ME 0112

ADVANCES IN PNEUMATIC ENGINE DESIGN

1.Ms.Y.RENUKA

, 2.Ms. J.SUSHMA

Abstract :
As we have seen the price of gas has soared in recent years that Gasoline, which has been the main source of fuel for the history of cars, is becoming extinct, expensive and impractical (especially from and environment standpoint). These factors are leading car manufacturers to develop cars fueled by alternative energies. Two hybrid cars took to the road in 2000 and four years later fuel-cell-powered cars rolled onto the worlds highways. But its not enough! We have to use such engines which emit less or zero COx and NOx particles. For that one of the solutions is hybrid electrical vehicle, but again they emit COx and NOx so this is not a complete solution for this problem. The best feasible solution is Zero emission vehicles that are run by Compressed Air Technology (CAT), which does not require any type of fossil fuel. The gasoline powered engine requires 4Rs/mile whereas for air powered engines it is 75% less that is 1Re/mile with no emission of COx and NOx pollutants. The cost of the hybrid electric vehicle is approximately 51000$ which requires a charging period of 5 to 6 hours where as the cost of air powered vehicle is 14000$ that is less than half which requires only 3 to 4 minutes for recharging.

Keywords:
fuel-cell, hybrid electrical vehicle, Zero Emission Vehicle, pneumatic prime movers, compressor.

Conclusion:
The most feasible choice for the automobile is piston motor due to its conducive speed, and other performance characteristics. It also develops a high torque throughout and especially in the starting. The piston engine to run on compressed air will essentially operate on two-stroke cycle. For longer running distances, adequate air storage facilities are needed to be developed. In order to evolve successful pneumatic vehicle, it is important to develop not only an efficient prime mover but also an adequate light weight air storage system; mechanism for recharging of compressed air and suitable method for controlling the air flow. The existing old I.C. engines can be easily converted into pneumatic prime movers. So far, it was not possible to make an accurate assessment of the performance of the pneumatic prime mover because of unavailability of an adequate compressed air facility and proper test rig for the pneumatic prime mover. The simulation model developed was based on ideal cycle analysis. The throttling control and air storage facility was to be designed and fabricated. 1.Mech 2.Mech 05481A0358 05481A0370 renuka_358@yahoo.com sushma_370@yahoo.com Gudlavalleru engg col Gudlavalleru engg col

INTRODUCTION
The quality of air in urban areas is getting degraded due to presence of pollutants from continuously increasing vehicular density. It is very important to think of an action plan to control this problem. The stringent exhaust pollution norms are being made to control this problem. Simultaneously there are many alternatives being thought of, to curb pollution from vehicles. Ideas range from modifying the engine combustion chamber, re-formulating fuels, improving on the airfuel ratio, using sophisticated control devices, on board diagnostic systems, electronic fuel management, and use of alternative fuels and so on for the future automotive IC engines. However, there is a limit to which the I.C. engines can be improved. The other approach is to use alternative primemover, which are inherently pollution free. In this category, we have hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles and vehicles using pneumatic primemover. These may be termed as Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) in the context of present automotive I.C. engines. In addition, there is an added advantage of the availability of clean, cold air, which may be gainfully employed for cabin air conditioning.

History:
CAT dates back to 1847. The first engine developed to run on CAT was The Parseys Engine, which was used in mines. There were several Compressed-air tram systems, though None proved very successful, and Most were quickly abandoned, as The petroleum products were cheap & abundantly available at that time. But now this technology is again coming into picture, as the oil resources are becoming scarce & causing much pollution.

TECHNOLOGY
Air cars are powered by engines, fueled by compressed air, which is stored in a tank under high pressure such as 30 MPa (4500 psi or 300 bar). The storage tank is likely to be made of carbon-fiber in order to reduce its weight while achieving the necessary strength. Instead of mixing fuel with air and burning it to drive pistons with hot expanding gases; air cars use the expansion of compressed air to drive their pistons

ELECTRIC VEHICLE VERSUS PNEUMATIC VEHICLE

The only competitors for pneumatic vehicle technology are electrically-operated vehicles. Percentage of energy delivered for pneumatic vehicles is 20 percent, while it is only 13.2 % in case of electric vehicles. The number of miles that can be travelled using an amount of electricity equivalent to energy in a gallon of gasoline is 198 in case of pneumatic primemovers while it is only 104 for electrical vehicles. The recharge time is only few minutes in case of pneumatic primemover driven vehicles while it is more than six hours for electric vehicles.

ADVANTAGES OF PNEUMATIC ENGINES

Because there is no combustion, the engine temperature remains tepid. This fact means the engine parts can be produced from metals with lower melting points, like aluminum - allowing for smaller a lighter engine (about half the weight of a regular petrol engine) which increases the vehicles range. With a top speed of 110kph (68mph) and a range of about200kms (125miles), it looks to be an entirely useable commuter, and more Refilling the car will take 2 or 3 minutes, and at a cost of approximately 1.5 Euros, the car will be ready to go another 200-300 kilometers As a viable alternative, the car carries a small compressor which can be connected to the mains (220V or 380V) and refill the tank in 3-4 hours Due to the absence of combustion and, consequently, of residues, changing the oil (1 liter of vegetable oil) is necessary only every 50,000Km The temperature of the clean air expelled by the exhaust pipe is between 0 15 degrees below zero, which makes it suitable for use by the internal air conditioning system with no need for gases or loss of power. A vortex tube is fed with compressed air. From one end comes cold air, the other end produces hot air. So this could be used for both cooling and heating.

PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF PNEUMATIC PRIMEMOVERS

Pneumatic primemovers are compact and lightweight sources of rotary power, reversible and easily adjustable in speed and torque. They start immediately with maximum torque and can be designed to produce equal power in either direction of rotation but maximum efficiency can be obtained only when rotation is unidirectional. They can operate at any speed within their design range and are easily geared to produce maximum power at any required shaft speed. They can be specified in terms of torque and running speed. The torque of pneumatic prime overs can be specified in three ways. 1. Starting torque, the torque available to move from rest, 2. Stall torque, the torque, applied by the load to bring a running actuator to rest 3. Running torque, the torque available at any given speed. The output of pneumatic primemovers responds to flow rate, but the level of response depends upon the inlet pressure and size of cylinder. The out put of an air motor responds to flow rate but the response depends upon the pressure level and size of expander as well as other factors. A change in valve position causes a change in flow and a consequent change in pressure. All pneumatic primemovers will have similar theoretical performance characteristics, which are shown below in Figure 3. The torque is maximum at zero speed but there tends to be a fall off at stall condition, caused by friction and by variable starting position of the vanes or the pistons. Starting torque is about 75% of the stall torque For winches and hoists which may have to start under load, the

minimum starting torque is the design criterion; for motors which start off-load, such as fan drives, the maximum running torque will dominate the choice. When the primemover is stalled, the power is zero. As the speed increases, the torque falls linearly until it reaches zero at its free speed. This linear torque/speed relationship results in the power being maximum at a speed equal to one half the free speeds. Different curves can be obtained for different inlet pressures. The allowable pressure for an actuator (air motor) is defined in terms of pressure and pressure range. Air passes through air motor as it rotates. Air usage per revolution at a specified pressure is generally given in terms of STP. Rotational speed = air flow rate/ displacement With the torque rate and displacement fixed for a chosen motor, the user can control maximum available torque and speed by adjusting respectively setting and flow rate of air.

THERMODYNAMIC ANALYSIAS
In industry, cylindrical expansions are between the isothermal and the adiabatic. Isothermal expansion is defined by a constant temperature during the increase in volume. Adiabatic expansion is characterized by a lack of thermal exchange with the exterior. In our system, we use three polytrophic expansions which correspond to real life, to whichwe added two thermal exchanges during the expansion phase to come as close as possible to isothermal expansion which produces near-unity, avoiding friction. The polytrophic expansions work to the following formula: And the volume after expansion is:

The energy used corresponds to the minimum energy a compressor uses to refill the tanks. This energy is that of isothermal transformation, being as it is the compressor efficiency. This work is obtained by:

Applying this formula to tanks of 300 liters at 300 bars results in 46 MJ (Y 52.1 MJ with 340 liters at 300 bars)

EMISSION OUTPUT
Air cars are emission-free at the 'tailpipe', but their compressed air tanks are recharged using (typically) electric compressors and the electricity for such compressors can usually in some territories come from fossil fuels via power stations, so unless the electricity comes from a renewable alternative source or nuclear plants, Air Cars will still cause emissions of Greenhouse gas. However, emissions would be relocated from city streets to remote smokestacks. Of course a

solar and/or wind recharging system (including eolocompressor) can be installed in one's home or power plants, therefore eliminating the dependence of consumption of nuclear-fossil electricity. An air motor also releases air cleaner than its intake, due to the presence of an air filter to keep contaminants out of the mechanism. Consequently, this can be viewed as air purification, instead of air pollution.

STORAGE & REFILLING

The Storage tanks in CATs vehicles are composed of an interior thermoplastic container which ensures it is airtight. This is held in a coiled and crossed carbon fiber shell. This technique is the result of many studies into factors such as: mechanical specifications, density of material, choice of fibers etc. The conditions of use are maximum effective pressure (300 bar) and the temperature of use: from 40C 60C. The tanks are submitted to numeroustests to meet official approval, among which are: Airtight testing Pressure testing (1.5300=405 b) Rupture testing (2.35300=705 b) Cycles at ambient and extreme temperatures Fire-resistance testing Resistance to cuts Shock and fall testing The tanks weigh 35 - 40 kg for 100 liters of air at300 bars. For extra security, a protective plate is fixedunderneath the vehicles chassis and in addition limits access to the circuit of high pressure air. There is also anextraction system to deal with water produced by condensation.Tanks are refilled by plugging the car into a mains socket to feedthe motor-alternator which compresses the air with the motor -compressor. Refilling time obviously depends on the source ofelectricity used.

SAFETY
In the case of a major accident, where the tanks are ruptured, they would not explode since they are not metal. Instead they would crack, as they are made of carbon fiber. An elongated crack would appear in the tank, without exploding, and the air would simply escape, producing a loud but harmless noise. Of course, since this technology is licensed to transport an inflammable and explosive gas (Natural gas), it is perfectly capable inoffensive and non-flammable air.

BRAKE POWER RECOVERY

The MDI vehicles will be equipped with a range of modern systems. For example, one mechanism stops the engine when the car is stationary (at traffic lights, junctions etc). Another interesting feature is the pneumatic system which recovers about 13% of the power used.

THE AIR FILTER

The MDI engine works with both air taken from the atmosphere and air pre-compressed in tanks. Before compression, the air must be filtered to get rid of any impurities that could damage the engine. Carbon filters are used to eliminate dirt, dust, humidity and other particles which, unfortunately, are found in the air in our cities. The exhaust pipe on the MDI cars produces clean air, which is cold on exit (between -15 and 0) and is harmless to human life. With this system the air that comes out of the car is cleaner than the air that went in.

CONCLUSION
There have not been many research attempts made to evolve the pneumatic vehicles, however, based on literature available following can be concluded: Torque, speed and power characteristics are the deciding factors in selection of a pneumatic primemover to power a vehicle. The most feasible choice for the automobile is piston motor due to its conducive speed, and other performance characteristics. It also develops a high torque throughout and especially in the starting. The concept of piston motors shows good potential. The piston engine to run on compressed air will essentially operate on two-stroke cycle. For longer running distances, adequate air storage facilities are needed to be developed. In order to evolve successful pneumatic vehicle, it is important to develop not only an efficient primemover but also an adequate light weight air storage system; mechanism for recharging of compressed air and suitable method for controlling the air flow. The existing old I.C. engines can be easily converted into pneumatic primemovers. So far, it was not possible to make an accurate assessment of the performance of the pneumatic prime mover because of unavailability of an adequate compressed air facility and proper test rig for the pneumatic primemover. The simulation model developed was based on ideal cycle analysis. The throttling control and air storage facility was to be designed and fabricated.

REFERENCES
1) Dembkowski, S., and Kearney, A.T., _Compressed Air Vehicles, FT Automotive Environment Analyst, Issue 44, September 1998. 2) Sahu.S., Some Feasibility Investigations on Pneumatic Primemover for a Small vehicles 3) www.theaircar.com 4) www.mdi.lu