Most Efficient, Low Cost Energy Storage

[PMC]

Hyperspeed wrote:
I don't understand how you could make a flywheel out of carbon fibre. Surely it would need to be a)heavy to keep momentum & b)magnetic?

A flywheel on minimal mass spins up to speed much faster.  As a mountain biker I can say that you notice reduced rolling mass very quickly when swapping between lighter / heavier tyres.  A flywheel needn't be magnetic, the energy is stored because the flywheel is moving at very high rpm.  A greater emphasis needs to be placed on balancing the flywheel and having very high quality bearings to maintain momentum without vibration.

Cars of the future should be like Honda's solar powered effort but with a more SUV/4x4 structure to appeal to the US market.

The efficiency of solar panels is very poor indeed.  Honda's solar cars were built for a race across Australia (where solar energy is very strong) but have a very small power output - we're talking tenths of horsepower here for a car with approx 75 square feet of solar panels.

I've heard of some concept where a vehicle's kinetic energy when braking can be sent into a flywheel, it might even have been built.

Yep, it's already here.  On some hybrid cars the brakign energy is diverted back to the batteries.

[metalman]

Hyperspeed wrote:
Another novel new idea that has come to light lately is the fact that diesel engines will happily run off cooking oil. A simple modification means the fuel source won't line your cylinders with crispy bits from the fryer and some companies even offer dual-fuel option (the cooking oil goes in the boot/trunk and you can switch from the dashboard between Flora/Esso).

 :idea: New Idea!?

Rudolf Diesel, invented the diesel cycle engine in 1892.  Diesel demonstrated it in the 1900 World's Fair, running on peanut oil.

Bio-diesel refers to any petroleum diesel-equivalent biofuel REFINED from vegetable oils or animal fats. Biodiesel can be mixed with petroleum diesel in any amount in modern diesel engines. Bio-Diesels have higher viscosity and a higher gel point than petrodiesel.

Unrefined vegetable oils require fuel pre-heaters and other engine modifications. Using UNREFINED vegetable oils in a standard diesel engine will result in carbonized injectors, engine damage, and fuel pump failure.

[Hyperspeed]

So why are we lining up at gas stations making the Saudi sheiks and the Texas cowboys rich when we could be filling subsidised and unused farmland with sunflowers and peanuts?

I'm not quite sure of the legality of running a car in the UK on sunflower oil but I've heard of one guy who got permission to pay excise duty and he got around it. He wasn't filtering his oil at all because he said the engine would probably die before it clogged with whatever (buy an old diesel folks and run it to death!).

Surely solar panels could be made to be more efficient if the energy was somehow directed into a flywheel so as the car is moving it only needs a trickle charge, a bit like a dog will eat it's food as you're still pouring the biscuits!

:-)

[metalman]

Hyperspeed wrote:
So why are we lining up at gas stations making the Saudi sheiks and the Texas cowboys rich when we could be filling subsidized and unused farmland with sunflowers and peanuts?

Some genetic engineering to develop a plant that produces Biodiesel directly would result in US farmers switching from food crops to producing oil. Would result in the US no longer exporting food!

Hyperspeed wrote:
I'm not quite sure of the legality of running a car in the UK on sunflower oil but I've heard of one guy who got permission to pay excise duty and he got around it. He wasn't filtering his oil at all because he said the engine would probably die before it clogged with whatever (buy an old diesel folks and run it to death!).

Vegetable oil requires Transesterification to become biodiesel

A homebrew method to produce Biodiesel

Straight vegetable oil requires engine modifications or engine life is very limited.

Hyperspeed wrote:
Surely solar panels could be made to be more efficient if the energy was somehow directed into a flywheel so as the car is moving it only needs a trickle charge, a bit like a dog will eat it's food as you're still pouring the biscuits!

:-)

The power you can get from a solar collector is:
P (Watts) = efficiency x solar intensity (w/m sq) x area of collector (m sq)

US average 200(W/m sq)

Solar Cells are 15% efficient at best

converting energy from one form to another is at best 85% efficient

its the physics that make it impractical

[Hyperspeed]

Wow, that methanol technique certainly sounds risky for your eyes!

I think it's definately worth trying though, just keep the place at a good temperature and ventilate.

To hell with the oil barons, that'll teach them to buy up all the fuel cell patents and destroy them!

:-D

Shell announced yesterday that they made a record profit of 12.3 billion GBP last year. The crooks pass on every hike in the oil prices within minutes of Opec raising them, even though the barrels take a few months to reach the refining stage. And Bush has the audacity to say on Monday "The US needs to cut it's addiction to oil"...

[Agafaster]

converting energy from one form to another is at best 85% efficient

that's not quite true. dont want to get into willy measuring, but I've seen electric motors that have been quoted as 95% efficient at converting electrical energy into useful "work done" (ie: useful mechanincal energy).

[PMC]

One of the most efficient means of converting energy to propulsion is probably sitting in your shed right now...  A bicycle is able to return 90% efficiency.

In the short term, methanol fortified fuel seems to be a partial answer.  Methanl burns cleanler than gasoline and can be produced reasonably easily.  

Just watch our governments tax it to the skies!

[Hyperspeed]

Isn't that Skycar thing using Methanol now, either that or Ethanol because one was a health hazard.

I'd say the bicycle is very energy efficient but the source of that energy is a bio-reactor - the human gut! I've read recently that scientists have made a lawn mower that is powered by the very clippings it cuts (wit the use of a bacteria engine).

There are companies now producing magnetic bearings too, ones that don't need balls but just levitate around the central ring with powerful magnets. Maybe this is going to increase car efficiency in the next decade.

Personally, I like the look of that 4,000 GBP hydrogen fuel cell motorbike they unveiled in London last year. 100 miles on a single charge, top speed of 50MPH and completely emission free & silent.

:-)