COMPRESSED AIR TECHNOLOGY (CAT)

Presented by:
SWATI SINGH (4th SEM, AUTO.ENGG.)

PRANAV PARIKH (4TH SEM, AUTO.ENGG.)

IITE, AHMEDABAD

Contact No.: 9725549100(swati_singh0606@yahoo.co.in)

9924.379456(impranavparikh@gmail.com)
ABSTRACT: power of compressed air which is more
efficient, cheap, environment friendly
Gasoline, which has been the main
and has also became practically possible.
source of fuel for the history of cars, is
There are at least two ongoing projects
becoming more and more expensive and
that are developing a new type of car
impractical (especially from an
that will run on compressed air. The
environmental standpoint). These factors
pioneer work in this direction was
are leading car manufacturers to develop
carried out by a French company MDI.
cars fueled by alternative energies. Two
They produced a car based on this
hybrid cars took to the road in 2000, and
technology and moreover it is running
in three to four years fuel-cell-powered
on the roads of Mexico. In our country
cars will roll onto the world's highways.
TATA Motors has recently taken up a
The cost is not the only problem with
project on dealing of air powered engine
using gasoline as our primary fuel, but it
in technical collaboration with MDI. The
is also damaging to the environment, and
paper deals with describing the
since it is not a renewable resource, it
technology, advantages over gasoline
will eventually run out.
and other alternative fuels, limitations
One possible alternative is the
and the discussion related to the air
Air-powered car which runs by only the
powered cars.

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CONTENTS

Sr.No. Title Page No.

1. Introduction IV

2. Compressed air car IV

3. Invention of the system IV

3.1 Working of system V

3.2 Fuel and recharging VIII

3.3 Mileage X

3.4 Oil requirement X

3.5 Hybrid versions X

3.6 Advantages X

3.7 Limitations XII

4. working by nitrogen gas XII

5. Conclusion XIII

6. References XIV

INTRODUCTION: Due to increasing amount of pollution,

crisis of fuel and increasing cost of fuel

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we need to think about alternative for There are two types of air powered cars
fuel. Some alternatives for fuel are solar i. e.
energy, hydrogen, bio-gas and (1) Working by compressed air
compressed natural gas.
(2) Working by nitrogen gas
Air powered cars are zero pollution cars
The technology, advantages and
which will use compressed air or
limitation of both the type of air
nitrogen gas instead of gasoline fuels. It
powered car is discussed below.
will not only reduce the cost of fuel but
will also environment friendly and it is a
renewable source unlike gasoline.

COMPRESSED AIR CAR:  The inventor then set out to

develop a vehicle according to
INVENTION OF SYSTEM:
his philosophy. This car had to
 Guy Nègre, thought that he could be ecology friend, silent, and
develop an engine and sell it to practical.
the large automotive
 During the following years, MDI
manufactures.
decided to further develop its
 The French scientist Guy Negre vehicles. The result is a clean,
invented the compressed air easy to drive, high performance
engine in 1998 A.D. after car.
research of 7 years. After two
years he sold this technology to
23 countries.

 Unfortunately, because adapting

an air engine to traditional cars
meant changing bodies and
production line the large
companies refused and he was
forced to change his approach.

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  MDI has achieved what the large  In Perris and Mexico the
car manufactures have promised compressed air car took place on
in a hundred years time. the roads as taxies.

 The end product is a light weigh  In India TATA Motors has

vehicle that can reach speeds up recently taken up a project on
to 220 km/h (even though the dealing of air powered engine in
legal limit is 120.) technical collaboration with

 A product that does not pollute MDI.

like twentieth century vehicles  The MDI car has developed two
and does not take a lifetime to models using compressed air
pay off. Essentially, MDI has technology: the three seater
developed a modern, clean, and MiniCAT model and the six-
cheap car that meets most seater CitiCAT for longer
people’s needs. distances.

WORKING OF SYSTEM:

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 smaller size through a decompression
Compressed air is stored in carbon or
glass fiber tanks at a pressure of about
4,351 psi (about 300 bar).

The air is not directly fed to the
engine. It is fed to another tank of
valve where its pressure is about 10 bar
from which air is fed to the two stroke
engine through the inlet valve. In the
first stroke the pressurized air moves
pistons to the down stroke and in the
second stroke the expanded air is
exhausted through the exhaust valve.

 break power and converts it into

There is also a brake power recovery compressed air.
option in compressed air car. When the  When the car is moving at speeds
vehicle decelerates, a pneumatic system below 80 kph, it runs on air. At higher
in the car recovers about 13% of the speeds, it runs on fuel.

SYSTEMS:

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Distribution and valves: Gear box:
 To ensure smooth running and to  Gear changes are automatic,
optimize energy efficiency, our powered by an electronic system
engines use a simple developed by MDI. A computer
electromagnetic distribution which controls the speed of the car is
system which controls the flow of effectively continuously changing
air into the engine. gears . The latest of many previous

 This system runs on very little versions, this gearbox achieves the

energy and alters neither the valve objective of seamless changes and

phase nor its rise. minimum energy consumption.

Motor alternator:  It supports the car motor to allow the

tanks to be refilled. As an alternator
The motor-alternator connects the
it produces brake power It starts the
engine to the gearbox. It has many
vehicle and provides extra power
functions:
when necessary.

Articulated connecting-rod: approximately 70 degrees of the

rotation of the crankshaft. This gives
 It is an essential component of the
enough time to establish the required
MDI engines. The MDI connecting-
pressure in the cylinder, including
rod system allows the piston to
while the RPM is increased.
"pause" at top dead centre during

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The torque obtained by this system is
equal to that of a classic system. It only
changes the distribution of force in the
cycle. This produces a torque curve (in
one rotation of the engine) with a
maximum value only slightly below that
of a classic system, at equal pressures.
The surfaces at the bottom of the curves
are identical, but the system which
allows the piston "pause" at top dead
centre, among other advantages,
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diminishes acyclic effects produced by
top dead centre in a conventional engine.
 Moreover, the torque curve being
flatter in one rotation, the dimensions
of the intermediary con-rods and the
crankshaft are reduced. A marginal
lubrication of alternate movements
(Mounted with sockets) and rotation
movements (Mounted with
bearings), easily absorb the increased
vibrations due to the added parts.
FUEL & RECHARGING:

Air tanks made of carbon fiber are
fixed to the underside of the vehicle can
hold about 79 gallons (300 liters) of air.
This compressed air can run the car for
up to 124 miles (200 km) at a top speed
of 60 miles per hour (96.5 kph).

Alternative energies such as solar
power or wind power or even nuclear
power could be used to power the
compressors if available, to result in zero
carbon emissions.

(Refilling of air using household electric source)

When your tank nears empty, you can

just pull over and fill the air at
nearest air pump where air tank is
filled by using a high pressure air
pump, which will take about 2 to 3
minutes.


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 The air is compressed at pressure You can also use a household
about 150 times the rate we put into electric source (220V or 380V)
car tyres or into bicycle. which takes about four hours to refill
 the compressed air tanks, for which
there will be a compressor mounted
in the car with the engine.

 Refilling time obviously depends on 230V: approx5hrs30mins

the source of electricity used. Here 380V: 3hrs 30mins-4hrs
are our initial estimates:

FUEL COST: HYBRID VERSIONS

The price of a full tank of air would be 
about 1.50 euros (86.35 rupees) Zero Pollution Motors is also working
on a hybrid version of their engine that
can run on traditional fuel in
MILEAGE: combination with air. The change of
 energy source is controlled

The car with full tank of air can run electronically. It can run on

upto about 300 kilometers (200 compressed air or as well as on

kilometers in traffic areas). traditional fuel, such as gasoline, diesel

or natural gas.

OIL REQUIREMENT: Zero Pollutions Motors can also work on
 their another hybrid version that can

The car's motor does require a small run on compressed air with electric

amount of oil. About .8 liters worth source. The compressed air motor and

that the driver will have to change just electric motor are interconnected by

at every 31,000 miles (50,000 km). clutches so that the car can recharge its

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 air reservoir and its battery and will operate separately or together as
required

ADVANTAGES: would appear in the tank, without

exploding, and the air would simply
Cheap: It is a low cost technology.
escape, producing a loud but harmless
Light in weight: Because there is no
noise. Of course, since this technology is
‘combustion’ there is no need of spark
licensed to transport an inflammable and
plug and the engine temperature remains
explosive gas (Natural gas), it is
tepid. This fact means the engine parts
perfectly capable inoffensive and non-
can be produced from metals with lower
flammable air.
melting points, like aluminum - allowing
Power recovery: There is also a brake
for smaller lighter engines (about half
power recovery option in case of air
the weight of a regular petrol engine)
powered cars. For example, one
which increases the vehicle’s range.
mechanism stops the engine when the
Cool Exhausting: The temperature of
car is stationary (at traffic lights,
the air exhausting from the engine is
junctions etc). Another interesting
-15oC, so that it can be used for air
feature is the pneumatic system which
conditioning in passenger compartment.
recovers about 13% of the power used.
Safety: In the case of a major accident,
 Expansion of the compressed air
where the tanks are ruptured, they would
reduces its temperature increasing
not explode since they are not metal.
efficiency.
Instead they would crack, as they are
made of carbon fiber, an elongated crack

ADVANTAGES OVER Cost of gasoline is increasing day by

day; more over it is not environment
GASOLINE FUELS:
friendly.

Gasoline fuel is also not a renewable

source, so that it will eventually run out.

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In some case of accidents there is also a is no combustion in air powered cars, it
chance of explosion. starts completely safely and no chance of

All these problems can be eliminated by explosion.

using air powered cars, moreover there

ADVANTAGES OVER Batteries are many times heavier than air

tanks.
OTHER ALTERNATIVES :
Hydrogen cars use combustion engines,
Electric cars use power generated by
Hydrogen must be stored in an altered
coal, nuclear power, and dams.  They
form to keep it from being many times
require hours to recharge.  Batteries
more explosive than gasoline or diesel. 
must be replaced frequently, and have no
Hydrogen cars exhaust water, which will
place to go when they die.  Materials
freeze on the road in cold weather and
used in conventional batteries are caustic
increase the humidity of the atmosphere,
and poisonous.  Materials used in exotic
worsening the greenhouse effect. 
batteries are as scarce as petroleum. 
Hydrogen is much more costly to
produce as a fuel than fossil fuels. 

LIMITATIONS: reduce the pressure. If cooled before

transfer, the energy in this heat will be
Zero Pollution Motors can run on air
lost.
with maximum speed of 108 kms/hr. At
Storage of air at high pressure requires
higher speeds it runs on traditional fuel.
strong containers, which if not made of
Engine of the car becomes cold due to
exotic materials will be heavy, reducing
adiabatic expansion when the air runs
vehicle efficiency, while exotic materials
out from it and losses its efficiency.
(such as carbon fiber composites) tend to
At the supply station, compressing the
be expensive.
air heats it, and if then directly
 Within the vehicle, expansion and
transferred in a heated state to the
consequent pressure reduction in the
vehicle storage tanks will then cool and

XIV
 throttle or engine chills the air, reducing
its effective pressure. Addition
ambient heat will increase this pressure
and this addition leads to a more
complex propulsion system. While an
attempt was made in the Nègre system to
WORKING BY
NITROGEN GAS
(CRYOGENIC ENGINE)
Another version of an air-powered car is
being developed by researchers at the
University of Washington using the
concept of a steam engine, except there
is no combustion. The Washington
researchers use liquid nitrogen as the
propellant for their LN2000 prototype
air car. The researchers decided to use
nitrogen because of its abundance in the
atmosphere (nitrogen makes up about 78
percent of the Earth's atmosphere) and
the availability of liquid nitrogen.
warm the air in a long portion of the
of stroke at top dead center, it appears that
this scheme has been abandoned due to
inherent imbalances causing
unacceptable levels of vibration
The Washington researchers have
developed a crude prototype of their car,
using a converted 1984 Grumman-Olson
Kubvan mail truck. The truck has a
radial five-cylinder that produces 15
horsepower with the liquid nitrogen
fuel. It also features a five-speed manual
transmission. Currently, the vehicle is
able to go only about two miles (3.2 km)
on a full tank of liquid nitrogen, and its
top speed is only 22 mph (35.4 kph).
However, because a liquid nitrogen-
propelled car will be lighter, the
researchers think that a 60 gallon (227
liters) tank will give the LN2000 a
potential range of about 200 miles
(321.8 km).
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CONCLUSION:

With gas prices soaring over the past years, it might not be long before many motorists
turn to vehicles powered by alternative fuels. Although air-powered vehicles are still
behind their gasoline counterparts when it comes to power and performance, they cost
less to operate and are arguably more environment friendly, which makes them attractive
as the future of highway transportation.

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REFERENCES:
1) www.howstuffworks.com

2) www.wikipedia.com

3) www.mdicars.com

4) www.pneumaticoptionsresearchlibrary.com

5) www.aircaracess.com

6) www.news.bbc.co.uk

7) www.theaircar.com

8) Air and gas compressors, Gill Thomas T, 1995, Pg.No.147 to 169.0

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