three modes at once - only on compressed air, on gasoline, as well as on air and on gasoline at the same time. One of the main advantages of such a solution is a significant reduction in weight, which in itself is also an important factor in fuel economy.
The hydraulic system not only weighs less, but is also much cheaper to manufacture than a traditional system that includes rechargeable batteries... In addition, hydraulics are more reliable - with it, many complex electronic systems become unnecessary. ordinary car too many and that control everything - from starting the engine to the built-in breathalyzer.
It should be noted that built-in professional breathalyzers testing the driver before starting the engine is a popular solution among many european manufacturers cars.
New hybrid engine from Peugeot Citroen consists of a gasoline engine, an adapted epicyclic transmission, where a hydraulic compressor will be used instead of an electric motor.
In the prototype, under the floor of the car there are two cylinders containing compressed air - one with low pressure and the other with high pressure.
On compressed air, such a car can travel at speeds up to 70 km / h, which is optimal for city trips. When you need to increase the speed, you can switch to the gasoline engine, and for extreme acceleration, the engines work together.
What methods do not auto manufacturers resort to in order to attract the attention of consumers. The buyer is bewitched with fashionable futuristic design, unprecedented safety measures, the use of more environmentally friendly engines, etc.
Personally, I am not very moved by the latest delights of various design studios - even more so: for me, the car was 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 go to the sky after buying “our newest model»Is nothing but a shaking of the air. Well, at least for me personally.
More exciting for me, as a car owner, the topic - the issues of economy and survivability. Fuel costs far from three kopecks, besides, there are too many followers of Vasily Alibabaevich from “Gentlemen of Fortune” in the vastness of the “great and mighty”. Auto manufacturers have been trying to switch to using alternative fuels for a long time. In the USA, electric cars have taken a fairly strong position, but not everyone can afford to buy such a machine - it is very expensive. If only budget-class cars were made electric ...
The French manufacturers PSA Peugeot Citroen set an interesting goal for themselves, they initiated an interesting program to reduce fuel consumption. This group of auto manufacturers is developing a hybrid power plant that could only use two liters of fuel per hundred kilometers. The company's engineers already have something to show - today's developments allow saving up to 45% of fuel in comparison with an ordinary internal combustion engine: even with such indicators of two liters per hundred so far, they promise to conquer this milestone as well.
The statements are quite bold and interesting, but it would be more interesting to take a closer look at this hybrid and equally economical setup. The system is called Hybrid Air and as its name implies, in addition to traditional fuel, it uses the energy of air and compressed air.
The Hybrid Air concept is not so complex and is a hybrid three cylinder internal combustion engine and hydraulic motor - pump. Two cylinders are installed as tanks for alternative fuel in the central part of the car and under the trunk space: which is larger - for low pressure; and the one that is smaller, respectively, for high. The car will accelerate on the internal combustion engine, after a speed of 70 km / h, the hydraulic motor is switched on. Through this very hydraulic motor and an ingenious planetary transmission, the energy of the compressed air will be converted into rotational motion of the wheels. In addition, an energy recovery system is provided on such a car - during braking, the hydraulic motor acts as a pump and pumps air into a low-pressure cylinder - that is, the much-desired energy will not be wasted.
According to the company's engineers, a car with a hybrid installation Hybrid Air, even despite the mass by 100 kg compared to a traditional engine, will have fuel economy indicators of at least 45%, and this despite the fact that delights in this field of motor engineering are far from completion.
It is expected that hybrid systems will be the first to be used on the Citroen C3 and Peugeot 208 hatchbacks, and it will be possible to ride "air" already in 2016, and French managers see Russia and China as the main markets for cars with hybrid Air.
