Our 250psi rated (they normally only go to 120psi during use though) air cans for automotive use (aka they are mounted on vehicles with air brakes) at the plant are light as a feather. You don't need to armor them, just put a shroud around them so when they are hit and punctured then blow the air, it is directed somewhere. Not rocket science and air the last time I checked isn't the most flamable or explosive of materials even at 300psi which is all a jake brake could ever develope.
That Tata car is as dead as a doornail, you will never see it and we all know why. It was one unicorn that didn't fly very fast or far or even very well.
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Originally Posted by Thymeclock
They weigh quite a lot, as a steel tank used for compressed air or gas needs to be substantial enough not to rupture.
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Nah, it depends on the pressure, if used for the 270psi off a jake brake it would be very light, obviously a 3000psi tank is different (multiply by 10) And I agree fully on rust failure, it just makes an irritating leak that grows over time.
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Originally Posted by Ryland
The question does not seem to be if they work but how well, I don't think they work well because you are using electricity to compress the air and storing that energy until it's used to power the car,
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I fully agree and thats why I posted a little mental masterbation to show a situation where this could potentially be overcome by scale. Remember our battery charging systems (taken as a system) many times are only about 80% efficient (not all but many) And I fully believe compressing the air could be brought up to this efficiency point and beyond with a system as I described to eliminate the 2 of 3 main losses I provided with an existing compressor. The trouble is on the motor side.
Afterall gasoline engines began at about 5% efficiency, perhaps air motors with some work could get beyond this overall efficiency point? I am curious if anyone has some insite into what factors make a air motor more efficient (or make it inefficient) just as I outlined the actual reasons why the compressor isn't very efficient.
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Originally Posted by Ryland
there is a power company that is doing something like this to store off peek electricity but they are freezing it to a liquid state then running it in a modern steam engine, more or less what an air car does with the compressed air, thing is, to make this set up work they need a way to keep the air engine warm and that is why it's not done here but they do play around with it in places like India that stay warm and everyone wants air conditioning, gas engines produce heat as a waste, air engines produce cold.
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That sounds entirely too complex.