Project Synopsis

Design of an air driven Turbine powered automobile Concept

ABHISHEK B.C 1RV08ME001AMOL GANESH TAMBE 1RV08ME008ARJUN HARISH 1RV08ME015AVINASH H.A 1RV08ME018

Under the guidance of Ravindra S Kulkarni, Prakash S Kulkarni,Head of Department, Principal Research Scientist,Department of Department of Aerospace, Mechanical Engineering. IISc, Bangalore.

By

INTRODUCTION

• Gasoline and other petroleum products are non-renewable

sources which will very soon be extinct. Hence there rises a

need to find alternative solutions to power vehicles in the near

future. This is the basis on which our project is based on.

• Compressed air is used to power turbines directly at lower

speeds and with the help of a vortex chamber in case of higher

speeds which will in turn help to power the wheels.

Vortex chamber

Primary Turbine (Driven by Air

Vortex)

Variable Stroke Pump

Pressurized air Cylinder

Secondary Turbine

At Lower Speeds At Higher Speeds

Power to Wheels

Centrifugal Compressor

BLOCK DIAGRAM

COMPONENTS

• Pressurized tanks

• A centrifugal compressor

• A vortex flow chamber

• A primary turbine

• A secondary turbine

WORKING• At low speeds the compressed air from the pressurized air tanks

is used to run the secondary turbine. The power developed by

this turbine is used to power the vehicle. A part of the power

developed by the secondary turbine is used to run the compressor

which feeds compressed air to the primary turbine through the

vortex chamber.

• At higher speeds, the air coming to the primary turbine through

the compressor and the vortex chamber will have optimum

flow characteristics to run the turbine at a speed sufficient enough to

power the vehicle. At this point the primary turbine alone will be

powering the motion of the vehicle.

• Due to the constraints of time and costs we plan to concentrate

more on the design at lower speeds.

• The compressed air from the cylinder acts as an input to the

turbine.

• Here we plan to use a ‘Tesla Turbine’ as it is simple in

construction and lighter in weight

METHODOLOGY

• We first plan to design a Tesla turbine and then fabricate the

same.

• After fabrication we experimentally test the Tesla turbine for

various loading conditions and pressure output from the

compressor and optimize the performance of the turbine.

• After optimizing the performance of the turbine we design the

variable stroke pump.

• The torque converter used to get the required torques at the

wheels is also designed.

• The gears required to reduce the speed are designed.

• The chassis is designed and a stress analysis is carried out for

the same.

ADVANTAGES• Air cars are emission-free at the exhaust.

• Compressed air engines reduce the cost of vehicle production,

because there is no need to build a cooling system, spark plugs,

starter motor.

• Expansion of the compressed air lowers its temperature, this may

be exploited for use as air conditioning.

• Air is used as the fuel, which is a renewable source of energy.

• The rate of self-discharge is very low opposed to batteries that

deplete their charge slowly over a period of time.

EXPECTED OUTCOME

• To successfully design and fabricate a tesla turbine and optimize

the performance:

• To successfully design a system which runs on power from a

tesla turbine driven by compressed air at lower speeds.

• To obtain optimum results of power and torque.

• A brief report on the use of vortex chamber driven turbine at

higher speeds as a future prospect.

THANK YOU