Air-powered scooter invented for a cleaner environment

That's cool

Del

Might want to check out the air powered scooter being developed by a company in California. Can follow the link to Youtube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okTygoPxiNE. They also have a video of an air powered Porsche Boxster under development. Do a Google search on MIIN-AER.

Cheers,

Glenn

Hi, I recently read about this in my local newspaper, and after some googling, this came up: http://www.mdi.lu/eng/affiche_eng.php?page=mdi

It looks promising to me, and Tata, a big indian motor and car manufacturer, has put some money into it and will develop and sell cheap cars in India. The motor technology may be sophisticated, but the rest of the car and the logistics of power to the cars are low-tech and cheap, so I can see the possibilities. And it does not pollute!! I hope for the indians(and the rest of the world), that they(we) soon will have this invention to use.

moe

sorry forgot to log in...

A good discussion on real efficiencies, but how much energy is used in the refinement of petrol (gas!?), and its distribution, etc. And 33% sounds very poor for electrical efficiency. A good powerstation is 60% efficient, so your figures are losing 50% in distribution! I smell oil company figures. The future is surely electric cars for short journeys running on nuclear generated elctricity (maybe thorium?), so lets be fair to the wiggly amps.

Actually my own prototype is a plug-in hybrid, so I am convinced that electric cars are becoming the way to go (although today the cost of batteries is too high to make a full electric with broadly desirable range affordable). But at the same time, electric cars and plug-in hybrids have been dramatically overhyped, leading many to believe that we have solved problems where we've just scratched the surface. Plug-in Prius conversions are still advertised at 100 to 500 mpg (as in this Hymotion page)

It is actually an extremely rare power plant that achieves 60% efficiency even before distribution. Coal-fired plants (half the total in the US), don't come close, with relatively new tech fluidized bed plants being typically 35% (or so) efficient, before distribution.

Both Argonne Labs and the the DOE in general keep track of powerplant efficiency, and the official figure, as written into law, is 32.8 percent average efficiency of fossil fuel power plants, excluding line losses.

Following is a post I made to the Progressive Automotive X Prize site regarding some of these issues. It is slightly off topic here, but really very closely related, in the sense that all competing technologies must be measured from a well-to-wheels perspective. To me, the whole idea of calling an electric vehicle, or an "air" powered vehicle, or a hydrogen-powered vehicle or a hydraulically-powered vehicle, etc, etc, etc, "Zero Emission" is smoke and mirrors that favors the status quo, by making it appear we've licked problems that we have not.

Here's that post:

"Hi Jim.
Here's a link to a video interview of Steve Fambro. At 1:20 he says that the Aptera uses 60 watt-hours per kilometer, which translates to 10 miles per kilowatt hour. At 1:46, he says that its mileage is about 120 mpg when running on gasoline. The 300 mpg he mentions is based on the same logic used with plug in Priuses, etc. which was promoted first by Cal Cars and Felix Kramer. If you look at Hymotion's site, you'll see they quote figures from 100 mpg to 500 mpg for their plug-in Prius. Thus, this type of measurement is not a measure of the car's efficiency, but of the driving routine, and of one's willingness to ignore the energy used to charge the batteries.

Jim Woolsey takes this logic even further with his 500 mpg plug-in flex-fuel hybrid dream car, and ignores BOTH the energy used to charge the batteries and the energy content of the ethanol in E85. He measures only the actual gasoline portion of the E85. Seems stunningly idiotic to anyone interested in engineering, physics, or the environment. It suggests that with today's tech (there is nothing mysterious or new about plug-in hybrids or flex fuel), we have already achieved 500 mpg, making the 100 mpg X Prize a little silly.

The DOE source is here: http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-IMPACT/2000/June/Day-12/i14446.htm

From it:

When comparing gasoline vehicles with electric vehicles, it is
essential to consider the efficiency of the respective ``upstream''
processes in the two fuel cycles. A full description of the differences
in the processes is beyond the scope of this rulemaking, but the
critical difference is that a gasoline vehicle burns its fuel on-board
the vehicle, and an electric vehicle burns its fuel (the majority of
electricity in the U.S. is generated at fossil fuel burning
powerplants) off-board the vehicle. In both cases, the burning of fuels
to produce work is the least efficient step of the respective energy
cycles.
Therefore, the PEF includes a term for expressing the relative
energy efficiency of the full energy cycles of gasoline and
electricity. This term, the gasoline-equivalent energy content of
electricity factor, abbreviated as Eg, is defined as:

Eg = gasoline-equivalent energy content of electricity =
(Tg * Tt * C) Tp
where:
Tg = U.S. average fossil-fuel electricity generation
efficiency = 0.328
Tt = U.S. average electricity transmission efficiency =
0.924
Tp = Petroleum refining and distribution efficiency = 0.830
C = Watt-hours of energy per gallon of gasoline conversion factor =
33,705 Wh/gal
Eg = (0.328 * 0.924 * 33705)/0.830 = 12,307 Wh/gal


This calculation has been used for many years and is widely accepted.

Sherry Boschert, in her book "Plug-in Hybrids" says:
"Despite their complexity, well-to-wheels analyses are the only fair way to compare the efficiency and emissions of different auto technologies." (Page 37)

(Oddly enough, just two paragraphs later she buys into the plug-to-wheels thinking, and concludes (incorrectly) that an electric RAV4 uses just 17% of the energy used by a typical 20 mpg gasoline vehicle. She also buys into the all typical Plug-in Prius figures, and the similarly inflated figures for the AFS Trinity "Extreme Hybrid".)

When Motor trend tested the Tesla roadster, they said "the Roadster's gasoline-equivalent well-to-wheel mileage works out to something like 55 mpg." (That's about 40% of the figure advertised on the Tesla site. )

Well-to-wheels is "essential" per the DOE, and "the only fair way" per Boschert. It's so well-accepted to the mass market Motor Trend readers that they can quote a well-to-wheel figure without having to provided much explanation.

Well-to-wheels analysis is fair, widely practiced by virtually all engineers, understood by the readers of Motor Trend, practiced by the DOE, but rejected by the X Prize, where it is needed most. One could understand favoring electricity over other technologies if the X Prize sponsor were Consolidated Coal, but I'd think that Progressive would be pretty tech neutral. Go figure."

Back to CR4: The section of law quoted above, eventually goes on to apply a 6.67:1 favorable multiplier for any alternative fuel (including electricity). This is purely political (as there is no engineering reason to think that ethanol is "better" than gasoline: several studies say it is much worse, some say it's a little better, but on average one could say it is about equal to gasoline environmentally - but current production is causing havoc and pain for poor populations in the food market ) but the law gives strong preference for CAFE purposes, to electric vehicles. So no, I don't think you are hearing big oil talking when I mention 33%, any more than if I said that the power plant efficiencies were higher than the DOE figures you'd be hearing big coal, or big natural gas talking. Big business favors big consumption, no matter what the source -- and often, the large energy vendors sell many sources.

Hi Blink, I read the hole, earlier thread, and I can see now, where I was blinded by the numbers when I saw the article in my local paper. Thank you for the enlightment. And the "well-to-wheels" factor is the right way to look at it. So, the best way to reduce emissions now is to drive ones gasoline car carefully and with low RPMs, with plenty of compressed air in ones tires (!), and wait for the day, when a real invention can change things. Right?

Best regards moe

So, the best way to reduce emissions now is to drive ones gasoline car carefully and with low RPMs, with plenty of compressed air in ones tires (!), and wait for the day, when a real invention can change things. Right?

Pretty much, although there are alternatives right now that could make a huge difference. Priuses and Prius-like cars are achieving real 50 mpg figures by many drivers. I think the new EPA figures are pretty close now for the Prius, so 45 mpg for a year round average is about right for average drivers. If all the people who could drive a Prius actually did so (80% of all families could have at least one such vehicle) the reduction in fuel usage would be extremely large, given that the fleet average is now 20 mpg. In addition to reducing emissions, this would reduce demand, lowering prices.

Plug-in hybrid conversions can improve efficiency somewhat if the electrical power comes from the grid (because even 33% at a power plant is better than 25% in a car engine) but can improve emissions and cut nonrenewable source consumption a lot if the power is from solar panels, windmills etc. In Georgia, home solar panels can payback their cost in as little as ten years (but they last for 25 or so), if you do much of the installation yourself, take advantage of the incentives, etc... and have a roof that is not shaded by trees. (I'd love to do this, but my roof is pretty thoroughly shaded.) Here, we can buy "clean" energy at a premium -- which I may do if I am convinced it is not all smoke and mirrors.

I have a patent pending on a natural gas system for simultaneously charging an electric car's batteries and providing domestic hot water. It happens that, without getting too exotic, the waste heat from a small engine will heat enough water for a family of four, given a 30 mile commute, which is about average. Such a system can be about 85% efficient. (Of course, this only works at optimum efficiency if the commuting energy and water usage are roughly balanced -- in the summer, and with a long commute, you could end up with more heat than you need -- although in the winter, excess heat could be used for space heat.)

But today, if more people jumped into cars like Priuses, we could go a long way toward reducing CO2 emissions, reducing reliance on foreign oil, reducing fuel depletion, reducing fuel cost, and reducing driving cost.

Thanks for the well researched info on real emissions figures. My education was probably based on the latest gas fired power stations. It is interesting to think of the french situation, where half the power is nuclear generated, or areas where most power is from hydro-electric plants. As an interesting aside, I patented a fully variable valve timing system ages ago, but it was before it's time. I dropped it partly because I thought it would only perpetuate the I/C engine for cars, and I could be responsible for polluting the world. As it turned out, they didn't need me! It is still the only robust and fully effective system I have seen. Most systems have limited adjustment range or awkward geometry, which is limiting their adoption. The big issue I see with hybrids, is the manufacturing energy cost and materials. They already have full time guards on churches with copper rooves. Where will we be when China wants electric cars?

Very heartening to note this good invention.

t is truly ideal for the world countries in the context of" global warming" as well as keeping with the gushing fuel costs. It is suggested that the invention may be brought to the notice of the general public in mass scale. Also, a large scale production may be taken up after carryng out further modifications if necessary. R&D cell may be opened up in all countries to step up research to minimise the size, maximise utility as well as economise on costs.

s venkataraman

email: venkataraman2008@yahoo.co.in