FUTURE TRENDS IN AUTOMOBILES:

AIR POWERED VEHICLES (APVs)

Submitted by:DHEERAJ KUMARROLL NO – 17SEMESTER – 7th

DEPT. OF MECHANICAL

CONTENT Introduction Need of the technology Compressed air vehicles (CAV) Developers and Manufacturers Working principle of APVs Transformation in I.C engine Details of working Components of APVs Literature Review Information from research papers Applications and case study Future scope Conclusion

INTRODUCTION

Fuel crisis, cost of gasoline and many other environmental aspects have led the leading car manufacturers to develop car powered by alternative energy sources.

One possible alternative is the AIR POWER VEHICLES. It is hard to believe that compressed air can be used to drive vehicles.

MDI (Motor Development International) is one company that holds the international patents for compressed air car.

Compared to fuels like petrol and diesel, compressed air is favourable because of a high energy density, low toxicity, fast filling at low cost and long service life. These issues make it technically challenging to design air engines for all kind of compressed air driven vehicles.

NEED FOR THE TECHNOLOGY The stock of fossil fuel reserve is very limited and because of its

tremendous use it is depleting at a faster rate.

Compressed air being used to power APVs is very cheap and abundantly available.

No combustion takes place inside the cylinder this reduces wear and tear of the components.

Also there is no possibility of knocking. This in turn results in smooth working of engine.

There will not be any need for installing cooling system or complex fuel injection systems. This makes the design simpler.

COMPRESSED AIR VEHICLES 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.

DEVELOPERS & MANUFACTURERS

MDI (Motor Development International), France has proposed a range of vehicles made up of Air Pod, OneFlowAir, CityFlowAir, miniFlowAir and MultiFlowAir.

Air Car Factories South Africa is proposing to develop and build a compressed air engine.

APUQ (Association de Promotion des Usages de la Quasiturbine) has made the APUQ Air Car, a car powered by a quasiturbine.

Tata Motors, India, as of January 2009 had planned to launch a car with an MDI compressed air engine in 2011. In December 2009 Tata's vice president of engineering systems confirmed that the limited range and low engine temperatures were causing problems.

WORKING PRINCIPLE OF APVsCompressing a gas into a small space is a way to

store energy. When the gas expands again, that energy is released to do work. That's the basic principle behind what makes an air car go.

The compressed is stored into the storage tank. The air is allowed to pass into the cylinder through pulsed pressure control valve. The compressed air expands and causes the piston to move which in turn rotates the crankshaft.

TRANSFORMATION DONE IN CONVENTIONAL I.C ENGINE

Spark plug Pulsed pressure control valve

Governor Electronic timing circuit

Fuel tank Air vessel

Cam Modified cam

DETAILS OF WORKING

4 stroke operating cycle

1. Induction strokeEngine pulls piston

out of cylinderLow pressure inside

cylinder (< 1 atm.)Atmospheric

pressure pushes air into cylinder

Engine does work on the pressurised air during this stroke

2. Compression strokeEngine pushes piston

into cylinderAir is compressed to

high pressure and temperature (700psi, 540oC)

Pressurised air is injected as piston reaches top of stroke

Engine does work on the air during this stroke

3. Power StrokePressurised air

expands (2000oC, 1000psi)

Air push piston out Air expand to lower

pressure and temperature

Air do work on engine during this stroke

4. Exhaust strokeEngine pushes

piston into cylinderHigh pressure

inside cylinderPressure pushes the

piston out of cylinder

Engine does work on the pressurised air during this stroke

COMPONENTS OF APVsCompressed air tankBrake power recoveryAir filterElectrical systemChassis Engine Body

2 TYPES OF ENERGY MODESSingle Energy Mode: It uses only compressed air. The

maximum speed is 50 km/h.

Dual Energy Mode: It uses compress air as well as

fossil fuel. At speed over 50 km/h, the engine will switch to fuel mode.

FUELING PROCESSThere are three modes of fuelling tank:• Air Stations• Domestic electric plug • Dual-energy mode

LITERATURE REVIEW Bharat Raj Singh1 and JP Yadav2 (2011) in their endeavour

have evaluated the performance of compressed air engines.

Their preliminary analysis based on the prototype calculation shows that around 3 cubic metre of air at a pressure more than 30bar can give a mileage equivalent to one litre petrol i.e. Rs 64

Cost of production of one cubic metre of air at a pressure of 50bar is Rs 3.

Hence air of Rs 9 can give the mileage of Rs 64 of petrol.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION They designed the proto type for low speed, the output power;

applied load was also kept low. The prime aim being to test the concept of application of with its

related advantages.Indicated power = ip = p L A n K/ 60,000 kWHere, K = 2, L = 0.11, A = 0.00079 for 450 RPM

ip = p L A N K/ 60 000 kW= 05 x 100000 x 011 x 000079 x 450 x2 /60000= 0.065 kW

Similarly for 570 RPMip = 0.165 kW

And for 650 RPMip = 0.282 kW

COMPARISON WITH EVS These comes under zero

emission vehicles.

Electrical vehicle batteries use toxic electrolytes, these electrolytes have to be mnf.pr produce some pollution ,battery replaced every 2-3 years.

This car use natural air ,compress air more efficient.

Comparison

Nissan Toyota

Air powered car

Fuel type

electric electric

Air powered car

Annual fuel cost

$331. $391. $220.

Green house gas emissions

3.5 4.1 1.2

Price(msrp)

$50999.

$42000.

$14000.

INFORMATION FROM RESEARCH PAPERS

―Technical benefits:The temperature of the engine while working

will be slightly less than the ambient temperature.

Smooth working of the engine due to very less wear and tear of the components.

There is no possibility of knocking.No need of cooling systems and spark plugs or

Complex fuel injection systems

―Economic benefits:Reduces the cost of vehicle production by

about 20% as no need to build a cooling system, fuel tank, Ignition Systems or silencers.

Compressors use electricity for generating

Compressed air which is relatively much cheaper and widespread.

Smooth working will lead to less wear & tear, so lesser maintenance cost

APPLICATIONS & CASE STUDY Applications

FAMILY CARS VANS TAXIS PICK-UPSMINI-CATS BIK

Case study

The case study of the air powered vehicles is that the TATA MINICAT is developed. The TATA Motors is get collaboration with the MDI (Motor Developments International).The TATA MINICAT is get launched on or before 2016, the price of that car is around 6.50-7.50 lakhs.

FUTURE SCOPEThe future scope of the air powered vehicle is

that when we driving the car on the road the aerodynamic is affected on the car, if we have done the arrangement on the car that utilizes that air and send it to the air compressor and send to the air engine, so the car does not stop for the reason of refuelling.

CONCLUSION Air powered cars is a realization of latest

technology in automobile field.

It eliminates the use of non-renewable fuels like gasoline, diesel petrol etc, and Thereby preventing pollution caused by millions of automobiles all over the world.

This could be the future of automobiles and step to a healthier environment