HAPC: Hybrid Air Powered Car

See my website for more information: http://students.cs.tamu.edu/mkaler

Texas A&M University, ECEN 405 Senior Design Project Team 7: Hybrid Air-Powered Car
The overall goal of this project is to show that the concept of a hybrid vehicle that utilizes air and solar power instead of an internal combustion engine(ICE) is practical and a possible replacement for today's power trains. We will attempt to show this by creating a power generation and control system for the HAPC that maximizes the use of energy from the compressed air, solar power, and regenerative braking.

The HAPC derives its power from compressed air that is released from an onboard tank which powers an air grinder that is coupled to an electric motor which generates electricity in parallel with a solar panel which together charges a battery that provides power to an electric motor that is coupled to the drive train. When decelerating the car utilizes regenerative braking to convert the car's momentum back into electricity which is stored in the battery.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• hapc
• hybrid
• air-powered
• model
• car
• remote
• control
• senior
• design
• rc

[Hossthedog]

Awesome! I've been working on a Hybrid RC car/dragster. I used a traxxas 2.5 nitro motor and an RS540 like they used to put in the old Tamiya cars... I can't find any other ones.. Do you think it may be the first? Oh... only bad part.. even though the pinions both use the same spur gear you cannot use them simutaneously (sorry bout the spelling) because the nitro motor is much stronger and faster. I would like to know your input... ? Thanks, Greg.. uh I mean Hoss the dog.

[lifenra270]

Sounds pretty cool. I used the same style motor (RS540) to create electricity and charge my batteries. So are you planning to run on the electric motor for low speeds and the nitro for high speed?

[crazedfarmer]

are you people dumb the car has a solar panel on the top

[lifenra270]

Maybe you noticed in the video that the car is indoors and it's actually rather dark. So I don't think the solar panel would be working very well right now.

[invisibleyoyo31]

Not very ... Airodynamic!! Bur seriously that's cool

[Hossthedog]

Yup. That's the plan alright. I have the shocks now and both motors mounted I just need to buy a few or those plastic pieces that the tie rod ends use the long screws to adjust the camber/caster or the rear tires. I went looking for some front buggy tires today and the hoppy shop was out of em. I also need an inexpensive ESC and steering servo. I'll post a vid when completed. I made a mold out of 2x4s then shrank 2liter bottles around it with a heat gun to form the body.. I have a wing from a B4

[bakowill]

that thing sucks you need a die grinder and a fire extingusher 585 psi the solar panel will never becom dot approved so thats a waste of time

[zack82008]

that uses solar panels

[jrobertson1600]

That car is awesome!

[DrBallard2]

Nice