Abstract

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AIR CAR THE EMISSION FREE VEHICLE

Jim Joseph Kurian, Don Augusty


Air car is a compressed air vehicle that uses a motor which is powered by compressed air. This paper reports an improved technology in the automobile sector that uses no gasoline or other bio-carbon based fuels, which makes them, emission free at the exhaust. Since air car's source of energy is usually electricity, its total environmental impact depends on how clean the source of this electricity is. Air cars are powered by motors driven by compressed air, which is stored in a tank at high pressure such as 30 MPa (4500 psi or 310 bars). The storage system of a CAES (Compressed Air Energy Storage) is one of the most interesting characteristics of this technology, and it is strictly related to its economic feasibility, energy density and flexibility. The storage tanks of these cars are made up of carbon-fiber that possesses the capability to safely hold air at a pressure somewhere around 4500 psi, making them comparable to steel tanks, thereby eliminating the issues with hydrogen damage and danger involved in high-impact crashes. The cars are designed to be filled up at a high-pressure pump. Compressed air has relatively low energy density. In order to increase energy density, some systems may use gases that can be liquefied or solidified. Refuelling may be done at home, but filling the tanks to full pressure would require compressors having 250-300 bars, which are not normally available for home standard utilization, considering the danger inherent at these pressure levels. To sum it up, they are non-expensive cars that do not pollute and are the need of the hour in today’s era of increased pollution (especially in Delhi) and are easy to get around in cities.