h a l f b a k e r y"It would work, if you can find alternatives to each of the steps involved in this process."
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Instead of filling up your gas stank…fuel tank why not drop off your fuel tank and take home a new one? It goes for electric powered cars as well (better)… Replace the spent fuel cell with a new one. Car companies get together and set a standard shape and volume container. Fuel stations/garages equip
themselves with refilling stations that exchange the containers. Expand your car’s mileage with adapter gas tanks….
For [Freefall]
http://west.loadup....y/surplus/1492.html
A few of these should do it. [Worldgineer, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]
[link]
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How long does it take you to fill up your tank? |
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How long does it take to recharge your cell phone? Compare this to the time it takes to swap your cell phone battery with a fully charged one. |
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Like alternative fuels here in the states. They do this with propane tanks powering their cars ... In theory, it should be fairly easy to fit adapters and quick-change docks for fuel cells ... like getting propane cylinders for your back yard BBQ. |
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As long as there's some provision to account for unused fuel in the tank that's being traded in, I'll (+) this as something to consider for future designs. |
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Also, it would be awesome to be able to carry an extra tank in my trunk for those really long road trips. I used to drive from New York to Florida (about 1200 miles) 4 or 6 times a year (I was a broke college student, I couldn't afford airfare), and I'd have loved to be able to just pull over to the shoulder and swap out my empty tank for a full one at the half-way point. (of course 22 hours straight behind the wheel probably isn't a good idea, but I couldn't afford a hotel either and I didn't trust the truck stops.) |
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One significant concern is the weight of 15 gallons of fuel. One nice feature of liquids is that you can pump them around instead of having to lift and carry them around. You're eliminating this feature for no good reason. |
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This may not be a terrible idea for electric vehicles, but it isn't ideal either. Electric vehicles have many more batteries than you want to deal with, and their quality and length of time in service is a significant factor. You don't want to swap your used-once batteries with someone's 3-year-old batteries. |
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seems like quite a design challenge to make a universal fit fuel tank that can be safely and quickly accessed in any style of vehicle. the universal quick disconnect for three fuel/vapor lines, wiring for the pump and wiring for the fuel sending units might be fun to build. it'll need to have a very high mtbf to compete with the safety of the current system. i guess the electrical and fuel connections should not be in close proximity. |
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how long does it take you to fill up your tank? it only takes me a few minutes. you'll likely have to wait for an attendant due to safety, theft and weight concerns which will probably make it not as fast as you would like. |
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theres also the issue of restricting me to the same ten gallon tank for my truck as would be workable for a smaller vehicle. some type of modular system with a variable number of tanks per vehicle maybe? |
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And the winner of Cunninglinguists' first fishbone goes to... |
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Also, you'll need a system to credit people for the amout of gas left in the trade-in tank. I'll typically refill my truck when I still have up to 3 gallons in it. If I swap to a full tank, I only want to pay the difference, not for a full tank. |
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//you'll need a system to credit people for the amout of gas left in the trade-in tank// Use a system like the first Volkswagen had it. There was no fuel gauge, just a manual valve. When the engine started to stutter because the main tank was empty you switched over to the auxiliary tank which held exactly 5liters (1.5gallon?) so you knew how much further you could go. |
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With an exchangeable gas tanks the auxiliary tank could go with the car so the exchanged tank would always be empty. |
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That method may have worked on an old Volkswagan, but running a modern fuel pump dry is a bad idea. The in tank fuel pump uses the fuel for cooling and lubrication. Running the pump dry will severly shorten it's useful life. |
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You could do the same thing, but instead of swapping out the tank you could just grab a jug of gas and pour it in the tank. You could put a few more jugs in the trunk. Actually, this has given me a fine idea - a vending machine that dispenses plastic bottles of gasoline! |
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What were we talking about? Oh, yeah. Welcome to the HB, [Eyepoq]. Nice eyepatch, too. |
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I'll stick to the conventional gas pumps for refueling, thank you... |
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Propane is already dispensed in easily-swappable containers, and most gasoline-powered cars can be (relatively) easily converted to run on it. Part of the conversion could be a small, built-in reserve tank, gallon-size or smaller. As far as fuel remaining in the larger "exchange" tank, you simply run the tank dry; the built-in gallon-size reserve tank takes over just as the main large tank goes dry. |
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This could work, but I'm not fond of it. I don't like running the tank dry, or even close to it, I prefer to fill up weekly, or when I have a quarter-tank (or more) left, especially in winter. |
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