I've heard of this car, but if what this says is true it defies a few laws of
physics (or at least bends them).
---original message---
what they
developed was a car that uses gas and electric simultaneiously. they showed
it running as well. the neat part about it was that the enginge if you want
to call it that, is more of a turbine.. almost like a jet engine. the
armature spins on a frictionless bering system, so the whole thing needs no
oil at all. their first model only had 2 moving parts. the armature of the
'engine' and the armature of the electrical motor which was powered by
electricity generated by the 'engine'. the new model (and this is what
amazed me) had a flywheel system for electrical generation. there is a
large disk set at the back of the car encased in something (i dont remember
htat part) and vacuum sealed, creating an almost frictionless environment.
but once it got moving, it would spin at almost 60,000 RPM's and wouldnt
stop for almost 16 days. the idea behind this flywheel system is that while
it's spinning, it's generating electricity to be used when the car really
needs it.. almost like a turbo.
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I have problems with the term "frictionless". Let's use "minimal friction"
for the mental concept since a "Frictionless Environment" is impossible short
of superconductivity.
There have been many "Super Engines" or even "Perpetual Motion" designs,
but really all they end up being is high energy return mechanisms. Most
engineers would prefer to see small steps in the design and improvement
process. Wankle introduced his Rotary engine: a serious change in motor
design, but nobody has ever trusted it even though it has been around for
years.
We really have 2 avenues to persue here. Continue to "perfect" the
internal combustion engine, or modify it to work with more environmentally
friendly fuels and/or combine that with adding other engine types to make it
more efficient. Currently most major car makers are persuing the former idea,
trying to make each engine do the best it can yet still make a continual
profit off of them. Only rogue designers, universities, and government funded
programs are trying the latter course.
Personally, I think we'll end up with hybrid systems. A fuel cell or IC
engine coupled to electric motors and computers to zip us around. The
powering fuel will likely be Hydrogen since it's source is simple to obtain
and burns leaving only water vapor. The trick will be when they can produce
it as cheaply as gasoline. When they make that break through, I'd hate to own
any oil stocks. ^_^
One day, our beloved Daks may have 4WD via 4 electric motors: each capable
of detecting it's traction coefficient and applying just the right amount of
power to the tread for maximum grip and motion. WOT may end up meaning "Wide
Open Transistor"... shocking...
Shaun H.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:09:59 EDT