July 3, 2011 / consort3

Car & plane concepts

Please note that the Airliners.net links below no longer work, since they updated the forum

I came up with this one while watching David Jones’s video blog reviewing a Mitsubishi electric car.

http://www.eevblog.com/2011/06/17/eevblog-179-mitsubishi-imiev-electric-car-test-drive/

Outwardly a stretched copy of the Smart car it has a well engineered electric drive train. I remembered a guy who used to race a Hillman imp at the weekends. The Hillman Imp had a rear engine attached to a sub-frame and the sub-frame was attached to the car with 3 large bolts. This guy had a spare race prepared engine on its subframe. At the weekend he would undo the 3 bolts drop his road going engine, whack in the race engine do up the three bolts and go racing.

http://www.imps4ever.info/index.html

The problem with electric cars is the limited range. Dave pointed out you need a conventional car for long range trips at the weekend. What if you had 2 modular engine/drivetrains an electric one and a conventional one for longer trips? The subframe would have the suspension, wheels engine/drivetrain and fuel storage and would slot in the rear of the car on rails being locked in with some easily removed fixing. Having it at the rear does away with the need to deal with steering interfaces.

The problem with hybrids is the weight and complexity. This would get around that. If you did not need the longer range there would be no need to buy the conventional option. There is a simpler solution which is to have charged batteries at fuel stations which can be swapped. But this needs infrastructure and standard batteries. Update: Looks like the Japanese motorcycle industry agrees with this idea:

https://interestingengineering.com/honda-kawasaki-suzuki-yamaha-testing-swappable-electric-batteries

Another option is the extended range concept, where a small conventional engine powers a generator. This is an almost essential option for the BMW I3. Annoyingly, California legislation stupidly limits the range on this facility. Review of the I3:

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2015/09/i3-electric-car-review/

Possible range extender engine:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/cars-that-think/transportation/advanced-cars/liquidpiston-unveils-tiny-but-powerful-engine?href=

Another possible range extender engine

http://newatlas.com/delta-mitre-micro-turbine/45438/?li_source=LI&li_medium=default-widget

How to make an electric car for less than $1000:

http://forkenswift.com/index.htm

Interesting use of Electric car to power home during storms;

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2012/11/sandy-ev-powered-home/

Talking of concepts I remembered the Avcen Jetpod. A short take off air taxi. Its idea seems to have died with the inventor, Michael Dacre who was killed on its first test flight. I found a recent update here:

http://aafo.com/hangartalk/showthread.php?t=7481

You have got to admire the guys who follow their dreams but get killed by their obsessions.Fortunately this bloke was not killed, but it is an extraordinary tale, “wrong way Corrigan”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Corrigan

Sadly another fatality is the flying Pinto:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzv4q5EEy1k

They were gong to use this in a James Bond movie according to a recent documentary on the cars used for the movies. The aircraft part is from a Skymaster. A Skymaster was used as the chase plane which was controlling an unoccupied 727. The 727 was deliberately crashed for a Channel 4 documentary.

There have been over 100 attempts to make a flying car or roadable aircraft. A recent one the Aeromobil is most developed and version 3 has just had its maiden flight.

Worthy of a mention is the Samson Switchblade, here is how the wings work:

This is the engine they are using:

http://motusmotorcycles.com/category/mv4-baby-block/

Here is a list of some other flying cars and a history

http://roadabletimes.com/alphalisting.html

http://uk.complex.com/sports/2013/06/a-history-of-the-flying-car/

Chatting to a friend recently and back in the mid-fifties he cycled out to Blackbushe airfield. The US Navy were using it as a base and had the unique carrier based nuclear bomber the North American AJ Savage. Don’t tell Obama now he is more hawkish than Dubya! No security fences, no guardhouse they just cycled around the perimeter track until they came on the plane. A couple of bored mechanics were happy to show them the interior of the plane. A couple of things struck me, the plane had a jet engine in the back of the fuselage but where was the intake? Possibly the ogival hatch shown in this picture. Also the jet used the same fuel as the piston engines. I reckon it took some brave guys to fly that on to carriers! Another plane there was the Lockheed Neptune, which had similar jet boosters. More on the Savage here:

http://forums.ubi.com/showthread.php/383923-North-American-AJ-1-Savage-Forums