Helium powered car?
Have you ever wondered what they will think next? We’re ready to go out and put our names on one of those lists to get a hybrid car because of these fuel prices at the pump and then someone comes along and yells; “Wait, have you heard of thermoacoustic propulsion?” No, in fact, most of us haven’t been very thankful when we hang up the gas pump and look at that total and cringe when we get our automatic receipt from the Pump Kiosk at the station. My God that hurts. That’s just to put gas in my vehicle; “I hate OPEC”, you say and think the unthinkable; “We’re going to bomb the Middle East and take the G-Damn Oil!”
Well, in fact, it may be a long way off and never make it to market, but a new engine is now being tested, which could power cars, and it has no moving parts. It works by “thermoacoustics”, it works by applying external heat to a cylinder or tank with helium gas inside, as the gas heats it from acoustic waves, it generates enough heat to produce steam and is then used to generate electricity.
The resulting pressure fluctuations generate vibrations at about 80 Hz. This sound is converted into electricity through steam. A microphone as motto, electro-acoustic transducer produces sound waves. A 700 watt prototype works very well and can be used to power cars without batteries, therefore no need to dispose of old batteries that cannot be charged, thus no residual pollution electric cars later on. We may never see it due to heavy lobbying efforts in the oil and auto industries, but I think it’s a cool idea.
