Author(s)

Qihui Yu, Maolin Cai

School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China.

Nowadays, automobiles consume a large number of fossil fuels. However, the consumption of fossil fuels has brought many serious environmental problems, such as global warming, ozone layer depletion and fine particulate matter. To avoid such environmental problems, renewable energy has been applied to automobiles. In this paper, an air-powered engine of a renewable energy vehicle is introduced. To lay a foundation for the optimization of compressed air engine (CAE), a physical model of compressed air engine (CAE) is established with cam which controls compressed air charge or discharge cylinder. To obtain performance of the CAE, a prototype CAE system is set up. The output torque, power and efficiency are obtained through experimental study. The results show that the prototype of CAE has a good economic performance under low speed and when the supply pressure is 2 MPa, the maximum output power is 1.92 kW; the maximum output torque is 56.55 N·m; and the maximum efficiency is 25%. This research can be referred to in the optimization of air-powered engine.

Prototype, Compressed Air, Experiment, Performance

Yu, Q. and Cai, M. (2015) Experimental Analysis of a Compressed Air Engine. Journal of Flow Control, Measurement & Visualization, 3, 144-153. doi: 10.4236/jfcmv.2015.34014.