Compressed air power?

[Cronicjohnson]

I was looking at alternatives to electric and gas and i was looking at a impact wrench 10000rpms 800ft/lbs torque at 90 psi how would this fair as a gokart engine any input?

 

[Orange Krate]

How about a liquid air powered vehicle? Also known as a cryogenic heat engine. This one was powered by liquid nitrogen for experimental practicalities but reasoned that liquid air could be produced during off peak hours at nuclear power facilities. Read more here:
http://www.mtse.unt.edu/CooLN2Car.html

 

[Doc Sprocket]

I was looking at alternatives to electric and gas and i was looking at a impact wrench 10000rpms 800ft/lbs torque at 90 psi how would this fair as a gokart engine any input?

A couple thought, no particular order-

*800 lbs/ft torque may be the peak, but what is the average?
*Gawd, that'll be a noisy machine!
*Will that literally beat the rest of the driveline to death?
*Reverse- Cool!
*How big is that air tank going to have to be to get any kind of drive time?

I would like to see this!

 

[gokart14]

HOW ABOUT A GO KART POWERD BY COMPRESED AIR
TAKE A LOOK AT THIS KART


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R34XA_LpxgY&feature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwg_xzrbiZc&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

 

[KieranM]

Just dont flip and damage the tanks, or you wont be able to look at a kart again!

 

[Cronicjohnson]

I was looking at 6cu 3000 psi scooba tanks but was gunna just run a long hose from my Air compressor to test it and if that goes well witch im sure it will. Maybe attaching a belt or chain driven compressor motor and toggling inbetween tanks? Just an idea

 

[Cronicjohnson]

Anyone got any suggestions

 

[B man]

HOW ABOUT A GO KART POWERD BY COMPRESED AIR
TAKE A LOOK AT THIS KART


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R34XA_LpxgY&feature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwg_xzrbiZc&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

you know if they got the timeing a bit better they could gain a little for speed. but it works like a steam engines drive train.

 

[Odonnellp24]

If you were using the compressor as a motor you would have to set up linkages attached to the shaft to port air onto the cylinder when its Top Dead Center and then close that valve and open the exhaust valve on Bottom Dead center during the exhaust stroke. Anyone remember the old Airhog airplane with a pneumatic motor? Thats basically it. But with this setup dont expect it to last long as the type of valves dont take too well to high frequency operation.

However if you had access to a lathe and a mill you could build a custom cam for any small motor and have that operate the valves in the engine to accomplish this. It would be horribly inefficient but if you took this route then I could see it working. Then you would have to worry about having sufficient engine speed to effectively operate the oil slinger. This sounds like a very interesting project....

 

[Cronicjohnson]

The motor wil be a IMPACT WRENCH run by compressed air i was thinking of puting the compressor motor on so ibwouldnt always have to refuel on air

 

[devino246]

The motor wil be a IMPACT WRENCH run by compressed air i was thinking of puting the compressor motor on so ibwouldnt always have to refuel on air

Impact wrenches dont supply smooth enough torque to move anything. Attaching an impact wrench to a drive line will simply result in broken components.

What you need are some decent sized air cylinders or figure out a way to modify a small engine to run on air.

 

[migel101]

how about this?
bicycle powered by carbon fiber air tanks
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/04/air-powered-motorcycle-diy-moped.php

 

[sideways]

The motor wil be a IMPACT WRENCH run by compressed air i was thinking of puting the compressor motor on so ibwouldnt always have to refuel on air

There are 2 problems with using impact wrench motors.

1) The insane amount of air they consume. The only way to make it in anyway efficient is to have the air from the exhaust running another, smaller impact gun motor and then that driving another. Even then, you're not fixing the air consumption problem, you're just getting more power out of that amount of air.

2) Their massive torque doesn't come from the motor it's self but the mechanism that attaches to it. It stores inertia built up by the motor and then suddenly releases it. To use the motor on a kart you'l have to remove that mechanism which can be a pain. If you keep that mechanism you'l just break stuff when you take off and the power delivery will be horrible.

A more efficient way of doing it is to use a die grinder motor and gear it down a lot. It'l have crap performance but it'l make more power for its air consumption VS an impact gun motor.

Air tools generally have very high air consumption rates for their power output compared to other air engine types. The advantage being that they are light and compact. Those aren't really the major concerns for a air powered kart.

Good luck with the project mate, I'd really like to see it built!

Thanks

Hayden

 

[B man]

if you where going to use air then why not just make a steam engine? way better performance and speed. also would work with the same setup as air(mostly) you would then only need coal(or some fuel) and water.

 

[sideways]

if you where going to use air then why not just make a steam engine? way better performance and speed. also would work with the same setup as air(mostly) you would then only need coal(or some fuel) and water.

You wont get any better performance with a steam engine.

Steam and pneumatic motors are basically the same thing, each can be run on air or steam.

The advantage of steam is that it is constant supply of pressure, thus much greater range. The advantage of air is that the set up is much lighter and you can just jump in and go, no lighting fires and wating for it to build up steam.

 

[Thedude]

could you have a small compressor on the kart powered by a battery instead of having huge air tanks?

 

[migel101]

usually a pump the size you could fit easily would have a to low flow rate