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Sunday, February 15, 2009

Air Powered Cars - 100 mpg - MDI FlowAIR

MDI FlowAIR
MDI FlowAIR will top the equivalent of 100 mpg, cost less than $18,000, and arrive in the United States next year.
Last summer, when gas prices revved past $4 per gallon and consumers starved for any alternative to petroleum, a glut of gas-free prototypes started making headlines. These weren't hybrids, or even all-electric cars. From water to wind and from the sun to the air, these one-hit wonders would allegedly ride on little more than the earth's elements. But they still had a few kinks to work out. This was, after all, the holy grail of the automotive world at the time: driving beyond gasoline. But the automotive world has turned upside down — or maybe just down — in the months since. The major car manufacturers are desperate to stay afloat and build a battery-based hybrid that can save their proverbial bacon. In this economy, the research dollars for the next generation of alternative-fuel vehicles — hydrogen, diesel, even ethanol — have dried up faster than you can say "economic stimulus package." With more time to develop their miracle wheels, can non-Detroit startups save the car industry with pie-in-the-sky technology that doesn't depend on gas — or even necessarily cost a lot to buy? Or are these futuristic rides as overhyped as a solar-powered Prius? Let's take a look at some 'elemental' cars, debunking the myths and rewarding the stars of so-called naturally powered vehicles.
AIR MDI FlowAIRHow it works: Developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre, this French minicar will top the equivalent of 100 mpg, cost less than $18,000, and arrive in the United States next year, says its American distributor. MDI's dual-energy engine uses pressurized air to power its motor by pushing the pistons round and round to turn the vehicle's crankshaft, just like a typical internal-combustion engine — only without the explosion of fuel. While this is good enough for slow speeds (up to 35 mph), it doesn't provide enough giddyup for highway driving. That's where the "dual" part comes in. Compressed air still runs the engine, but it is preheated externally just before entering the piston chamber. This hot external combustion of the adjuvant fuels, such as typical gasoline or even vegetable oil, provides expansion for the compressed gases and acts as a pressure multiplier, increasing the total applied pressure of the compressed air to the pistons.

1 comment:

  1. One of the main reasons to consider this type of technology is the concept of Peak Oil. Our society has passed the highpoint of cheap producable fossil fuels and they are now in decline; Peak Oil - 2005. We have to find alternative forms of usable energy, or green renewable energy to be able to transition from a consumer-based society to a sustainable resource model. I believe that the MDI dual-energy motor is one part of that transition solution.

    Here are a few websites that might interest you:

    MDI & Guy Negre:
    http://www.mdi.lu

    Dr. Louis Arnoux & IndraNet Technologies:
    http://www.ITMDI-energy.com

    An Australian & New Zealand site:
    http://www.thefuture.net.nz

    *Please note that AU and NZ are two areas of the world that are beginning to feel the pinch of shrinking oil availability - This is why we find this area of the world a "focal point" for this type of technology paradigm shift.

    We are quite possibly witnessing a new overall view of what transportation will look like in the near future...

    "The future is air!" Guy Nègre

    regards; gnomædh

    http://flowair.blogspot.com

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