2012
Transportation
Why should a car be so expensive? The average annual income in the US is around $47,000. The average price of a new car is around $30,000. This is a problem. This means that many people end up spending a good percentage of their income on a device they use only a fraction of their day.
Fossil fuels, in any form, are quite effective in terms of power output. However, they are non-renewable and are getting depleted at an alarming pace due to their usage as the primary source of energy. The world will eventually run out of oil and gas in the near future.
The crankshaft has been used for over 136 years without any fundamental change to continuously convert linear motion to rotary motion and vise versa. The crankshaft mechanical torque is an asymmetric sinusoidal motion that is acted on or by non-axial and non-tangential force vectors resulting in a work loss of greater than 50%.
As high-power batteries become available, the most significant problem to be overcome for electric vehicles is the disparate systems used to manage batteries (battery management systems, or BMS), charge batteries, traction motor controllers and power auxiliary systems.
The proposed design is comprised of a single part which,
The CW-RUNABOUT is my attempt at a VTOL PAV concept that would hopefully be cheap to produce and as easy to controll as posible while having as few components as possible.
Using a single engine to provide both thrust and directional control with an innovative double set blade system, coupled with a unique ducting system,
Based upon an arched decussate (shaped like an X) form from which the chassis is suspended, this is a motor vehicle in which all components are sprung members. This enables a flexible and extremely light-weight bed upon which to mount a propulsive system. As part of the design, passenger loading will never impart uneven stresses upon the vehicle.
Introduction
Today’s world is concerned about the depletion of natural resources and the impact of human activity on the environment. Making automotive transportation more efficient is one of the major goals of engineering research. Ideas in unconventional areas tend to be economically and technologically untested while internal combustion engines still hold significant unrealized potential.
A classic engine relies on a crankshaft and a rod to transmit the motion from the piston to main axis, with two main problems with energy loss: the piston motion approximating a sine, which is not optimal for energy transmission to the crankshaft, and the swinging motion of the rod.
Electric cars are gaining popularity with claims of longer range, low operating costs, etc. Unfortunately the evolution of this technology is slow, as the materials used to build the electric cars are the same or similar materials used to construct a heavy gasoline powered vehicle.
3 wheel, 300 pound personal 2 person transporter relying on 2 hubmotor traction wheels, electronic/pneumatic suspension to optimize handling and energy characteristics, computer controlled lighting system connected to a personal computer via USB connection. Vehicle may be controlled remotely via the personal computer controller in remote mode.
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