permaculture

[Harmon Seaver <hseaver@gmail.com>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Gasification] Off topic but very cool!
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 07:53:44 -0000
From: Ken Boak <kenboak@stirlingservice.freeserve.co.uk>
Reply-To: Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification
<gasification@listserv.repp.org>
To: Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification
<gasification@listserv.repp.org>
References: <003e01c86e82$0702ffa0$98a972d8@default>
<87C244B5-DAE5-411E-A424-3503298D1851@sasktel.net>

Bob, List,

If you read more on the MDI air car, several things come to light.

1. The vehicle has more than one mode of operation.
2. The product concept has changed significantly over the years in order to
attract further finance.

The vehicle will run autonomously for short distances on the energy stored
as compressed air, in the same way that a hybrid electric vehicle has a
fairly short range running on battery power only.

The second mode of operation is to burn liquid or gas fuels, and heat the
air in an open cycle Ericsson engine. This provides the range extension.

Most news reports on this vehicle fail to realise the two distinct mode of
operation, and give outlandish reports about  the range - believing that
this is the compressed air only mode.

To sum up it's basically an external combustion engined hybrid with a
compressed air energy store.  For the quoted range, it is still burning
fossil fuels.   The turn around efficiency of the compressed air storage is
pitiful even when compared to an electric storage battery.

That's perhaps why this "concept" gets announced every few years - they are
still looking for investors.



Ken










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-- 
Harmon Seaver