G.H.

RAISONI ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING

& TECHNOLOGY
Department of Mechanical Engg.
Seminar on
Liquid Nitrogen Vehicle

Presented by
Nishant Sharma (3ME228)
Year 2nd

Guided By: Rajendra Bansod Sir

 Content
Introduction
Objectives
Literature Review
Methodology
Design and Fabrication
Conclusion
Future Scope
 Introduction
Liquid Nitrogen Vehicle is a ingenious vehicle which uses Cryogenic
fluid (liquid nitrogen) as a working fluid.
Propulsion system is a cryogenic heat engine in which a cryogenic
substance is used as a heat sink.

Liquid nitrogen is generated by cryogenic or reversed Stirling

engine coolers that liquefy the main component of air, nitrogen (N2).
The cooler can be powered by electricity or through direct mechanical
work from hydro or wind turbines.

Liquid Nitrogen Vehicle

 Objectives

High cost and limited availability of fossil fuels like petrol and diesel .
Due to high level of pollution associated with the combustion of fossil
fuels the need of ZEV(Zero Emission Vehicle) has been generated.
(Presently the battery powered electric vehicle is the only commercially
available ZEV but not successful due to high initial cost, slow recharge
and limited range).
And the most important is the huge availability of Nitrogen gas (78%
of air is nitrogen).
Note: According to Petroleum Conservation and Research Association
petroleum production will be at its peak in 2012 and is likely to
decrease after that.

Liquid Nitrogen Vehicle

 Literature Review

Cryogenic heat engine uses very cold substances to produce useful energy.

There is always some heat input to the working fluid during the expansion process.

Liquid Nitrogen is the cheapest, widely produced and most common cryogen.

It is mass produced in air liquefaction plants.

The liquefaction process is very simple.

Liquid Nitrogen Vehicle

 Methodology

Normal, atmospheric air is passed through dust precipitator and pre-

cooled
It is then compressed inside large turbo pumps to about 100
atmospheres(10.13 MPa).
Once the air has been cooled to room temperature it is allowed to
expand rapidly through a nozzle into an insulated chamber.
By running several cycles the temperature of the chamber becomes
low enough. The air entering it starts to liquefy.
Liquid nitrogen is removed from the chamber by fractional
distillation and is stored inside well-insulated Dewar flasks.

Liquid Nitrogen Vehicle

 Design and Fabrication

A pressurized tank(24 gallon) to store liquid nitrogen.

Pressurant bottles of N2 gas substitute for a pump. The gas pushes the
liquid nitrogen out of the Dewar that serves as a fuel tank.
A primary heat exchanger that heats (using atmospheric heat) LN2 to
form N2 gas, then heats gas under pressure to near atmospheric
temperature.
An Expander to provide work to the drive shaft of the vehicle.
An economizer or a secondary heat exchanger, which preheats the
liquid N2 coming out from the pressurized tank taking heat from the
exhaust.

Liquid Nitrogen Vehicle

 Conclusion
In a real sense, the more such vehicles are used, the cleaner the air
will become.

In addition to the environmental impact of these vehicles, refueling

using current technology can take only a few minutes, which is very
similar to current gas refueling times.

Extra research work is needed to utilize the most of the available

energy.

Liquid Nitrogen Vehicle

 Future Scope

The big difference is that a liquid-nitrogen car is likely to be

considerably cheaper to build than an electric vehicle.
For another, because it needs no bulky traction batteries, it would be
lighter and cheaper still than an electric vehicle.
Safety and research fund will require to finally run this vehicle on
road.

Liquid Nitrogen Vehicle

 References
1. Balmer, Robert T. "14.15 Reversed Stirling Cycle Refrigeration".
Modern Engineering Thermodynamics. Academic Press. ISBN 978-
0-12-374996-3
2. C. Knowlen, A.T. Mattick, A.P. Bruckner and A. Hertzberg, "High
Efficiency Conversion Systems for Liquid Nitrogen Automobiles",
Society of Automotive Engineers Inc, 1988.
3. J. Franz, C. A. Ordonez, A. Carlos, Cryogenic Heat Engines Made
Using Electrocaloric Capacitors, American Physical Society, Texas
Section Fall Meeting, October 46, 2001 Fort Worth, Texas Meeting
ID: TSF01, abstract #EC.009, 10/2001.

Liquid Nitrogen Vehicle

Thank You

Presented by
Nishant Sharma (3ME228)

Liquid Nitrogen Vehicle