In a bid to reduce the level of air pollution, Taiwanese researchers have come up with a novel way to power motorbike engines.
Img: Taipei traffic. Credit: Poagao/flickr
A team at the National Central University in Taiwan, led by Yu-Ta Shen and Yean-Ren Hwang, has developed a motorcycle which uses compressed air to run its motor.
Motor cycles account for around ten percent of all air pollution in the cities of Taiwan says the team.
"In Taiwan, air pollution is a very serious problem in the city," says Hwang.
The compressed air model is expected to reduce air pollution dramatically in Taiwan, a country of an estimated 13 million motorcycles, according to a report in Discovery News.
However the prototype would still need energy to compress the air needed to power the bike and, at present, has a range of only a kilometre. However the researchers are planning to increase the engine size to accommodate more compressed air.
Scientists say the expanded engine would be able to carry riders in excess of thirty kilometres, "which would be adequate for usage in the city,"
The researchers' findings are published in the journal Applied Energy .
TJZizAug 18th, 2008 - 16:31:56
In the July 2008 issue of popular science-on page 74, someone has converted a motorcycle to electric, and it doesn't seem that complicated. Seems like it would be a much better solution.
Report this comment