International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)

ISSN (Online): 2319-7064

Index Copernicus Value (2015): 78.96 | Impact Factor (2015): 6.391

Air Powered Car - Future of Transportation

Ashish Jiotode1, Pravin Jeurkar2, Abhijit Wadhai3
1
Amravati University, Babasaheb Naik College of Engineering, Pusad, Maharashtra, India
2
Amravati University, Babasaheb Naik College of Engineering, Pusad, Maharashtra, India
3
Amravati University, Babasaheb Naik College of Engineering, Pusad, Maharashtra, India

Abstract: Transportation is the most vital part in our day to day life. If it won’t be there life would not be this easy. Transportation
consist of cars, trucks, trains, etc. which requires petrol and diesel as a fuel to run. As we all know that fuel is non-renewable sources of
energy and also the prices of fuel increases day by day. So under the vision of this concept we introduce some new ideas in this paper.
Here we used AIR as a fuel to run the automobiles. As air is free to us and renewable source of energy and most reliable too. In this we
used Air for intake and also we used carbon filter for removing the dust particles. For this we don’t need petrol or diesel, we can directly
run engine by air. This will be very helpful to people. Also it will be most useful for industries. Cost rate of transportation will be less. In
future it will be more advantageous and useful. TATA MOTORS make an agreement with Motor Development International MDI of
France to develop a car that runs on compressed air. Also it will be more economical and pollution free. The cost of refilling the air will
be very less as compared to petrol or diesel.

Keywords: Air Engine, Compressed tank, Compressed Air fuel

1. Introduction  Approximately 90m3 of compressed air is stored in fiber

tank in the vehicle.
We know that our world is facing fuel crisis now. All kinds  The engine is powered by compressed air, stored in a
of conventional source of fuel for the history of cars carbon-fiber tank at 30Mpa (4500psi). The tank is made of
becoming more and more expensive and impractical carbon fiber in order to reduce its weight.
especially from an environment. These factors are leading car  The engine has injection similar to normal engines, but
manufacture to develop car fuel-cell-powered cars will roll uses special crankshafts and pistons, which remain at top
onto the world’s highway. dead center for about 70 degrees of the crankshaft’s cycles;
this allows more power to be developed in the engine.
Compressed air as a source of energy in different uses in  Also we can use Turbocharger for increasing the speed.
general and as a nonpolluting fuel in compressed air vehicles  The expansion of this air pushes the piston and creates
has attracted scientists and engineers for centuries. Efforts are movement. The atmospheric temperature is used to re-heat
being made by many developers and manufacturers to master the engine and increase the road coverage
the compressed air vehicle technology in all respects for its  The air conditioning system makes use of expelled cold air.
earliest use by the mankind. The present paper gives a brief
introduction to the latest developments of a compressed-air 3. How Compressed Air Can Fuel a Car
vehicle along with an introduction to various problems
associated with the technology and their solution. While
developing of compressed air vehicle, control of compressed
air parameters like temperature, energy density, requirement
of input power, energy release and emission control have to
be mastered for the development of a safe, light and cost
effective compressed air vehicle in near future.

2. How Does Air Engine Work

Figure 2: The Chassis

In practical terms compressed air at 300 bars is stored in the

carbon fiber tank A. Air is release through the main line
firstly to an alternator B where the first stage of
decompression takes place. The now cold air passes through
heat exchanger C which adds thermal energy to the air and
provides a convenient opportunity for air conditioning D.

The warm compressed air now passes to the motor E where

two more stages of decompression and reheating takes place.
Figure 1: Air Engine The motor drives the real axle G through the transmission F.
Volume 6 Issue 4, April 2017
www.ijsr.net
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
Paper ID: ART20172846 2125
 International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN (Online): 2319-7064
Index Copernicus Value (2015): 78.96 | Impact Factor (2015): 6.391
Control of engine speed is through conventional accelerator air that comes out of the car is cleaner than the air that
pedal H controlling a valve within the motor. went in.

4. Compressed Air Tanks 6. Technology Description

The following is the description of the actual functionality of
the motor.

Figure 3: compressed tank

Compressed air tanks are one of the major part of this car. Figure 4: Structure of Air Engine
This tank holds 90 cubic meters of air compressed to 300
bars. It is similar to the tanks used to carry the liquid gas used 7. Process Description
by buses for public transport. The tanks enjoy the same
technology developed to contain natural gas. They are 1. The first piston takes in ambient air and compresses it to
designed and officially approved to carry an explosive approximately 300 psi and 200 *F in the compression
product: methane gas. chamber during the first cycle of the engine.
In case of major accident, where the tanks are ruptured, they 2. When the piston pause, a small amount of compressed air
would not explode since they are not metal. Instead they from the tanks is released into the expansion chamber to
would crack, as they are made of carbon fiber. An elongated create a low pressure, low temperature volume of about
crack would appear in the tank, without exploding, and the 140psi.
air would simply escape, producing a loud but harmless 3. Shortly before the valve to the exhaust cylinder is opened,
noise. Of course, since this technology is licensed to transport a high speed shutter connects the compression and
an inflammable and explosive gas (Natural gas), it is expansion chambers.
perfectly capable inoffensive and non-flammable air. 4. The sudden pressure and temperature difference between
the low chambers creates pressure waves in the expansion
It is fitting, that MDI has reached an agreement with the chamber, thereby producing work in the exhaust chamber
European Leader in aerospace technology air bus industries that drives the piston to power the engine.
for the manufacture of the compressed air storage tanks. With 5. The air tanks for storing the compressed air are localized
a remote supervision arrangement, Air bus industries underneath the vehicle. They are constructed of reinforced
overseas the making of the storage tanks at each MDI carbon fiber with a thermoplastic liner. Each tank can hold
factory. The coiled carbon fiber technology used in the 3,180 ft3 of air at a pressure of up to 4,300 psi. When
construction of the tanks is complex and requires a connected to a special compressor station, the tanks can be
substantial quality control process which the multinational recharged within 3-4 min. They can also be recharged
company, home of the Airbus aircraft, will provide for our using the onboard compressor 3-4 hours after connecting to
vehicles. a standard power outlet.

5. The Air Filter 8. Working

 The engines work with both air taken from atmosphere and
air pre-compressed in tanks. Air is compressed by the on-
board compressor or at service station equipped with a high
pressure compressor.
 Before compression, the air must be filtered to get rid of
any impurities that could damage the engine. Carbon filters
are used to eliminate dirt, dust, humidity and other particles
which unfortunately are found in the air in our cities.
 This represents a true revolution in automobiles – it is the
first time that a car has produced minus pollution, i.e. it
eliminates and reduces exciting pollution rather than
emitting dirt and harmful gases. The exhaust pipe on the
car produces clean air which is cold on exit (between -15o
and 0o) and is harmless to human life. With this system the
Figure 4: Compressed Air Engine

Volume 6 Issue 4, April 2017

www.ijsr.net
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
Paper ID: ART20172846 2126
 International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN (Online): 2319-7064
Index Copernicus Value (2015): 78.96 | Impact Factor (2015): 6.391
9. How Air Car Helps to Reduce Pollution it would either take a long time to fill the tank, or they
would have to take less than a full charge(since heat drives
The most important pollutants in car exhaust include: up the pressure).

 Carbon monoxide (a piston) is formed because combustion 12. A Car That Run On Air, In India Soon
is incomplete. Not enough oxygen is available fast enough
to react with all of the carbon available.  TATA MOTORS has signed an agreement with MOTOR
 Nitrogen oxides – Because of the pressure and temperature DEVELOPMENT INTERNATIONAL of FRANCE to
inside a cylinder, nitrogen and oxygen in the air combine in develop a car that runs on compressed air, thus making it
various ways. very economical to run and be almost totally pollution free.
 Unburned hydrocarbons – not all of the hydrocarbons  Although there is no official word on when the car will be
participate in the reaction because there is so little time commercially manufactured for INDIA, reports say that it
available during the combustion phase. will be sooner.
 As about gasoline is the main source of pollution, if we  The car could cost around Rs 350,000 in INDIA and
used compressed air instead of gasoline then we can would have a range of around 300 km between refuels.
improve environment. The cost of a refill would be about Rs 90.
 As we know that nitrogen is the main constituent of
environment, in case of air car we extract nitrogen from 13. Conclusion
environment, liquefy it and used as fuel in car, then there
will be nitrogen, only the exhaust gas which is not harmful For the entire disruption made one can say that by using air
to human being and environment. By using liquid nitrogen car there is reduction in air pollution. The emission benefits
(compressed) in car, we can reduce pollution up to 70- of introducing this zero emission technology are obvious.
80%. Also the aim of project is to cut cost, create job locally. Also
air car provides an answer to the shortage of fuel and high
10. Advantages of Air Car price of fuel.

 Refueling can be done at home using an air compressor or With petrol and diesel prices going up and the price of oil
at service station. The energy required for compressing air subjects to fluctuation for motorist, this will be shortage
is produced at large centralized plants, making it less costly gasoline (petrol, diesel), in future, engine that runs on
and more effective to manage carbon emission than from compressed air is only the alternative for it.
individual vehicles.
 Compressed air engine reduce the cost of vehicle Reference
production by about 20%, because there is no need to build
a cooling system, spark plugs, starter motor, or muffler. [1] www.theaircar.com
 The rate of self-discharge is low opposed to batteries that [2] www.google.com
depilate their charge slowly over time. Therefore the [3] www.howstuffworks.com
vehicle maybe left unused for longer periods of time than [4] www.zeropollution.com
electric cars. [5] IC Engine Book of “V Ganesan”
 Compressed-air vehicles emit few pollutants, mostly dust [6] Mathur Sharma “IC Engine” Dhanpat Rai Publication
from brake and tire wear. Refueling can be done at home (1999)
using an air compressor or at service station. The energy
required for compressing air is produced at large
centralized plants, making it less costly and more effective
to manage carbon emission than from individual vehicles.
 Compressed air engine reduce the cost of vehicle
production by about 20%, because there is no need to build
a cooling system, spark plugs, starter motor, or muffler.
 The rate of self-discharge is low opposed to batteries that
depilate their charge slowly over time. Therefore the
vehicle maybe left unused for longer periods of time than
electric cars.
 Compressed-air vehicles
 Lighter vehicles would result in less wear on roads.

11. Disadvantages of Air Car

 Refueling the compressed air container using a home or
low-end conventional air compressor may take as long as 4
hours tough the specialized equipment at service station
may fill the tanks only in 3 min.
 Tanks get warm when they filled rapidly. It would be
difficult to cool the tank efficiently while charging and thus

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Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
Paper ID: ART20172846 2127