Air Powered Bike Range

I recently built an air powered bike... because why not? Well maybe the energy density of compressed air storage is slightly less practical than expected, but that's why I put it to the test!

Enjoy my videos? These are made possible due to help from my Patrons.

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My Other Equipment:

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[tichu]

7:10 sounds like an asthmatic Darth Vader doing the cycling.

[davedonovan]

the attitude with which you accept and overcome small failures is the reason for you huge successes. you really inspire me to not give up on things when I hit a snag. Thanks Tom, you really are an inspiring guy.

[lazerusmfh]

Ok next step: wood or coal fired steam boiler

[pboytrif]

Loving the diagrams and calculations Tom. Super fun to watch

[rusinsr]

Next up: Nuclear reactor powered bicycle

[mobilegamersunite]

If you were to revisit this project you may want to take into consideration that there is a difference between the volumes of the extention and retraction because the retraction has has slightly less volume due to the air cylinder shaft retracting into that area

[USWaterRockets]

This project looks like a lot of fun. One idea: you should add more piston stages cascaded in series, so you can recover some of the energy in the exhaust venting.

[log]

It’s impressive how much time and effort you put into your content

[armin]

That bike sounds disturbingly familiar with me challenging any serious incline... ;)

[DolganoFF]

"Oh, that's a lot of power" - traveling at10 km/h :)))

[NicMediaDesign]

Your projects are some of the best on YouTube.

[zyxw]

Hi Tom, you can find used carbon fiber SCBA tanks that the fire fighters get rid of. They fill to 4500 psi or 310 bar! You may be able to find one for very cheap at a pellet rifle store. They can usually fill them there too. Theres a chance that a dive shop may have them as well. And either will have used steel and aluminium tanks for even cheaper.

[calvin]

Now it is time to get even more impractical and make an electric-pneumatic hybrid bike by adding a battery powered air pump. You could then add a roof on it with solar panels to power the whole system. If you made a snappy enough video of it, you could make a killing on kickstarter.

[jackkemp]

Why don’t you add air compressor to the pedals, so when you pedal you’ll be slowly adding more pressure to the tank to extend the range? Or even connect it to the bike tyres?

[davidgeier]

I want to see a v8 engine of the mini 3d printed compressed engines. That would be so satisfying to watch. This bike is a really cool concept, keep up the good work.

[GavinRemme]

Very interesting! We take for granted lipo power density sometimes!

Also can I say it looks like the new vids have been picking up a lot more views recently? That's awesome!

[jrotor]

Your air powered bike is begging to be displayed somewhere worthy. What an awesome project Tom. Cheers!

[glewellyn]

Another issue you might face using a scuba tank is the regulator. A scuba diver uses about 15l of air per minute near the surface, or 5 times that at 40m depth. That requires the regulator to be submerged in order not to cool down too much to freeze shut. In air heat transfer from the environment is a lot lower and a regular scuba regulator might well freeze at the rate you're taking air out of the tank.

[danway]

You should try a vane motor, they're used in most rotating air tools. Very efficient.

[ulyssesdacop]

"If the exhaust pressure is at 2 atm, it effectively halves the range." This is why compund expansion engines exist, so as to utilize this exhaust pressure to further extract energy from the pressurized gas