Motorcycle powered by air..interesting

Yeah, I was thinking if the bottom (blunt) end of the tank was pushed against a plate welded to the backbone of the bike, that'd probably (maybe?) be enough to absorb the stress of a tank pissing away thousands of PSI in a few tenths of a second.

So, the tanks could be easily swapped, and the "cradle" for the tank would hold it such that if shit hit the fan, the tank wouldn't go loose from the bike.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ejEJGNLTo84" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Woohoo! That's awesome.

Here's one with actual SCUBA tanks! 4351PSI (300BAR) in these tanks. The composite/aluminum combo tank is the craziest, IMO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tyINNUaXa8Q#!

Depends. And that might not be that big of an issue. The ubiquitous AL80 is negatively buoyant full, but ends up positively buoyant when low on air. If the CF tanks were consistent in their buoyancy characteristics they would be better to dive with. Also, CF tanks tend to be smaller, which is nice underwater, more streamlined, less bulky, etc. I have seen some retardedly high pressure CF tanks too, like 10k psi, that could expand your range a LOT. Right now I dive steel, I think they're HP92's if I remember correctly, and I like them, mostly because I don't have to wear any weight. But, the weight is all on your back and that is kind of tough sometimes, it has a tendency to flip you over.

It'll be a LOT more than 140psi. An engine, remember, burns fuel. You squeeze the air/fuel mixture to 140psi or so, THEN you set fire to it, and THAT gives you the pressure rise that powers the vehicle. That gives you a pressure in the power stroke of 1000 to 1500 psi. SO yes, if you regulate it to that, you'll get constant power until the cylinder gets to that level -- the last third to quarter of the tank will give you lower performance.

PhilB

Just like cars and motorcycles are not powered by oil brought up from the depths of the Earth.



Rather that oil must be refined, distilled, heated, broken down, made into a blend that can be combusted in a modern vehicle engine.


Money, machinery, workers, energy - - - - combine to produce YOUR vehicle fuel

Tsk - tsk - tsk!

Education in modern folk is trailing far behind folk of sixty years ago!

Air was decades ago used in locomotives running underground, as a power source, because of safety factors.
Fireless locomotive


Porter Locomotive No. 3290 of 1923.


Compressed air locomotive Alberta, Canada, formerly used in coal mining

Compressed-air vehicle


A compressed-air vehicle (CAV) is powered by an air-engine, using compressed air, which is stored in a tank. Instead of mixing fuel with air and burning it in the engine to drive pistons with hot expanding gases, compressed-air vehicles use the expansion of compressed air to drive their pistons. One manufacturer claims to have designed an engine that is 90 percent efficient.



Victor Tatin aeroplane 1879


Angelo Di Pietro (inventor)

Good point, Phil.

However, let's also consider that just adapting a regular otto cycle engine for this would be very inefficient. It would be better to use a specially-designed engine, much like a steam locomotive uses multiple valves and pistons to capture the energy of the steam as it gets reduced with each piston stroke. Some of those engines are much more efficient at extracting the energy in the available pressure differential than a conventional otto cycle engine.

Edit: I just read the post above about the Di Pietro motor. Sounds nice.

Another consideration, buoyancy is a result of density, if an object weighs more then the amount of water it displaces then it sinks. An equivalent CF tank would be smaller then a AL tank, therefore, even though it's lighter, it displaces less water, and would take less weight to sink.

You need to rethink that concept.

The drop in the net weight of a C/F tank versus the same capacity aluminium one will be far less than the reduction in bulk is, so the net buoyancy will be greater, not less.

It's the same mass of air in both tanks...

Speaking of SCUBA tanks, back in the 60's I watched one at the KMCAS dive shack hit the deck the wrong way, just after being filled... it was a short-impulse JATO, and skipped a few times before it finally was grabbed by the water.

The valve took a while to find... :eek1

I understand the concept, I should have worded it differently. The increase in weight needed will be offset somewhat for a CF tank due to the smaller size then if it were a CF tank that was the same size as a standard AL80. That is for a tank of similar capacity, 80ci at the rated psi. The other trade is a tank of the same size as an AL80 will likely hold significantly more air.

Still a better tank, lighter, more streamlined, better capacity, less corrosion concern etc. I bet the overall weight of a CF tank plus the weight needed to sink it will still be less then the combined weight of an AL80 and the weight needed to stay negative/neutral by the end of a dive. AL80's are crap, they just happen to be popular crap.

And fossil fuel is also just storage, fossil fuel vehicles are just powered by the sun.

nice

The sun is just powered by the expansion of the universe...

While the expansion of the Universe is powered by the Big Bang, and Dark energy/Dark matter!

Then viewers of Futurama know that Nibbler leaves Dark Matter in his litter tray.

Well, dark matter is just.... ahem.... ah.... dark matter. yeah.

Thanks for posting, I've been following air powered car development in India for a while now but this looks really fun!

I particularly like the use of a proven chassis while focusing on new power train technology. It doesn't look as 'funky' to me.

This is a great looking design and I would love to have one if it delivers the goods

I know zero about SCUBA tanks, but the composite SCBA tanks I wore as firefighter were remarkably lightweight and very tough. They weren't cheap. But I would be surprised if they even weighed 20 pounds. Filling them was a little touchy. But they were a joy to wear compared to steel tanks.

I grew up in Joplin, I rremember that guy with the air car. He never seemed to be too bothered by facts.

Joe

Then sun is powered by nuclear fusion as a result of gravity. The expansion of the universe will someday overcome the force of gravity, and nuclear fusion will no longer be able to happen.

I tried to explain to him a way to increase efficiency, got the you stupid college kids think you know so much, and you know nothing. At that point I knew he had no chance of success other than getting money from the government and his 5 minutes of fame.

Rod