Published on Nov 30, 2023
The Air Driven Engine is an eco-friendly engine which operates with compressed air. An Air Driven Engine uses the expansion of compressed air to drive the pistons of an engine An Air Driven Engine is a pneumatic actuator that creates useful work by expanding compressed air. There is no mixing of fuel with air as there is no combustion.
An Air Driven Engine makes use of Compressed Air Technology for its operation The Compressed Air Technology is quite simple. If we compress normal air into a cylinder the air would hold some energy within it. This energy can be utilized for useful purposes. When this compressed air expands, the energy is released to do work. So this energy in compressed air can also be utilized to displace a piston
So this energy in compressed air can also be utilized to displace a piston. This is the basic working principle of the Air Driven Engine. It uses the expansion of compressed air to drive the pistons of the engine. So an Air Driven Engine is basically a pneumatic actuator that creates useful work by expanding compressed air. This work provided by the air is utilized to supply power to the crankshaft of the engine.
In the case of an Air Driven Engine, there is no combustion taking place within the engine. So it is non-polluting and less dangerous. It requires lighter metal only since it does not have to withstand elevated temperatures. As there is no combustion taking place, there is no need for mixing fuel and air. Here compressed air is the fuel and it is directly fed into the piston cylinder arrangement. It simply expands inside the cylinder and does useful work on the piston. This work done on the piston provides sufficient power to the crankshaft
There is no combustion taking place in an Air Driven Engine. So naturally there is no need for the spark plug. So the spark plug is removed from its respective position that is on the top of cylinder head. It would be great if we provide the inlet for compressed air at the position of the spark plug as it is better to let the air enter from the top of the piston. So the connector which is used to connect the pipe from the compressed air tank has to be fixed at the position of the spark plug. The connector contains an R1/2 thread of BSPT standard. So we tapped the same thread on the cylinder head at the position of the spark plug. Then the suitable connector was fixed on the cylinder head.
For starting; the engine is cranked by the kicker. This will rotate the crankshaft along with the valve timing disk in the clockwise direction. During this rotation the ODC region of the disc cuts the IR beam first and followed by the EPO region.
When the IR beam is first cut by ODC region, the circuit activates the solenoid valve by electric signal. At the moment the valve gets opened and allows the flow of compressed air into the cylinder from the tank through the piping system. The whole region from the point of ODC to EPO on the valve timing disk is opaque and does not allows the IR beam through it. So all the way long the circuit maintains the solenoid valve open by supplying a continuous supply of electric current to the valve. At the same time the compressed air from the tank continues to fill in the cylinder there by pushing the piston further towards the bottom dead centre(BDC). But to increase the fuel efficiency the fuel supply should be cut-off before reaching the EPO.
So when the EPO region of the valve timing disc sweeps past away from between the IR sensors, the IR beam will make connection again. This will cut the supply to the solenoid valve there by closing the valve. This will prevent the valve from being open at the same time of EPO; increasing efficiency.
When the disc rotates further, the valve remains closed throughout the area from the EPO to the ODC as the IR beam is closed. And this cycle continue.
