Air-powered Go-cart Hits The Track
Since it’s a slow news day for articles that may interest our readers, I dug back into the archives and found this interesting item. Go to http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080606091445.htm to read the full article. Below are excerpts from the article. This could be a good future AFV Lab project.
Air-powered Go-cart Hits The Track
ScienceDaily (June 11, 2008) — It’s Sunday afternoon. Thousands of fans cheer wildly as race cars fly by at speeds nearing 200 mph for 200 laps. They whiz down the pit road making pit stops, changing tires and refueling. Only, the tanks are not being filled with gas; they’re being filled with air.
That scenario may sound futuristic, but it may not be long before we see air-powered engines take to the track. Five Dalhousie mechanical engineering students have already started the journey down that road….
Dalhousie engineering student, David Alderson test drives an air-powered go cart. (Credit: Nick Pearce)
…The students modified a 40-year-old snowmobile engine and ran compressed air through the engine to produce power similar to a gas engine. They attached the engine to a refurbished go-kart using two scuba tanks to house the air. The air is released through a standard scuba fitting with a high-flow regulator. The released air travels through tubing to a ball-valve connected to the foot pedal and throttle. “It operates much like a normal rotary engine,”…
…The students officially unveiled their air-powered go-kart at Kartbahn Racing in Halifax’s Bayer’s Lake Business Park last week and invited members of the media to take it for a spin. The air-powered vehicle performed comparatively to the electric-powered carts in use. “We can do three laps here or just under two minutes going full out at 43 km/h with two tanks,” Mr. Langille explains.
Kartbahn owner Lucas Strackerjan, who graduated from Dalhousie in 2000 with a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) and a Bachelor of Science in Physics, was impressed with the finished product.
“As someone involved in not only go-kart racing, but the international racing industry, it’s important to find something that’s more advanced and could be accepted as sustainable energy,” says Mr. Strackerjan. “We set benchmarks for the electric cars and the air-powered car went right between them.”
The greatest drawback to the air-powered engine is that it runs out of air quickly. However, Mr. Strackerjan believes the engine will improve with refinements and could be a successor to conventional gas-powered engines….
Tags: Air Powered, Alternative Fuels, Alternative Fuels Vehicles, Go Carts
September 9th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
I like the idea of the air car.
Can we find a more efficient engine to use than a 40 year-old snowmobile engine meant for gasoline?