air powered bike update

This is a video of someone actually running an air powered trike.


But this video below shows more promise.


In this video he is sort of on the right track. Forget the selenoid at the top where the spark plug goes. They are only good for so many cycles and will wear out pretty quickly. Besides, the 4 stroke engine already has great valves in it. And he makes the intake and exhaust work together for air power by adding the lobes on the cam shaft. I can't see it getting more efficient than that. You just need a cheap air compressor and a scuba tank or better, a carbon fiber tank. I like the idea of using compressed air instead of batteries. And imagine doing conversions on cars. You take the camshafts out, add the lobes and grind them smooth. Take the gas tank out and replace with a 10,000 psi carbon fiber tank. Have a double reducer on that that goes down to 100 to 150 psi. You could fill up at a welding shop or at home if you have a high pressure compressor. And once you pressurize a tank, it doesn't lose its power like batteries do even just sitting there. Gas stations could start adding high pressure tanks and compressors so they could fill up the new vehicles.

Solar Hot Water - revisited

I found this link the other day
http://builditsolar.com/Projects/PoolHeating/DIY/SimplePoolHeat.htm
Remember the other day when I talked about using the roof for a solar heater, but doing it with no glazing? Well this article show testing on a small scale. He has small channels for the water to flow through, but it is exposed to the air. He tried to simulate more channels by using the space between the channels and allowing water to flow there. The efficiency went up.

The more surface area the water flows across, the more efficient it becomes. But you also get more evaporation. At 2,200 btu/square foot day, you can get a lot of power. Most collectors are maybe 20 square feet and that means 44,000 btus per day put into the water. So, a 50 gallon tank with about 400 pounds of 60 F water could be raised to 110 F in about half a day. But using 1,000 square feet of roof would raise it to the same temp in about 5 to 10 minutes. My God! And it will do it at a higher efficiency than a evacuated tube would. We are talking 2.2 million BTUs per day possible.

You would probably want a small solar panel to drive two or three cheap pumps in series. That way you would have enough head pressure to get to the roof without having to buy a VERY expensive pump to do it. You don't need much flow, just enough pressure to get it to the roof. With a big insulated 150 - 300 gallon tank acting as your heat exchanger, you would only need to run the system for about 1 or 2 hours every other day. So evaporation won't be that bad. Since you are using the gutters to collect the hot water, you could also make up some water losses via rain collection. A simple diverter on the down spout can give you full control.

But rember, this type of solar collector is more efficient if the ambient air and water temperature are fairly close, like within 50 to 70 degrees different or less. So, if you wanted 140 F water and the air temperature is 70 - 90 F then you are ok. But if it were 50 F outside, then getting the water temperature above 100 - 120 F would be very hard.

I'm just blown away by how much potential energy is available on the average roof. And you don't need a lot of money to throw at the problem. And I know evaporation is an issue, but if you run the system for 1 to 2 hours a day on the sunny days, then you might lose 2 gallons a day or so. That evaporates into the environment and someday soon it will rain and you will collect it back. So it can be sustainable. Even the pump energy would be from the sun.

Also, a good source of small, sometimes free pumps can be dishwashers. They aren't meant to run all day, but they can easily run for 1 to 2 hours and they can pump hot water at 140 F as well.

Richard

Fog Catchers Bring Water to Parched Villages

I found this story interesting http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/66973550.html
Amazing but simple water collection from fog.

Richard

Air Powered Motorcycle

If you guys remember this other post http://poormanguides.blogspot.com/2009/07/weed-eater-air-steam-engine.html from July 1st, then this would be the next logical progression. This is a picture of a motorcycle powered by air. It was designed by Edwin Yi Yuan and supposedly it is fast, efficient and has a long range. I'll have to see the numbers though.

But still, nice idea. If you were to use carbon fiber tanks and pressurize to 5,000 or even 10,000 psi then the range should be pretty good.

Take a look at this picture from Howstuffworks.com
You could take the reed valve out and then plug the exhaust port. Then have a spring loaded valve at the top instead of the spark plug. The top of the piston would have a welded tab that hits the valve and opens it. This lets air in and pushes the piston down. The length of the welded tab is such that when the top of the piston is almost to the air intake port, then the spring loaded valve shuts. This gives a longer push of the piston without wasting compressed air through the exhaust port. Effectively, it moves the exhaust port lower so the power portion of the stroke is longer.

Richard

How to Find a FREE Deep Cycle Battery

How to Find a FREE Deep Cycle Battery: "I hope this helps someone find a free or at least a cheap deep cycle battery."