The Revolutionary Design of the Asymmetric Engine

After hearing about a car that was actually operating using an engine powered only by air, I thought I had to look further into how it worked and how good it actually was. It lead me down a rabbit hole of compressed air storage, optimising air engines using heat recovery, and business deals. Let's find out what really happened to the compressed air engine car.

Key Sources:

Credits:
Producer & Presenter: Ryan Hughes
Research: Sian Buckley and Ryan Hughes
Video Editing: @aniokukade‬ and Ryan Hughes
Music and Sound Design: @aniokukade‬

#engineering #engine #breakthrough

[hamjudo]

Compressed air powered mining equipment made a lot of sense back before lithium ion batteries. They were also quite popular for vehicles that were designed to be used indoors. They were particularly well suited for use in hot environments with low air quality because the engine releases cool clean air in normal operation. They didn't need separate systems for cooling and breathing air.

They also wouldn't set off explosive atmospheres in a mine. In fact, they could be built without any electronic or even electrical equipment at all.

They also made sense where cleanliness was important. For example, the golf cart like vehicles used inside airports and factories.

The limited range wasn't a problem, because those environments typically already had multiple high pressure air connections for pneumatic tools and refilling the tank was so fast.

Compressed air powered vehicles have been around for so many decades. Yet they never sold well for use outdoors. They couldn't compete with internal combustion engines where exhaust could be tolerated. They can't compete with electric vehicles, now that we have good batteries.

[Psrj-ad]

all the ineficiancy of combustion engines with non of the energy density.

[vibs]

Old fashioned double expansion steam engine running on air. Still seems fun. Just install a boiler and you've got something.

[yuki]

and it still looks better than the new jaguar

[clintonhalunajan]

Liquified air can improve the energy density problem

[ctcboater]

Fuel>electricity>compress air>transfer air>store air>convert pressure to mechanical: It looks like a complicated way to get around...

[lephtovermeet]

Compressed air isn't an energy source - it's a battery, and a relatively low energy density battery at that. 23% efficiency from plug to wheels isn't that far off from IC engines. So what's the trade-off then to a typical battery operated vehicle? Well, compressed air vehicle theoretically don't need rare earth minerals and are highly recyclable. Otherwise... I'm not sure. They'll have way more moving parts with life cycles due to wear and tear, and the fact that only a tiny prototype has been proven rather than retrofitting a small car shows there's obviously limits to the performance. In a perfect world where we all drive super light smaller vehicles, this might be a viable option that's actually greener. In fhe real world where uneducated emotional consumers demand 5000lb SUVs, infinite torque, and 0-60 in 3 seconds, batteries seem to make more sense, environmental impact be damned.

[EbenBransome]

In the past places like explosive plants used steam engines which had hot water tanks but no boiler. Water was fed in at high temperature and pressure, and then as the valves were opened it produced steam which powered the locomotive with no flames or sparks. As I child I saw them in action at the local gas works.
This is actually much higher power density than compressed air, but they required frequent recharging (like every half hour).

[loiskimberleyplayer]

This is so interesting! Love the story behind it featuring in this video. Thanks for all the hard work!

[tonycosta]

They should have opted for a more traditional vehicle design. That Air Pod thing makes a Reliant Robin look normal. And Tata tried to launch a compressed air car, but it never made it out the gate.

[Patiboke]

Great stuff! Limited range but lightning fast charging.
Today there are diesel and gasoline ICE engines and EVs on the road, so it wouldn't be a problem if the future was a mix of EVs and air cars. The latter would be nice for petrolheads who prefer a roaring engine in their car.

[charlestaylor]

The need to focus on an onboard air compressor that is not gas or electric, once they do that there's a million air powered motors to choose from.

[trevortrevortsr]

We have a shunt train older than me at our oil refinery that uses compressed air - it main advantage is no sparks or high temperatures - every hour or so its tank gets refiled - it looks like an old steam train - I don't think its a compound

[davidhulk]

i could have sworn i saw a air power vehicle project that had liquid air in one tank then went through a heater to convert the liquid to a gas to be used in the other tank that goes to the engine it supposedly had a theoretical range of 200 - 300 km and went 80 kph

[sham]

What about a hybrid concept using compressed air to generate electricity to run the car on electric motors? it would provide range and power as well.

[pompeymonkey]

Why does it always have to be a car? I have an ebike and I love it. Not so nice in the wet, but I still love it. :)

[Iron_Alabasterd]

I'm curious how they dealt (or perhaps didn't) with the natural accumulation of water vapor inside the device. Is there a purge valve somewhere, further decreasing the efficiency of the vehicle?

[jhfdhgvnbjm]

2:19 I hate to say it but thats nothing new, its just the same as a double expansion steam engine, though often they were triple expansion.

[VeniceInventors]

I don't understand why there would be any significant energy loss when dropping the pressure from 350 to 20 bars.

[edwardnedharvey]

Not liking the clickbait thumbnail. Running on compressed air is not "no fuel needed" and how was there anything about this supposed to be revolutionary? Not even close to a new idea.