Vehicles on Non Conventional Sources Essay Example for Free

Vehicles on Non Conventional Sources Essay I would like to express our gratitude to all those who gave me the possibility to complete this report. I like to thank our HOD giving me permission to commence this report in the first instance, to do the necessary experimental work and to use departmental data. I am thanking to all our teachers who gave me the required knowledge, skill and a mental approach within the training schedule and encouraged the developing interest of ours in this field. I am bound to our Head of Department of Electrical Electronics Engineering also my training incharge Er. R. K. Sharma (HOD) for constant and stimulating support. I am thankful to everyone who supported me in our report work. I want to thank them for all their help, support, interest and valuable hints as well as for the close look at the final version of the report for English style and grammar, correcting both and offering suggestions for improvement. 1. Wind powered vehicles Introduction Here we use water as a fuel for vehicles which will replace fossil fuels. This system is pollution free. Water powered vehicle is a vehicle that uses hydrogen for the propulsion of the vehicle. The speed of car using water as a fuel is 6 times faster than that using fossil fuels like petroleum, diesel etc as proved by Ohio State University, Honda, Ford, Renault – Nissan. If there just isn’t enough oil to go around, then let’s turn our energy needs to something that is overly abundant on the planet. Water seems like a good choice for an energy source, and many have tried. It looks like Genepax Co, a Japanese company, has been able to get a car to run on water. The engine gets its power by supplying water and air to the fuel and air electrodes. What’s really happening is that this is nearly a hydrogen powered car, but you don’t need to find the one or two lonely hydrogen refueling stations. Genepax has created what they call a â€Å"membrane electrode assembly† (MEA) that is able to break water down into hydrogen and oxygen using a chemical reaction. I’m not sure how it works exactly, and Genepax isn’t saying, but they claim their process can produce hydrogen for a longer time. My favorite part about this little car is that you don’t need to have a pressurized hydrogen tank sitting in the back of your vehicle. Forget about how difficult it would be to refuel, why would I want a bomb in my trunk? I’m far more comfortable with a few jugs of water that get split up during the driving experience. It’s really too bad that being in the northeast eliminates many of these smaller, energy efficient, cars from practical use. Although I did see an electric car yesterday†¦I’ll have to make a note to ask those people how it handles come the blizzards in December. The cost of the engine itself is around $18,000, which puts this little car on the impractical list. But Genepax hopes that if it can go into mass production the cost will reduce down to as little as $4,600. More than 70% of the Earths surface is covered by water and our planets fossil sources are getting lower each day. This is why a lot of scientists struggled to find a way to create a car that will only need water to run. The car will only take the hydrogen from a water molecule and the oxygen atom will be eliminated. This would also improve the worlds environment a lot. Hydrogen is a very powerful power source for engines because it burns very cleanly and it generates less heat in the process. A water powered car would take the hydrogen through a special separating process called electrolysis. Even though there were a lot of companies that tried to create water powered cars, these ones cant compete yet with contemporary cars and I think it will still pass a lot of time when well see a water powered car with the same performances as a car that runs with petrol. If cars that run only with water will ever get into production, their price will be too huge for an ordinary person and scientists are still struggling to reduce the cars costs. Still, there are some cars that could use water for fuel aside from the usual petrol. These cars are called water-hybrid cars and each car have a power generating system installed that let it extract power from water. Probably the biggest benefit for water powered cars comes from the fact that water is more abundant, easier to get and a lot cheaper than petrol or gas. So, even though a car that runs only with water will be a bit too expensive from start, it could save you a lot of money on the long run. Working It generally works on fuel cell conversion system. In this system, water is split up into hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis. Hydrogen produces electricity which helps in the propulsion of car and little bit oxygen is used to cool the engine and react with rest of the hydrogen to reproduce water for further use. In this way we can use this source for long time than fossil fuels. Here we can use some sort of boiler which make water pure. We can also make hydrogen by using the Hydro-Gen. The Hydro-Gen separates hydrogen gas from the natural hydrogen-oxygen mix in standard tap water which will result in us making hydrogen. A hydrogen vehicle is a vehicle that uses hydrogen as its onboard fuel for motive power. The term may refer to a personal transportation vehicle, such as an automobile, or any other vehicle that uses hydrogen in a similar fashion, such as an aircraft. The power plants of such vehicles convert the chemical energy of hydrogen to mechanical energy (torque) in one of two methods: combustion, or electrochemical conversion in a fuel-cell: †¢ In hydrogen internal combustion engine vehicles, the hydrogen is combusted in engines in fundamentally the same method as traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. †¢ In fuel-cell conversion, the hydrogen is reacted with oxygen to produce water and electricity, the latter being used to power an electric traction motor. Can a fuel cell take in water and put out hydrogen and oxygen? In order for a car to take in water and put out hydrogen and oxygen, electricity must pass though the water molecule and split it apart into hydrogen and oxygen. It then uses the hydrogen in the water to make energy. Can a fuel cell take in hydrogen and oxygen and put out water? The net reaction fuel cell can take in hydrogen and oxygen and releases water. The equation used to do this is 2H2 + O2 = 2H2O It is able to do this by giving the hydrogen a positive and the oxygen a negative charge so the two will attract and form water. Advantages Hydrogen will slowly take over from fossil fuels as the main source of power. It will do this because hydrogen is easier to obtain and it won’t pollute like fossil fuels. It is cheaper to make. This will help it a lot in the long run to replace fossil fuels. Fossil fuels will soon run out leaving us no choice but to switch. This is a huge reason for it to replace fossil fuels. By using petroleum, we are discharging the soil and water and causing acid rain to fall. This also brings about the chances of horrible climate changes. Disadvantages The only limitation is that the vehicle using this system is expensive only once at the time of purchase. The cost of the engine itself is around $18,000 but some of the companies are saying that if it can go into mass production the cost will reduce down to as little as $4,600. 2. Solar powered vehicles Introduction. A solar vehicle is an electric vehicle powered by a type of renewable energy, by solar energy obtained from solar panels on the surface (generally, the roof) of the vehicle. Photovoltaic (PV) cells convert the Suns energy directly into electrical energy. Solar vehicles are not practical day-to-day transportation devices at present, but are primarily demonstration vehicles and engineering exercises, often sponsored by government agencies. A solar vehicle is an electric vehicle powered by a type of renewable energy, by solar energy obtained from solar panels on the surface (generally, the roof) of the vehicle. Photovoltaic (PV) cells convert the Suns energy directly into electrical energy. Solar vehicles are not practical day-to-day transportation devices at present, but are primarily demonstration vehicles and engineering exercises, often sponsored by government agencies. Virtually all solar cars ever built have been for the purpose of solar car races, with notable exceptions that includes solar powered golf cars and utility vehicles. Solar cars combine technology typically used in the aerospace, bicycle, alternative energy and automotive industries. The design of a solar vehicle is severely limited by the energy input into the car (batteries and power from the sun). Virtually all solar cars ever built have been for the purpose of solar car races, with notable exceptions that includes solar powered golf cars and utility vehicles. Like many race cars, the drivers cockpit usually only contains room for one person, although a few cars do contain room for a second passenger. They contain some of the features available to drivers of traditional vehicles such as brakes, accelerator, turn signals, rear view mirrors (or camera), ventilation, and sometimes cruise control. A radio for communication with their support crews is almost always included. Solar cars are often fitted with gauges as seen in conventional cars. Aside from keeping the car on the road, the drivers main priority is to keep an eye on these gauges to spot possible problems. Cars without gauges almost always feature wireless telemetry, which allows the drivers team to monitor the cars energy consumption, solar energy capture and other parameters and free the driver to concentrate on driving. Solar cars depend on PV cells to convert sunlight into electricity. While the sun emits 1370 +/-3. 4% watts per square meter of energy, 51% of it actually enters the Earths atmosphere and therefore approximately 700 watts per square meter of clean energy can be obtained. [1] Unlike solar thermal energy which converts solar energy to heat for either household purposes, industrial purposes or to be converted to electricity, PV cells directly convert sunlight into electricity. When sunlight (photons) strikes PV cells, they excite electrons and allow them to flow, creating an electrical current. PV cells are made of semiconductor materials such as silicon and alloys of indium, gallium and nitrogen. Silicon is the most common material used and has an efficiency of 15-20%. Procedure Photovoltaic cell When sunlight (photons) strikes PV cells, they excite electrons and allow them to flow, creating an electrical current. PV cells are made of semiconductor materials such as silicon and alloys of indium, gallium and nitrogen. Silicon is the most common material used and has an efficiency of 15-20%. Electrical systems The electrical system is the most important part of the cars systems as it controls all of the power that comes into the system. The battery pack plays the same role in a solar car that a petrol tank plays in a normal car in storing power. Solar cars use a range of batteries including lead-acid batteries, nickel-metal hydride batteries (NiMH), Nickel-Cadmium batteries (NiCd), Lithium ion batteries and Lithium polymer batteries. Many solar race cars have complex data acquisition systems that monitor the whole electrical system while even the most basic cars have systems that provide information on battery voltage and current to the driver. Mechanical system. The mechanical systems of a solar car are designed to keep weight and space a minimum while maintaining strength. Solar car engineers also have to take into account array space. Some solar car bodies consist of a metal frame on the inside and a composite shell on the outside. The metal frame is primarily for structural strength and driver safety, while the composite outer shell is primarily for aerodynamics and array space. Other solar car bodies use the monocoque design, where the body consists primarily of composites reinforced by metal tubing. Solar car engineers generally use titanium, steel, and aluminum for the metal tubing, and carbon-fiber, fiberglass, and Kevlar for the composites. Material selection is based on strength-to-weight ratio, ease of manufacturing, and cost. Solar cars usually have three wheels, but some have four. Three wheelers usually have two front wheels and one rear wheel: the front wheels steer and the rear wheel follows. Four wheel vehicles are set up like normal cars or similarly to three wheeled vehicles with the two rear butts close together. Solar arrays. The solar array consists of hundreds of photovoltaic solar cells converting sunlight into electricity. In order to construct an array, PV cells are placed together to form modules which are placed together to form an array. [3] The larger arrays in use can produce over 2 kilowatts (2. 6 hp). [pic] Cells,Modules,Arrays[4] The solar array can be mounted in several ways: †¢ horizontal. This most common arrangement gives most overall power during most of the day in low latitudes or higher latitude summers and offers little interaction with the wind. Horizontal arrays can be integrated or be in the form of a free canopy. †¢ vertical. This arrangement is sometimes found in free standing or integrated sails to harness wind energy. [5] Useful solar power is limited to mornings, evenings, or winters and when the vehicle is pointing in the right direction. †¢ adjustable. Free solar arrays can often be tilted around the axis of travel in order to increase power when the sun is low and well to the side. An alternative is to tilt the whole vehicle when parked. Two-axis adjustment is only found on marine vehicles, where the aerodynamic resistance is of less importance than with road vehicles. †¢ integrated. Some vehicles cover every available surface with solar cells. Some of the cells will be at an optimal angle whereas others will be shaded. †¢ trailer. Solar trailers are especially useful for retrofitting existing vehicles with little stability, e. g. bicycles. Some trailers also include the batteries and others also the drive motor. †¢ remote. By mounting the solar array at a stationary location instead of the vehicle, power can be maximised and resistance minimized. The virtual grid-connection however involves more electrical losses than with true solar vehicles and the battery must be larger. The choice of solar array geometry involves an optimization between power output, aerodynamic resistance and vehicle mass, as well as practical considerations. For example, a free horizontal canopy gives 2-3 times the surface area of a vehicle with integrated cells but offers better cooling of the cells and shading of the riders. There are also thin flexible solar arrays in development. Solar arrays on solar cars are mounted and encapsulated very differently from stationary solar arrays. Solar arrays on solar cars are usually mounted using industrial grade double-sided adhesive tape right onto the cars body. The arrays are encapsulated using thin layers of Tedlar and Tefzel. Some solar cars use gallium arsenide solar cells, with efficiencies around thirty percent. Other solar cars use silicon solar cells, with efficiencies around twenty percent. Limitations challenges Fitting battery electric vehicles with solar cells would extend their range and allow recharging while parked anywhere in the sun. However, with present and near-term engineering considerations, it seems that the more likely place for solar cells will generally be on the roofs of buildings, where they are always exposed to the sky and weight is largely irrelevant, rather than on vehicle roofs, where size is limited. . Although, saying that, solar cell technology is starting to be used successfully in the powering of electric golf cars and utility vehicles. In the case of both building and vehicles, energy from rooftop panels can be stored in batteries for future use. While some inconveniences might cause challenges, there are limitations to using PV cell: †¢ Cost. While sunlight can provide a free clean source of energy, the creation of PV cells to capture that sunlight is expensive. In 2003, it was found that energy would cost $. 30kWh which is more than double that of residential electricity. †¢ Lifetime. Even though sunlight has no lifespan, PV cells do. The lifetime of a solar module is approximately 30 years. 3. Wind powered vehicles Introduction Wind-powered electric vehicles primarily use wind-turbines installed at a strategic point of the vehicle, which are then converted into electric energy which causes the vehicle to propel. While they are not in mainstream use yet, many schools have begun building the new technology and research into their curriculums to teach students and to get them active in the subject. Wind-powered electric vehicles primarily use wind-turbines installed at a strategic point of the vehicle, which are then converted into electric energy which causes the vehicle to propel. Wind-powered electric vehicles include Ventomobile and Mercedes-Benz Formula Zero, as well as the Greenbird, which currently holds a world record for fastest Wind powered vehicle. Ventomobile [pic] [pic]. The InVentus Ventomobile racing at the Aeolus Race 2008 The Ventomobile is a solely wind powered lightweight three wheeler designed by University of Stuttgart students. It won the first prize at the Racing Aeolus held at Den Helder, Netherlands, in August 2008. [1] Matthias Schubert, Chief Technical Officer of the teams’ main sponsor REpower Systems AG, applauded the integration of the InVentus Ventomobile project into the coursework of the students: â€Å"The achievement of managing a big team over many months, and even making select construction tasks part of undergraduate teaching cannot be estimated highly enough! The enthusiasm the students show in renewable energies and the development of innovative solutions should serve the industry as an example for the development of new technologies. [2] Mercedes-Benz Formula Zero Unlike traditional racing, which focuses merely on the order of finish, Mercedes new concept introduces energy efficiency as an integral part of the competition . The Formula Zero Racer is loaded with technology designed to extract the maximum thrust from the electric hub motors, aero-efficient solar skin and high-tech rigid sail [3]. Greenbird Ecotricitys Greenbird vehicle, designed and piloted by Richard Jenkins, broke the land speed world record for a wind-powered vehicle in 2009[4]. â€Å"Greenbird recorded a top speed of 126. 4 mph (203. 4 km/h), and sustained a speed of 126. 2 mph (203. 1 km/h) for the required time of three seconds, beating the previous, American held, record of 116 mph (186. 7 km/h), set by Bob Schumacher in the Iron Duck in March 1999 at the same location. [5]. Working [pic]. Wind powered cars are one of the many possibilities for alternative transportation. After all, one ever-abundant source of green energy is the wind, which has been harnessed for travel in the past on the high seas. But can it become an efficient source of energy for travel on land? Let’s take a look at some designs for wind powered cars that may be the wave of the future: A team of engineers has set the land speed record for a wind powered vehicle at 126 mph. The Ecotricity Greenbird swept across the desert with a combination of technologies. Elements from racing yachts, airplanes and Formula 1 cars were all included in the Greenbird’s design. The car has two wings, one vertical and one horizontal. The vertical wing creates lift, much like an airplane’s wing, only instead of that force being applied to levitate the vehicle, it is used to propel it forward. The horizontal wing, which extends on only one side of the car, keeps it from leaving the ground. The body of the car is designed like a Formula 1 racer to minimize wind resistance. The end result is a sleek machine that can travel much faster than the wind is actually traveling. Although the Greenbird isn’t likely to turn up at your local dealership anytime soon, it can give you an idea of how wind powered cars might develop. Will the Ecotricity Greenbird be the design of the future? The â€Å"Ecotricity† in the â€Å"Ecotricity Greenbird† stands for the name of a British alternative-electricity company, and its founder, Dale Vince, is still working on options for wind-powered cars. At this time, the potential for wind-powered cars is unlimited. Perhaps the car could use a kite-like sail that drags the car across the road? Or maybe these cars could be outfitted with batteries that are charged using personal wind power or an at-home windmill? While the wind powered car may still be a thing of the future, present-day steps are being made to lay the foundation to make this clean energy source a viable way to travel. Bibliography www. wikipedia. com www. life123. com www. techon. nikkeibp. co.