Think of this scenario.What if your car gives the same mileage as your bike?What if your car gives 5 times more mileage for a litre of petrol/diesel?What if your car pollute only 1/10 th of its current pollution rate?Isn’t remarkable?
Gad Assaf, the CTO of Agam Energy Systems along with his company CEO, Moshe Maroko have invented a new path breaking technology for Automobile technology that has not changed since the invention of piston based engine.
Turbine based Engine
Heat engines usually use piston drives and crankshafts to convert linear motion to rotating motion. There were many attempts to convert gas turbines, which dominate the aviation industry, into a compact vehicle engine. In these attempts, the small turbine rotate at 60,000 rpm or so, which requires expensive transmission or electric power generation that reduces shaft work efficiency.
Liquid ring machinery are simple, reliable and low noise compressors and vacuum pumps, which convert the shaft work to radial compression without utilizing pistons and crankshafts. Analysis of the different components of shaft work in liquid ring compressors indicate that close to about 50% dissipate at the Liquid Ring-Casing boundary. With the LRRCC, the boundary friction is replaced by frictional bearing, which is less than 10% of the liquid ring dissipation. This makes the LRRCC a competitive partner in the compressor’s and the expander’s machinery.
The Israeli air-conditioning company, Agam Energy Systems Ltd., is expanding its energy conservation technology to develop fuel-efficient technology for car engines.
“Cars are very inefficient,” said Ofer Spottheim, business development manager at Agam. “It’s the same idea that has been used for the past 100 years. When I took my driving lessons 25 years ago it drove at 10 km/1 litre. It still drives at 10km/1 litre.”
Electric cars offer promise, but switching over still has limits: infrastructure is lacking, new cars need to be built, and the electric car just doesn’t have the same “muscle” as the petrol-fueled machines that people love.
Instead the new engine developed by Agam will enable cars to drive at 45 km/litre. The engine is more efficient even in start and stop city driving because the car stores recoverable kinetic energy.
With oil on a worldwide price hike, Spottheim is confident that there will be a big market for fuel-conserving technology.Compared to a regular car that runs on a piston engine, Agam’s prototype uses a turbine that allows for an 80 percent gas reduction and a 90% reduction of C02.
Previous attempts at creating a turbine engine have failed mainly because of the extremely high amount of energy required to move the compressors.Since cold air is compressed much easier, Agam devised a water-ring compressor that cools the air by spraying cold water.
The engine can also be used as a small to medium sized electricity generator, eliminating the need for coal. Up to 22% more efficient than typical electricity generators of the same size, the price will also be lower per kilowatt.
So far, Agam’s prototype has lived up to expectations and the product is expected to be implemented in 2011 in power plants and in 2012 for cars.Agam, run by reserve colonel Moshe Maroko, a former commander of the IDF technology unit, who was twice awarded with the ‘Israel Defense Award’, was able to make the leap from air conditioners to engines because both technologies are based on the laws of physics.
Agam added that the company has not neglected original products and is developing an air-conditioning system at double efficiency that is entirely devoid of Freon – a destroyer of the ozone layer.
The mind behind these efficient products is a former senior scientist at the Weizmann Institute Dr. Gad Assaf, who is a specialist in energy and thermodynamics.
Agam’s turbine engine could be fitted into a regular car with some gear modifications, such as a Toyota Camry, and offer 100 miles to the gallon, the company boasts. This compares to about 21 miles to the gallon of today’s average car. Road efficiency in cars is about 10 percent, says Spottheim, while Agam’s engines promise 55% efficiency.
And of course Agam’s engine is good news for the environment too: It consumes about the fifth of the petrol of a piston-based engine, and emits one-tenth of the CO2 fumes that contribute to global warning.
Agam is based in Hod Hasharon, Israel and currently employs five people. The new engine, the company adds, is designed not just for vehicles but also for industrial machinery and power plants.
Sources:
Agam Energy Systems – Green Prophet.Com
Agam to develop fuel efficient car engines – The Jerusalem Post
The Candid Eye 
Is there a prototype engine that actually works and can be demonstrated ???
Comment by alexander — October 21, 2009 @ 11:41 PM |
@Alexander
Yes.It is there and it is working as per the theory.Hope this device will be rolled out in near future.
Comment by thecandideye — October 27, 2009 @ 2:39 AM |
This is exciting and incredible technology. Excellent Engineering! This technology appears to be easily adaptable for other uses, such generators, tractors, trains etc.
I would like to get involved with your company.
Comment by Otto Clontz — March 2, 2011 @ 9:09 PM |