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Compressed Air
Smart vehicle puts blind drivers behind the wheel
By Mick Webb
02:16 July 21, 2009 PDT
Recent technological developments are presenting increasing opportunities for blind and vision impaired people to interact with the world in ways not previously possible. However, many everyday acts we take for granted such as driving a car remain out of reach. That’s well on the way to changing thanks to a development by a team of students at the Virginia Tech University, who have designed a car that allows blind and visually impaired people to take the wheel and drive unassisted. Read More
Will the stars align for Scuderi's high-efficiency split-cycle engine?
By Loz Blain
01:00 May 25, 2009 PDT
For more than 100 years people have been trying to come up with an engine design to supercede Nicolaus Otto's four-stroke internal combustion motor. Scuderi is the latest to take a stab, recently unveiling a prototype of a split-cycle engine that relegates the "suck" and "squeeze" strokes to one cylinder, and the "bang" and "blow" strokes to another - for a claimed efficiency improvement of up to 50%, emission reductions of up to 80% and a power density improvement of up to 70%. Meanwhile, it's also able to store large amounts of compressed air, allowing it to run as an air/petrol hybrid when cruising. President Obama's new national efficiency standards represent an opportunity for groups like Scuderi to pitch clever clean engine technology to major manufacturers - but has the split cycle engine got what it takes? Read More
AIRPod: tiny air-powered commuter costs half a Euro per 100km
By Loz Blain
22:48 March 6, 2009 PST
Compressed air cars are well and truly on their way to mass production in India and America, among other places - although they seem to be taking their time. But the cheap, environmentally-neutral compressed air engine also lends itself to other interesting urban and industrial transport concepts like the AIRPod. Intended both as a personal 3-4 seater city commuter and as a getabout for airport, train station and municipal workers, the AIRPod is cute and easy to drive with a joystick instead of a steering wheel and pedals. The three-wheel transport weighs around the same as a touring motorcycle at 220kg, so it only needs 5 1/2 horsepower from its lightweight air engine to reach top speeds a little over 40mph. Best of all, cheap compressed air refilling will take as little as 90 seconds and cost about EU1.10 for the AIRPod's expected 220km range. Read More
Snake-like robots to assist construction work
By Kyle Sherer
16:21 December 13, 2008 PST
Researchers at the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory at Virginia Tech have designed a series of autonomous serpentine robots that are able to climb poles and inspect structures too dangerous or inaccessible for humans. The robots coil themselves around a beam and roll upward using an oscillating joint motion, gathering important structural data with cameras and sensors. Read More
A Model-T for the modern era
By Darren Quick
20:48 October 21, 2008 PDT
A century after the Model T put the world on wheels, Ford Motor Company has announced the winners of a global competition that challenged five universities to create a similarly revolutionary vehicle concept. The winner of the competition was Germany’s Aachen University's Institute of Automotive Engineering (ika), which took home the USD$25,000 in scholarship funds by developing a concept that met the requirements set by Ford: the vehicle had to be simple, lightweight, practical, and durable, offer a range of at least 125 miles, accommodate at least two passengers and be priced no more than $7,000. Read More
URWERK compressed-air powered wristwatch
By Kyle Sherer
17:22 April 15, 2008 PDT
April 16, 2008 URWERK has released the world’s first watch that uses compressed air to regulate the winding system. The UR-202 features a 3-position selector switch that controls the level of air compression generated by its miniature twin turbines, which in turn control the rate of automatic winding. Read More
Zero Pollution compressed Air Car set for U.S. launch in 2010
By Loz Blain
15:03 February 28, 2008 PST
The Zero-Pollution MDI Air Car, invented in France and licensed by Tata Motors in India, is coming to American shores. Zero Pollution Motors have announced they will begin taking reservations for the first U.S. deliveries in the next couple of months, but it will be 2010 before Americans get their first taste of the ingenious compressed-air motor, which runs to 35mph entirely on air, or uses a trickle of petrol to heat and compress more air to reach higher speeds up to 90mph. It'll cost next to nothing to run (how do 30,000km service intervals sound?), have a range of up to 1000 miles, and retail for well under US$20,000. Read More
Gary Noel
- November 22, 2009 @ 06:20 UTC
