Compressed Air Car Wins $5 Million Deal on Shark Tank

ENS News Wire ^ | 05/04/2015

[Cowman]

Was it in the very ironic boy racer orange?

[Gandalf_The_Gray]

Mythbusters tried to do this with a boat this will fail as well

Their boat had two compressed air tanks piped to a ball valve which fed a single pipe poked through the transom below the water line. There was no motor/propeller as such. When the valve was opened it blew bubbles at the stern with absolutely no forward progress. They were counting on generating thrust like a rocket but the design was a laughable failure.

As to the subject automobile, it is not unique. There was a design from India (the "Ta Ta" I believe). It had some clever features, they made provisions to use the motor as a compressor to eliminate the "charging station". They used the air w/o heating it so the exhaust was cooled well below ambient and was used to air condition the interior for free. The body design was akin to the smaller Fiat as opposed to the single front "barn door" Isetta like design. I haven't heard anything about production, the project probably died before launching.

Regards,
GtG

[Sherman Logan]

Nahh, it was kind of an off-white. Wish she still had it.

[Smokin' Joe]

So, how well does the heater work?

[Neidermeyer]

I not so clear on the heating of the air going into the engine, however.
**********************
Gasoline vapor? If they’re needing external heat anyway why not go with STEAM... I was very workable with WHITE and Stanley (and others) ... you wouldn’t need infrastructure as you just use gasoline and water.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

If the inventor was really clever, he'd adapt the Atmos clock mechanism to his car. It can run continuously up to seven years without any external power supply -- it generates power to wind the mainspring from changes in atmospheric pressure and ambient temperature.

[GOYAKLA]

Thanks for educating me, and others, for a great use of a Burdon tube!
I had never seen this before. My experiences were using them in alarms.
Maybe the NFL could use some! ;^)

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Sure. It’s a fascinating clock and mechanism. Strictly speaking, it’s a bellows, not a Bourdon tube. The Bourdon tube uses differential pressure to very slightly straighten out a curved tube which is translated to motion. The Atmos has used three power sources (oldest to newest):
* mercury-in-glass expansion device (temperature changes alone)
* mercury and ammonia bellows
* ethyl chloride power (current)

I think all three used a bellows.