No compressed air tank in the boot. Boost pressures can be 6 or 7 psi, which is the same as diving 5m under water.
So pressurise the interior of the car to feed the engine on intermittent acceleration. That's why a larger car would be better...
All it needs is a set of equalising valves (to open the doors!), thicker body, thicker glass, leak proof construction and emergency de-compression system. Helium could be partially mixed for those who want the ultimate boost.
Just think how the car would bounce off things.-- Ling, Jan 12 2008 Cool!
May be more appropriate for Sub-arus and Valve-os. Warning: Driver may need to wear earplugs.-- csea, Jan 12 2008 Well if it were programmable to gradually lay off the pressure and reach normal atmosphere level by the end of the trip, there'd (in theory) be no decompression needed.
Not sure whether this is a good idea...bun for now for the ingenuity of actually using the cabin of the car in advantage to the operation of the car.-- Spacecoyote, Jan 12 2008 Oh, but the car would be useless if you had a blocked sinus.-- Condiment, Jan 12 2008 And fizzy drinks wouldn't fizz when they were opened, nor would champagne bottles pop .....-- 8th of 7, Jan 12 2008 But think of all the good things, like Erm...suppression of flatulence.
Perhaps.-- Ling, Jan 12 2008 It'd be super difficult to seal up the car to hold any kind of significant pressure - just a half pound of pressure will blow the windows out of their frames-- elhigh, Jan 12 2008 // It'd be super difficult to seal up the car to hold any kind of significant pressure //
Aircraft seem to manage.....-- 8th of 7, Jan 12 2008 "Aircraft seem to manage" Startlingly few people ever open the windows in the planes. Why is that? The doors have to be easier to operate too.-- elhigh, Jan 14 2008 On light aircraft, it's fairly routine, especially for photographic purposes. Some people even open the door and jump out (The brighter ones wear parachutes whn doing this). Hint: under most circumstances, it is inadvisable for the pilot to jump too, as aeroplanes are quite expensive.-- 8th of 7, Jan 14 2008 <fixed>-- 8th of 7, Jan 14 2008 I knew you'd go to the light aircraft. Those windows are there for breeze control, not pressure control like in a high-flying cabin-pressurized jet.
I have a brother-in-law who has a valid rebuttal for the "I'm not flinging myself out of a perfectly good airplane just for fun" argument:
"On at least one occasion, after I had jumped, the plane had to make an emergency landing because it was on fire."
Making a car door sturdy enough to resist the pressure of a supercharger - about 8psi if you aren't trying to turn the wick up too high - will still subject the door to a tremendous total load. Even 1/2psi would be hundreds of extra pounds. I'm not saying it can't be done. I could do it myself, using conventional materials. But that would add lots of weight and make the door very unwieldy in regular use. Unwieldy isn't what car buyers are going to pay for.
Those airplanes people are jumping out of aren't flying all that high - the pressure isn't that big a deal, and I might point out that, if the aircraft is not a cabin-pressurized model, pressures within and without are more or less equal to begin with.
"suppression of flatulence." If you use up the entire pressure charge, or a window should blow out - not unlikely, all things considered - everyone's flatulence will come out ALL AT ONCE. This is a Very Bad Thing.-- elhigh, Jan 14 2008 //Helium could be partially mixed for those who want the ultimate boost.//
Gee - thats gonna be an inconvenience if I have to take a call on the road.-- Letsbuildafort, Jan 14 2008 Engines use air almost unbelievably fast. Even a car's whole interior, pressurized to any reasonable level, would only last for a few seconds, if that. The reinforcements required for seriously high pressures would weight so much you'd lose far more than you gained, and adding helium would decrease performance by lowering oxygen content.-- 5th Earth, Jan 19 2008 // almost unbelievably fast //
Fast, but not unbelievably fast. A 2 litre, 4 stroke, conventinally aspirated engine turning at 3000 RPM will ingest 3 cubic metres of air a minute. The interior volume of a passenger car is between 4 and 7 cubic metres. Pressurising the interior to half a bar would give you about 30 seconds of boost.-- 8th of 7, Jan 19 2008 //"On at least one occasion, after I had jumped, the plane had to make an emergency landing because it was on fire."//
Did the molotov cocktails miss on the other occasions?-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 19 2008 Who uses such crude methods as a molotov cocktail? Give the guy a break.
He used napalm...
Seriously though, fishbone from me.
The increase in weight would well overcome the performance gain. And as previously implied, everyone would fart on overtaking, necessitating the need for open windows, negating any benifit of this system.-- BLSTIC, May 23 2008 //Unwieldy isn't what car buyers are going to pay for//Seems to work for SUVs.-- coprocephalous, May 23 2008 random, halfbakery