• Engineering students develop a Go-Kart that runs on air

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    Don’t you wish your car would run on something that isn’t a rare commodity? Like something as free as air? Well with the prices of gasoline reaching new scales everyday it’s no wonder that a group of scientists have now developed cars that actually need air as a fuel, promising to run at great speeds. Mechanical engineering students from Canada’s Dalhousie University have unveiled their air-powered go-kart. Under their year-long research project, these five Dalhousie mechanical engineering students have developed compressed air engine of their own. The students modified a 40-year-old snowmobile engine and ran compressed air through the engine to produce power similar to a gas engine. They attached the engine to a refurbished go-kart using two scuba tanks to house the air. The air is released through a standard scuba fitting with a high-flow regulator. The released air travels through tubing to a ball-valve connected to the foot pedal and throttle.



    The greatest drawback to the engine is that it runs out of air quickly. But, over time and some research this will be rectified. There has been no mention about the average running distances over a full tank of air, but lets just hope that the future is as free as air.
    Source

    Posted in Topics:Transport, Tags: , on June 10, 2008