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Liquid-nitrogen engine could be an alternative to batteries

6 December 2011 | By Stephen Harris Print Email Share Comments (14) Save

A design for a liquid-nitrogen-powered vehicle engine could provide an alternative to batteries and fuel cells following a planned feasibility study. The engine, which is driven by the pressure created as liquid nitrogen (LN2) returns to its gas form, could provide a way of powering a vehicle without producing carbon-dioxide tailpipe emissions but with a longer range and faster refuelling than a battery. A proof-of-concept model, which its developers said is far more efficient than any previous design for a LN2 engine, has already been used to power a car at more than 30mph with only cold air in the exhaust.

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Our product is likely to be, on a cost-base, more competitive to a piston engine than a battery, and piston engines are massively cheaper Toby Peters, director, DEC
potential route to market.

The firm behind the idea, the Dearman Engine Company (DEC), now plans to develop a commercial prototype and is working with engineering consultancy Ricardo and several UK academics to assess its feasibility and develop a business strategy. Toby Peters, DEC director, told The Engineer that the company was looking at forklift trucks as a first

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Related Sites Process Engineering MWP Engineeringtalk Manufacturingtalk Electronicstalk Processingtalk Laboratorytalk Were looking at the application not just the technology, he said. Because of regulations and emissions, [forklift trucks] already have a high penetration of battery technology, around 60 per cent. The reason weve identified that market as a potential start-point is that youre not looking for emotive reasons for buying low-carbon power vehicles. If you want to operate a fork-lift truck inside a building it needs to be zero-emission. Our product is likely to be, on a cost-base, more competitive to a piston engine than a battery, and piston engines are massively cheaper.

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Industry Picks Automation Measurement & Inspection Drives & Controls Software (CAD / CAM) Prototyping / Modelling Fasteners & Adhesives Maintenance Machine Vision Sensors Inventor Peter Dearman demonstrates his liquid-nitrogen engine, which has since been developed under a four-year PhD programme and is about to be the subject of an industry-led feasibility study. LN2-powered vehicles are not a new idea and a car developed by researchers at the University of Washington in 2000, the LN2000, reached speeds of 22mph. But Peters said the engine invented by company co-founder Peter Dearman operated in a different way that produced much more power. He invented a process whereby you inject a heat-exchange fluid such as anti-freeze and water into the head of the piston just before you inject the liquid nitrogen. You keep the liquid nitrogen liquid right the way up to the piston. The result of that is that all the expansion takes place inside the cylinder. And because youve got this volume of heat-exchange fluid, its isothermal expansion, so it keeps the temperature the same, which is far more efficient. Using LN2 as a fuel has the advantage of relying on an existing distribution infrastructure as many industrial companies use it for cooling. It could be particularly efficient as fuel for refrigerated delivery trucks. But it could also be generated in remote places using renewable energy sources and a small liquefaction plant, possibly even as a solution for military bases, said Peters. The firm was spun out of Highview Power Storage, which last week won The Engineers Technology and Innovation Awards Grand Prix for its utility-scale liquid-air energy-storage system. DEC has raised enough feed capital for the feasibility study and now hopes to secure a few million pounds in private equity and grants to develop the technology commercially from 2013. Peters said the key engineering challenge was optimising the injection of liquid nitrogen into the cylinder but that all the technologies involved, including the LN2 storage tanks, were mature enough not to be showstoppers. See Also
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Readers' comments (14)

Anonymous | 6 Dec 2011 7:45 pm

Operating nitrogen driven vehicles in-house may have limitations as nitrogen emission can easily reduce oxygen percentage in enclosed space below permitted level.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment Robin Stafford Allen | 7 Dec 2011 1:15 pm

There are multitudinous ways of getting piston engines to turn. The problem with most is the energy density of the fuel source and LN2
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