Compressed Air Engine:

The EOS
Virginia Palmer
Stephen Schwartz
Marcella Wagner
Jennifer Zevallos

Goals
ƒ Design a sustainable automobile powered by
alternate fuel that does not detrimentally impact
the environment
ƒ Propose an infrastructure that is both practical
and reliable and would support a fleet of our
alternate fuel cars
ƒ Maintain a high level of marketability that
extends beyond an environmentally conscious
group and into mainstream society

1
 How does it work?
ƒ In an ICE, the combustion of the fuel
pushes the pistons down to turn the
crankshaft
ƒ In a compressed air engine, the expansion
of the compressed air pushes down the
pistons to turn the crankshaft

http://www.bagelhole.org/?page=353

What type of air engine?

ƒ Three options for air
technology:
ƒ Air
ƒ Air and electric
ƒ Air and gasoline
ƒ Just using air is the best
option because it
drastically cuts the weight
of the vehicle, and thus
improves the efficiency
and power

http://www.bagelhole.org/?page=353

2
 The Compressed Air Engine

ƒ NO EMISSIONS!
ƒ The air released is actually cleaner than the ambient air because
because
of the filters used
ƒ 4-cylinder
ƒ 70 lbs, compared to 200-
200-600 lbs for other engines
ƒ Uses vegetable oil for oil, and only needs to be changed
every 31,000 miles
ƒ The cold air produced can be used for the air
conditioning system

http://www.bagelhole.org/?page=353
http://www.cyber-media.com/aircar/
http://www.241computers.com/ford/ContentExpress20-30-38.html

The Car
ƒ Range of 120 miles
ƒ Max speed at least 70 mph
ƒ 0-50 mph in 7 seconds
ƒ Solar panels on the roof can be used for the
heating system
ƒ Will look like a normal car
ƒ Made out of recyclable or renewable materials

http://www.bagelhole.org/?page=353
http://www.cyber-
http://www.cyber-media.com/aircar/

3
 Refueling
ƒ Fuel at a service station
(3-
(3-4 min)
ƒ Plug the car into an outlet
(6-
(6-8 hrs; overnight)
ƒ Use the onboard solar
panels for the electricity
to compress the air

http://www.theaircar.com/station.html

Real World Examples of the

Compressed-Air Engine
ƒ MDI (Moteur Dé
Développement
International)
ƒ French based company – Guy Nè Nègre
ƒ Sold licenses to Spain, Portugal, Great Britain,
France, and South Africa, among others
ƒ Production based out of “micro-
micro-factories”
factories”
ƒ Has yet to begin
ƒ Mexico City wants to replace 87,000 taxis
ƒ Interests among third world countries
ƒ Cheap and Clean

http://www.theaircar.com/faq.html

(http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-120-
957436-120,00.html)

4
ƒ EngineAir
ƒ Australian based company
ƒ Created an extremely efficient compressed-
compressed-air engine
ƒ Not yet in cars
ƒ Start off in the mining market
ƒ Prototypes involving small vehicles
ƒ MYT ™ or “Massive, Yet Tiny”
ƒ Created by Raphial Morgado
ƒ Replaces a 3000-
3000-lb engine with one weighing 150 lb
ƒ Equivalent of a 32-
32-cylinder four-
four-stroke engine
ƒ Power to weight ratio 40x greater than conventional motor
ƒ Useful in large tractor trailers, planes, big-
big-rig trucks, ships,
etc.

Magnesium
ƒ Benefits:
ƒ Extremely Light Material (1/4 as dense as steel, 2/3 as dense as
aluminum), and still maintains high impact resistance
ƒ Don’
Don’t have to use excess amounts with its high strength:weight
ratio
ƒ Abundant material supply (sea water, brines, and magnesium-
magnesium-
bearing minerals)
ƒ Close to 100% recyclable
ƒ Disadvantages:
ƒ Cost is a little high right now, but supply is growing so those
costs will decrease with time

5
 Why Not Other Materials?
ƒ Aluminum? Mg has: ƒ Plastic? Mg is:
ƒ Better machining ƒ Stronger/stiffer
ƒ Better corrosion ƒ Safer: better
resistance absorption of energy
ƒ Increased die life ƒ Steel? No… Mg:
ƒ Can be cast in large ƒ No welding/ less
thin-walled near net assembly/ lower
shapes tooling costs
ƒ Superior dimensional
http://www.meridian-mag.com/magnesium/
stability/repeatability

Miscellaneous Ideas
ƒ Magnesium could also be incorporated
into the windows to create a switchable
mirror
ƒ “Smart Windows” keep sunlight from
overheating car in summer time
ƒ Energy efficient to maintain desired
temperature
ƒ Soy/Hemp Seating, etc.

http://www.aist.go.jp/aist_e/research_units/research_section/mrisus/mrisus_main.html

6
 Power Plants
ƒ Point sources of pollution
ƒ Can be more easily controlled than countless tailpipes
ƒ Zero emissions can be achieved through cleaning
technologies and renewable energies
ƒ Maximize efficiency with superconductor wiring
ƒ Localized energy sources, reduce the need for
transport
ƒ Minimize transportation energy use
ƒ Don’
Don’t rely on foreign oil

On-Site Energy Production

ƒ Solar or Wind Energy
ƒ The Aeolian System
(developed by MDI)
ƒ Uses only turbine
produced energy to
compress air at
refueling stations
ƒ Solar could have
similar uses

http://theaircar.com/station.html

7
 Wind-Turbine Power

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhy
dro/wind_potential.html
http://www.eere.energy.gov/windandhy
dro/windpoweringamerica/images/wind
maps/il_std800.jpg

Energy of Compressed Air

ƒ If you compress air completely you actually get liquid. So we take
take
the energy value of liquid nitrogen (air consists of 70% nitrogen
nitrogen by
volume)
ƒ A way to calculate the energy value of 1 liter of compressed air:
air:
9Energy Density/Specific Energy of liquid nitrogen = 320 KJ/L
or 320,000 joules/liter
9Energy value of gasoline: 33,333 KJ/L or 33,000,000
joules/liter
ƒ About 100 times more energy available in gasoline than in fully
compressed air
ƒ The transfer to mechanical power of compressed air is better than
than
for gasoline

8
 Energy Losses on the Compressed
Air Fuel Path

http://www.efcf.com/reports/E18.pdf

Recovering Heat Loss

ƒ Much of the heat lost during the compression of
the air can be regained from the operations of
the car
ƒ The air in the compression-stage is extremely
cold
ƒ The cold air can be reheated from the ambient
atmosphere between each step to extract
energy from it before being expanded through
the next turbine

9
 H2 vs. Air
ƒ Because of the different densities, hydrogen
compression requires 15 times more energy
than air compression for identical initial volumes
and identical pressure limits
ƒ For hydrogen, the main losses are associated
with electrolysis and fuel cell use
ƒ The heat generated in the process of
compacting air is considered a loss
ƒ Hydrogen fuel technology is much more
expensive

Emissions

10
 Public Opinion, Consumer Values,
and the Preferences of the Market
ƒ Analyzing current consumption 2004 EV World Online Poll (n=1,057)
habits and public opinion data can
help us understand the preferences
and values of consumers.

ƒ Preferences of the Market:

ƒ Niche Market: a focused,

"If it were available in your

Percentage
targetable portion of a market
sector that addresses a need community, would you be
for a product or service not interested in owning or leasing 71 15 13
offered by mainstream
providers. the MDI Air Car, which is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niche_marketing powered by compressed air"?
ƒ EOS Market Niche: Upper,
middle class environmental
conscious consumers.
ƒ Public opinion data shows
that majority of Americans
would buy an air compressed 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100
car.
http://www.emediawire.com/printer.php?prid=18 %
6242 Yes No Don't Know

CONSUMER VALUES

ƒ Cost: consumer costs such as cost of car,

usage (fuel), maintenance
ƒ Environmentally friendly, sustainable: car
production, car emissions, recyclability
ƒ Style / Design
ƒ Power
ƒ Range / Mileage
ƒ Convenience (accessible infrastructure)

11
 Production Costs
ƒ Production cost of current marketable compressed-
compressed-air car
ƒ between $10,000-
$10,000-$15,000
ƒ Production cost of our compressed air car (with solar panels and
magnesium car frame)
ƒ between $15,000-
$15,000-$25,000
ƒ But remember, air compressed cars will benefit from gains in production
production
such as:
ƒ Improved technology. Investment in research and development of
compressed air cars will produce more efficient, cost-
cost-saving
technologies such as discovery of cheaper materials (to replace limited
quantities of current materials like magnesium), improved storagestorage of
compressed air, etc.
ƒ Mass production Æ Economies of Scale
ƒ As the total number of vehicles produced increases, the fixed costs
costs will
remain the same while the varied costs will increase. This leads
leads to a
decreasing total average cost.
ƒ MDI is creating micro-
micro-factories to produce tens of thousands of air
compressed cars. Auto Industry benefits from economies of scale at tens of
thousands and hundreds of thousands of vehicles produced.

Consumer Values: Cost of Car,

Usage, and Maintenance
ƒ Car cost for consumer Æ
ƒ Between $10,000 - $25,000
ƒ Usage
ƒ Fuel Æ Compressed Air at Service
Station
ƒ Current cost of gasoline: $2.33
per gallon (Chicago 12/06),
average mpg is 28 mpg for five
passenger car, 9 cents per mile
ƒ Cost of fuel: $1.33 per 100 km/62
miles, 2 cents per mile
ƒ Majority of public willing to pay
higher prices for vehicle itself, but
not for fuel. Compressed air car is
same price as average vehicle,
but cheaper fuel.
ƒ Maintenance:
ƒ Oil Changes Æ every 31,000 miles
rather than every 3,000 miles
http://www.ethanol.org/documents/ACEFuelEconomyStudy.pdf
http://www.ethanol.org/documents/ACEFuelEconomyStudy.pdf
In order to help reduce energy use and this country's
dependence on oil, would you be willing to... (Gallup/USA
Today 2004)
Pay another 50 cents in taxes per gallon of gas,
w hich w ould fund more research and
24 73 3
development of alternative energy sources and
encourage people to use less gas?
Buy a vehicle w ith higher fuel economy w hen you
need a new car, even if means paying an extra
73 23 4
200 dollars or not being able to buy today's largest
SUVs (Sport Utility Vehicles)?
0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
% % % % % % % % % %
Percentage
Yes or Favor No or Oppose Don't know

12
 CONSUMER VALUES:
Cost and Government Incentives
ƒ Government incentives for the purchase of goods can
alter and distort consumer behavior towards buying that
good.
ƒ Today, most federal and state tax incentives are for the
purchase of hybrid vehicles. Tax rebates are up to
$4,000 (2005).
ƒ Currently there are no federal or state tax incentives for
compressed air cars. But this may change!
ƒ Why? Hybrid cars are already in market and
infrastructure for them is in existence. Compressed air
cars are not yet on market and infrastructure not
constructed.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Rebates-
http://ezinearticles.com/?Rebates-and-
and-Government-
Government-Incentives-
Incentives-for-
for-Fuel-
Fuel-Efficient-
Efficient-Car-
Car-Owners&id=256783
Owners&id=256783

CONSUMER VALUES:
Convenience, Power, Range, Style

ƒ Convenience
ƒ Since car produces zero emissions, there is no pollution smell.
ƒ Compressed air engine produces same sound as an electric car
Æ virtually silent.
ƒ Infrastructure can easily be built.
ƒ Power:
ƒ Maximum speed of at least 70 mph
ƒ 0-50 mph in 7 seconds
ƒ Range / Mileage
ƒ at least 120 miles, 200 km
ƒ Style
ƒ Family sized Sedan (seats five people) Æ appeals to consumers’
consumers’
desire for spacious transportation

13
 Judging Success
ƒ Have we met the criteria set out for us? Æ

Developing design, infrastructure, and

marketability potential that satisfies sustainability
criteria and appeals to consumer preferences
and values?

ƒ YES!

ƒ Expect the EOS to enter market for sale within

the next few years.

14