SolAir – Compressed Air Car Conversions

SolAir – Compressed Air Car Conversions

Zero emissions driving, free driving on fresh air, convert that lovely old car at the back of the

garage into an eco-runabout

Compressed air powered trains have long been used in mines – where there are risks of explosions with standard engines

In the thirties this was one of many attempts to make air powered cars before the petrol engine became dominant:

-       804 km @ 56 kph/ charge.

More recently, a Sydney student Don Benstead has made the 02 Pursuit motor cycle about a single scuba tank and an air motor.

Photo: James Dyson Award/O2 Pursuit

“If you haven’t already accepted that motorcycles running on something other than dead dino juice are the real deal, then you probably should come around. In many cases, they perform just as well as their fuel-burning brethren, and, depending on from where you get the electricity, they run cleanly. Now, they’re getting even cleaner with the introduction of the air-powered bike.

The O2 Pursuit, a project from an engineering school graduate in Australia, runs off compressed air stored in an on-board tank. Dean Benstead’s project began with a rotary air compression engine, around which he built a dirt bike. He started with a Yamaha WR250R frame, and added a scuba-diving tank and a 25-pound engine to power the rear wheel. Squeeze the throttle and air is released to accelerate the bike. And its stats are impressive. The O2 Pursuit gets 62 miles of travel on a full tank, and can hit a top speed of 87 mph.

Air beats electric both for convenience and environmental kindness. There’s no battery to dispose of when the cells eventually break down, filling up with air takes two minutes rather than hours required for charging, and it can be stored in an inert state forever. And while the air-powered car is little more than a four-wheeled scam we’ve been hearing about for decades, the low weight of a bike is perfectly suited for compressed it,” Benstead said. “You haven’t technically used anything.”’

-       100 km range and 140 kph top speed.

Soon to be released is the MDI AirCar

-       90 km 90 kph – 2 min recharge from a compressed air cylinder

The averange distance driven in Australia is 14,300 km a year ~ 45 km/day.

South Australia has the largest amount of old cars in Australia – most are fine mechanically but tend to have large often V8 engines that are expensive to run at current petrol prices.

It is intended with SolAir to take such cars, fit them with a new cam shaft to make them 2 stroke, plus sufficient scuba cylinders in the petrol tank spaces and boot to yield 100 km range and run the engines as air motors.

My friend’s electric car has a range of 120 km with recharge on braking and with commuting & general city running around & needs recharging 2 – 3 times a week.

SolAir will allow that old favorite at the back of the garage to be converted to an Eco Commuter/City Car allowing the owner to waft to & from work for free – to the purr of a V16, for V8 conversions.

Slave air cylinders will be filled ‘at home’ with a solar or wind powered compressor during the day – allowing the commuters to recharge their car’s cylinders on return from work.

Recharge on braking can also be considered.

This will yield a fleet of ecocars that run for free with zero emissions without the need and cost of buying a fleet of new cars

Much similar work is being done around the world, for instance:

AIR POWERED ENGINE

Prof. B. S. PATEL1

Abstract:

In the present energy scenario the fossil fuel sources are fast depleting and their combustion products are causing global environmental problems.So it is inevitable to shift towards the use of renewable energy resources which in turn will reduce pollution and saves fossil fuels.Air Powered Engine is an alternative technology which uses compressed air to run the engine and thus eliminates the use of fossil fuels Exhaust temperature of it will be slightly less than atmospheric temperature (i.e. 20-25°C) and thus helps in controlling global warming and reducing temperature rise caused due to other means. As we are going to convert the already existing conventional engine into an air powered one, this new technology is easy to adapt. Another benefit is that it uses air as fuel which is available abundantly in atmosphere.Apart from above other technical and

‘SolAir’ is a division of WindWays pl,

Charlie

Sir Charlie Madden

Bt BSc MTech  MBA