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[murphy]

This is pretty neat... wonder when they will make the first bike?

http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4217016.html

[NukeIT]

interesting, but from experience it takes alot of energy to compress air to 4000# hard to believe that they say only $2.... also I don't know if I would want every tom dick and harry running around with such a high pressure system..... just my 2 cents.... but I like how they are thinking outside of the box....

[outrider]

interesting, but from experience it takes alot of energy to compress air to 4000# hard to believe that they say only $2.... also I don't know if I would want every tom dick and harry running around with such a high pressure system..... just my 2 cents.... but I like how they are thinking outside of the box....

Cha! It could make for some very (uh) interesting first responder stories, and quite possibly UFO sightings should these thing ever become mainstream

[Capo]

I can do 4000 psi with my Bauer Compressor...but that is not something most folks have lying around. 

When I got out of the Marine Corps in 94 - I owned and operated a Dive Shop in Boynton Beach Florida for 5 years, so I have done a LOT of fills over the years, the expensive part of Air Fills for SCUBA was the Filters and Compressor Maintenance.  If I didn't have to make it breathable, I could have done fills for less then they cost me - never could seperate the electric cost, but 3 Phase was pretty efficient. 

I could see it for around 2-3 bucks...

Sean

Have you ever seen video of a high pressure vessel failure? I worked for Union Carbide (Linde now) and we filled HP O2 cylinders as well as repaired same and we had to view a training video of a 244 cubic foot 2000 psi oxygen cylinder that was clinically de-valved in a controlled environment. Well the result was anything but controlled-the skid track they built could not contain the cylinder and it crossed the parking lot went through a block wall 80 feet or so away-and really really fast.



this video was from a rifle shot and I think it makes the point

[Fired00d]

Here is the shot into the tank...

 
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
 

[Sean M Cary]

Have you ever seen video of a high pressure vessel failure? I worked for Union Carbide (Linde now) and we fille HP O2 cylinders as well as repaired same and we had to view a training video of a 244 cubic foot 2000 psi oxygen cylinder that was clinically de-valved in a controlled environment. Well the result was anything but controlled-the skid track they built could not contain the cylinder and it crossed the parking lot went through a block wall 80 feet or so away-and really really fast.



this video was fronm a rifle shot and I think it males the point

When I had the dive shop I had banks or cascades of high pressure (4500 psi) Air and banks of 02 for NITROX fills and cylinders of Helium for the deep tech stuff we were doing then (crazy nutty deep stuff)...so I was literally surrounded by them. 

More times then I care to remember, I have had the burst disk go on a SCUBA cylinder when I was filling it - both in fill tub and out - SCARES the CHIT out of you and makes a big freakin mess.  Had one rip off a fill hose off the panel once.

One time when I was stationed on Okinawa, I was headed north on 58 the main hwy there- had about 15 or so AL 80's in the back of my van when a burst disk decided to blow...  After pulling over and cleaning the crap off my legs and floorboards - found it was the bottom cylinder.  If it had been one of the top ones, I hate to think what may have transpired, it was an older burst disk that directed the air out one side only and made the cylinders spin wildly when they go.  Now they go out like three or so holes, forget...but keeps them from spinning when they go.

HP Air and SCUBA - fun stuff.  Can't imagine this in cars!

Sean

[skreminegul07]

You will probably be able to fill a flat tire from your own supply.  Or if you run out of air, the spare can get you home.  Multifunctional

[BigR55]

Ethanol produced from corn has caused the sharp rise in food prices. Here we are burning corn in stoves and making conversion plants all over the place when the corn should be used as one of the few products we can produce and export. Oil producers can't make food from petroleum so we should trade corn for oil.

There is a company in Indiana with the technology to produce ethanol from garbage. The process takes municipal waste, sorts the metals, plastic, rock out and then adds cellulose from any source. Water is added and then this soup is pumped down a concentric tube called a Gravity pressure Vessel to a depth of 2000 feet where heat pressure and an acidic chemical form a  sugar type mash that then produces ethanol through fermentation.

What a deal! This eliminates near 100% of the trash going to a landfill, in fact could cause a shortage! The product replaces 20 million gallons of oil per year, creates employment, actually creates more water than it consumes, has no smoke stacks, and does not burn what could have been food. there is no need to burn natural gas like the corn cookers use.

According to the article, this technology was pr oven 15 years ago in EPA's own test unit. Wonder who snuffed this project. 

[Ceej]

The government needs to get out of the way. I have been following both the diesel motorcycle and electric motorcycle development story's closely and being an independent trucker - found myself working with the electric guys personally. A company called www.Ecycle.com had been working on an electric motorcycle for a while and ended up focusing on the electric motors for the EV - electric vehicle market. Their motor is ultra efficient - a big need of the EV world - and thus when spun in reverse - an ultra efficient generator - which I am installing on my truck as a DC electrical supply while the truck is parked. This will supply AC (via an electrically driven compressor - no belts / Heat / 110 power via inverter / keep the engine warm in winter and batteries charged all yearlong. Now these guys started off trying to build an electric motorcycle but veered off into EV motors and truck/marine APU's (auxillary power units). Dealing with the company bigwigs they have told me they have a great design for an electric motorcycle but the hurdles involved to get it DOT approved as a manufacturer are a nightmare. They will gladly license someone else to build it but they don't want the headaches and liability. But again their thinking outside the box has paid off in ways they didn't start out looking for.

[ccr]

Wow, These are things I was not aware of.