International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET)

ISSN: 2321-9653; IC Value: 45.98; SJ Impact Factor:6.887

Volume 5 Issue VII, July 2017- Available at www.ijraset.com

Design and Simulation of Compressed Air Vehicle

an Experimental Study
Neelam Rani1 , Ravinder Chaudhary2
1,2
Assistant Professors ,Applied Mathematics Mechanical Engineering UIET Kurukshetra.

Abstract: The latest trend in the automotive industry is to develop light weight vehicles. Every automotive industry is looking to
reduce the weight of the vehicle as it helps in the better handling of the vehicle and increases the efficiency of the vehicle. Today,
the heavy vehicles are known for producing a large amount of harmful gases like CO2, SO etc. which act as the major source for
global warming. So research is going on to find a light weight vehicle which does not pollute the environment. One of the
alternatives is the use of compressed air to generate power to run an automobile. Due to the unique and environmental friendly
properties of air, it is considered as one of the future fuels which will run the vehicles. In this paper, experimental analysis is
done on prototype of compressed air vehicle. Different parameter like static nodal stress, static displacement, shape deformation,
factor of safety is calculated.
Keywords: Compressed air, Static Nodal Stress, Static Displacement, Shape Deformation, Factor of Safety

I. INTRODUCTION
At first glance the idea of running an engine on air seems to be too good to be true. Actually, if we can make use of air as an aid for
running an engine it is a fantastic idea. As we all know, air is all around us, it never runs out, it is non-polluting and it is free. An Air
Driven Engine makes use of Compressed Air Technology for its operation. Compressed Air Technology is now widely preferred for
research by different industries for developing different drives for different purposes. The Compressed Air Technology is quite
simple. If we compress normal air into a cylinder the air would hold some energy within it. This energy can be utilized for useful
purposes. When this compressed air expands, the energy is released to do work, so this energy in compressed air can also be utilized
to displace a piston. This is the basic working principle of the Air Driven Engine. It uses the expansion of compressed air to drive
the pistons of the engine. So an Air Driven Engine is basically a pneumatic actuator that creates useful work by expanding
compressed air. This work provided by the air is utilized to supply power to the crankshaft of the engine.
In the case of an Air Driven Engine, there is no combustion taking place within the engine. So it is non-polluting and less
dangerous. It requires lighter metal only since it does not have to withstand elevated temperatures. As there is no combustion taking
place, there is no need for mixing fuel and air. Here compressed air is the fuel and it is directly fed into the piston cylinder
arrangement. It simply expands inside the cylinder and does useful work on the piston. This work done on the piston provides
sufficient power to the crankshaft.[1]
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
The first air powered vehicles were actually trains. The Mekarski air engine, the Robert Hardie air engine and the Hoadley-Knight
pneumatic system were used in the 1800’s to power locomotives.In 1925, an article appeared in the Decatur Review about a man
named Louis C. Kiser who converted his gasoline powered car to run on air. Lee Barton Williams in 1926 claimed to have invented
the first air car.[2]
Over the recent decades, the serious environmental issues, such as greenhouse effect, ozone layer depletion and fog and haze, have
drawn considerable attention. Burning of fossil fuels has been considered as the main cause of some serious environment issues.
With respect to environmental protection, the issue of energy expenditure was emphasized. Some scholars consider that the
petroleum crisis will happen, which may result inending the era of low-cost petroleum and develop the fierce competition market of
the new energy automobiles.[3]
So far, the new energy automobiles, such as electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, pneumatic power vehicles, gradually appear.
The typical products of zero-pollution vehicles contain the electric vehicles, while there aretoxic elements within batteries which
could spew toxic fumes. Morita discussed the growing modes of the power systems of future transportations. Negreet al.has
developed a dual energy engine employing the petroland compressed air, and the relevant research is ongoing. The Moteur
Development International (MDI) hasdeveloped a compressed air vehicle, namely, E.Volution . The air tank at the bottom of
E.Volution can hold300 liters of compressed air, which can provide vehicle kinetic energy. The vehicle can travel 200 km at the

©IJRASET (UGC Approved Journal): All Rights are Reserved 1974

 International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET)
ISSN: 2321-9653; IC Value: 45.98; SJ Impact Factor:6.887
Volume 5 Issue VII, July 2017- Available at www.ijraset.com

speed of 96 km/h. And the virtue of the E.Volution is the charging process which just needs 3 minutes via a high-pressure air-
charging station.[3]
In Europe inventors have made a simple air engine, thus opening a new field for compressed air car technology. These engines
allow cars to run on compressed air instead of fuel. The air, super compressed and powerful, pumps the pistons in the car instead of
small gas explosions. Pumping air instead of exploding gasoline means these cars have zero emission motors–no pollution, no oil.
Inaddition, current average family cost of fuel is 60 dollars a week and half that for a hybrid car. The new air engines will give a
whole week of driving for a few dollars. The company, MDI plans to sell this clean fuel vehicle and a compressed air hybrid in
Europe for less than 15,000 dollars in near future.
Another inventor in Uzbekistan has modified a car to run it with compressed air, stored in a tank and claims that as the car runs, it
will take in air and store it in the tank at pressure, resulting in a perpetual motion machine. Perpetual motion machines are, of
course, not possible under the known laws of physics but the idea is not being dismissed as crank. The concept of compressed air
being regenerated while the car is in motion is intriguing. It is akin to batteries of electric vehicles using regenerative charging and
even a part regeneration of compressed air would be an advance from the present understanding of the technology.
An inventor in California (USA) has made a car running on compressed air, stored in scuba diving tanks. He modified an engine
used on the Honda RC51 998 cc Superbike. He blocked off one of the cylinders of the engine and used the spark plug hole on the
other cylinder to feed the compressed air. The compressed air drives the piston down as the power stroke. At the end of the power
stroke, the compressed air is released through the exhaust valves and the exhaust is only air. The pistons were connected to the
wheels through the Honda bike’s six-speed transmission. This modified engine was mounted on a tubular frame and a body that
looked like a curious crossbreed of a motorbike with a racing car.
A bank of three scuba tanks was used to store compressed air at 3500 psi and throttled it to 250 psi at the engine inlet with a self-
designed throttle valve, linked to the accelerator pedal. The three tanks were sufficient for the test run over the 2 mile, where an
average speed of 46.723 mph was achieved with a top speed of 54.058 mph. Further, a speed to the level of 300 mph is expected
with compressed air. However, several issues like large size and heavy model due to the use of a number of tanks still remain before
this concept can translate into a usable idea.
Tata Motors, India, as of January 2009 had planned to launch a car with an MDI compressed air engine in 2011. In December 2009
Tata's vice president of engineering systems confirmed that the limited range and low engine temperatures were causing problems.
Tata Motors announced in May 2012 that they have assessed the design passing phase 1, the "proof of the technical concept"
towards full production for the Indian market. Tata has moved onto phase 2, "completing detailed development of the compressed
air engine into specific vehicle and stationary applications".[4]

A. Advantages
1) It uses no gasoline or other bio-carbon based fuel.
2) Compressed air engines reduce the cost of vehicle production because there is no need to build a cooling system, spark plugs
or starter motor
3) Reduction or elimination of hazardous chemicals such as gasoline or battery acids/metals.
4) Pollution free and easy to manufacture.
5) Very low cost and fuel efficient (compressed air).
6) Low maintenance cost.

B. Disadvantages
1) Limited storage capacities of the compressed air tank
2) A tank containing 30MPA compressed air is risky and dangerous.
3) Low boot space, as compressed air car, will be having a compressed air tank
4) Running the vehicle on compressed air will be requiring the provision for filling the compressed air in the tank.

III. EXPERIMENTAL METHODOLOGY

Improvements in structural components design are often achieved on a trial-and-error basis guided by the designer know-how.
Despite the designer experience must remain a fundamental aspect in design, such an approach is likely to allow only marginal

©IJRASET (UGC Approved Journal): All Rights are Reserved 1975

 International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET)
ISSN: 2321-9653; IC Value: 45.98; SJ Impact Factor:6.887
Volume 5 Issue VII, July 2017- Available at www.ijraset.com

product enhancements. A different turn of mind that could boost structural design is needed and could be given by structural
optimization methods. For this various analysis is done on the frame of the compressed air vehicle which can be stated as follows:
These methods are further discussed as follows.

A. Static Nodal Stress(Von Mises)

Stress or static analysis calculates the displacements, strains, and stresses in a part based on material, fixtures, and loads. A material
fails when the stress reaches a certain level. Different materials fail at different stress levels. the von Mises stress has no direction. It
is fully defined by magnitude with stress units. The von Mises stress is used by failure criteria to assess failure of ductile materials.
The von Mises stress is used to predict yielding of materials under any loading condition from results of simple uniaxial tensile
tests. The von Mises stress satisfies the property that two stress states with equal distortion energy have equal von Mises stress
Mathematically the von Mises yield criterion is expressed as:
=
where k is the yield stress of the material in pure shear and is the second deviatoric stress invariant . Simplified von Mises
equation

1
= [( − ) +( − ) +( − ) + 6( + + )]
2
Where is the von Mises stress[5]

B. Static Displacement(Resultant Displacement)

Deformation in continuum mechanics is the transformation of a body from a reference configuration to a current configuration.
Strain is a description of deformation in terms of relative displacement of particles in the body that excludes rigid-body motions.
The resultant displacement in static analysis is obtained from the value of strain on the material as inferred from the stress on the
body and the material used to obtain it. The equation of displacement as inferred from Hooke’s Law is
∆ =

Where ∆ represents the displacement, P is the force acting on it and E is the Young’s modulus of elasticity of the material.[6]

C. Shape Deformation
In materials science, deformation refers to any changes in the shape or size of an object due to an applied force (the deformation
energy in this case is transferred through work). Strain is a measure of deformation representing the displacement between particles
in the body relative to a reference length.A general deformation of a body can be expressed in the form x = F(X) where X is the
reference position of material points in the body. Such a measure does not distinguish between rigid body motions (translations and
rotations) and changes in shape (and size) of the body. A deformation has units of length. The equation for strain is
−
=
Where is the strain, L is the original dimension and l is the final dimension after application of stress.[7]
D. Factor of Safety(Max Von Mises Stress)
Use of the von Mises Criterion as a failure theory is only exactly applicable when homogeneous material properties are equal to

= = 0.577
√

Since no material will have this ratio precisely, in practice it is necessary to use engineering judgement to decide what failure theory
is appropriate for a given material. Alternately, for use of the Tresca Theory, the same ratio is defined as 1/2. The yield Margin of
safety is written as
= −1

©IJRASET (UGC Approved Journal): All Rights are Reserved 1976

 International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET)
ISSN: 2321-9653; IC Value: 45.98; SJ Impact Factor:6.887
Volume 5 Issue VII, July 2017- Available at www.ijraset.com

Although the given criterion is based on a yield phenomenon, extensive testing has shown that use of a "von Mises" stress is
applicable at ultimate loading. [8]
= −1
IV. RESULT

The following figure is the isometric view of the compressed air vehicle.

The figure that follows is the isometric view of the frame of the compressed air vehicle. This frame is constructed of mild steel.

The analysis done on the frame based on the stresses it is subjected to is as follows.

A. Static Nodal Stress(Von Mises)

The following figure indicates the nodal stress that the frame bears. The deformation scale is of 6167.4:1 to clearly indicate the
deformation in an exaggerated manner. It is calculated using the von Mises criterion. In the figure the color coding indicates the
amount if stress the frame undergoes in comparison to the rest of its body. Blue indicates minimal stress(below 916.88kN/ ) ,
green indicates stress levels higher than that indicated by blue color(1604.54 to916.88kN/ ), stress indicated by yellow color is
higher then green(2292.21 to1604.5488kN/ ) and red color indicated the maximum stress borne by the frame(above
2292.21kN/ ).

©IJRASET (UGC Approved Journal): All Rights are Reserved 1977

 International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET)
ISSN: 2321-9653; IC Value: 45.98; SJ Impact Factor:6.887
Volume 5 Issue VII, July 2017- Available at www.ijraset.com

B. Static Displacement(Resultant Displacement)

The following figure indicates the resultant displacement that the frame bears. The deformation scale is of 6167.4:1 to clearly
indicate the deformation in an exaggerated manner. It’s calculated using the equation indicated by the Hook’s Law. In the figure the
color coding indicates the amount if static displacement occurring in the frame in comparison to the rest of its body.

C. Shape Deformation
The following figure simply indicates the shape deformation of that the frame. The deformation scale is of 6167.4:1 to clearly
indicate the deformation in an exaggerated manner. Its calculated using the equation indicated by the equation for strain.

©IJRASET (UGC Approved Journal): All Rights are Reserved 1978

 International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET)
ISSN: 2321-9653; IC Value: 45.98; SJ Impact Factor:6.887
Volume 5 Issue VII, July 2017- Available at www.ijraset.com

D. Factor of Safety(Max Von Mises Stress)

The following figure indicates the conformance of the frame with the factor of safety as calculated using the von Mises criterion.
Since there is no deformation indicated and the entire structure is indicated in blue color, it indicates that our design is well within
the safety standards as calculated using the von Misescriterion.

An overview has been given on the need of structural analysis of the frame of the compressed air vehicle and the types of analysis
that can be done to determine the feasibility and soundness of the design based on the material of the frame. These techniques also
give us an idea of the region that requires our attention for making changes to increase the structural strength along with reduction
of cost. The factor of safety analysis indicates that our design is well within the factor of safety as indicated by the maximum von
Mises stress and hence our design is safe for usage.

V. CONCLUSION
Even though the vehicle is in early stage of development, it holds a lot of promise and provides scope for further research. Thus we
designed the vehicle model which is eco friendly and does not cause pollution like internal combustion engines. This vehicle will
help in reducing the problem of global warming since internal combustion engines contribute to the problem the most. It uses non-
conventional energy source i.e. atmospheric air. This will help to save the non renewable sources of energy. So, the successful
policy for the 21st century will depend on the non conventional sources. Pneumatic vehicle can prove solution to depleting natural
resources and can be the technology of tomorrow. In this project a model of pneumatic vehicle is designed.

REFERENCES
[1] https://www.slideshare.net/snarstr/air-drivenenginemechanicalengineeringfinalyearprojectrepor
[2] ISSN No: 2348-4845 International Journal & Magazine of Engineering, Technology, Management and Research Design and Fabrication of Compressed Air
Vehicle
[3] Experimental Analysis of a Compressed Air Engine Qihui Yu, MaolinCaSchool of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering, Beihang University,
Beijing, China
[4] Global Journal of Researches in EngineeringAutomotive EngineeringVolume 13 Issue 1 Version 1.0 Year 2013Type: Double Blind Peer Reviewed
International Research JournalPublisher: Global Journals Inc. (USA)bOnline ISSN: 2249-4596 & Print ISSN: 0975-5861
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Mises_yield_criterion
[6] http://help.solidworks.com/2013/English/SolidWorks/cworks/c_Elemental_and_Nodal_Stresses.htm
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deformation_(engineering)
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Mises_yield_criterion.

©IJRASET (UGC Approved Journal): All Rights are Reserved 1979