Development of an Advanced Compressed Air Engine Kit for Small Engine 2014-01-1666

The transportation sector faces great and urgent challenges, including climate impacts of greenhouse gas emissions, local health impacts of criteria pollutants, and political & economic impacts of petroleum dependence. While several revolutionary solutions are being developed to reduce the impact of motor vehicles, such as increased fuel economy standards and accelerated adoption of hybrid vehicles, revolutionary new approaches must also be evaluated.

One such opportunity is found in Compressed Air Engine (CA Engine), which is powered solely by compressed air stored in a vehicle on-board pressurized tank. Proponents of this technology claim CA Engines are greener and cheaper to operate, since they do not consume fossil fuels and produce zero tail-pipe emissions, while offering the power and performance needed for light-duty vehicle use. Because CA Engines works in a two-stroke mechanism (expansion & exhaust stoke), in an endeavor to harness the energy in compressed air, here is an attempt to run an existing two-stroke gasoline engine on air with least possible modifications and determine if the idea of running existing motor vehicles on air is indeed a feasible alternative to over dependence on fossil derived fuels. The power required to run the compressor can be obtained from various renewable energy resources which will lead to grid/home based air fuelling stations reducing the cost of transportation of any fuel.

This paper is aimed at the analysis of a CA Engine Kit in terms of injection angle & pressure, efficiency of operation and examination of its viability as a transportation option as compared to gasoline and electric vehicles.