Heliumhelium Gashelium Carhelium Engineglobal Warmingclimate Changeeco Friendly Technology
The Helium car. Now don't get too excited. This doesn't mean that the guys at Helium have gone mad and are giving away cars as prizes. In today's challenging society, however, the helium powered vehicle may be a help in reducing our 'carbon footprint' and helping the problem of global climate change.
Wait a minute though, helium isn't combustible. Unlike methane, butane or propane if you put a match to some helium gas you won't get an explosion. Not even a little tiny flame. So how can you power a car with helium?
This is the point where I could get very technical and send all you guys rating my article to sleep. So I will try to put something very complicated into simplified terms. The method of propulsion of this new engine is known as "thermo accoustics" Think of therms as being heat and accoustics as being noise and you're there.
The basic principle is that vibration is applied to a tank filled with helium. This produces heat in the gas (which as I have explained is not dangerous, as helium is non-combustible)The heat is enough to produce steam and that in turn produces an electrical current which is what ultimately powers the vehicle's engine.
This technology is not tried and tested. To the best of my knowledge it exists only in theoretical and maybe prototype form, but like the car that runs on compressed air, it is possibly a brilliant innovation in the automotive world, albeit that an electric powered car is never going to interest those among us who are interested only in gas-guzzling speed machines which will continue to eat into the world's meagre resources at an alarming rate.
So there we have it. The helium car. Not a brilliant new initiative by those wonderful guys at Helium, but perhaps a resourceful new way of saving our precious planet. Now I would love to be able to point the reader to pictures, sketches or even a model of the helium car, but sadly I can find none. But wait - did you mean the helium car that was used to carry helium gas by rail to the Kennedy space centre in Florida? Now that's a whole new story concerning a railway locomotive built way back in 1955 and weighing in at a massive 235,000 tons. This locomotive was powered by .. Am I sending you to sleep yet? I think I will leave this particular helium car to the "men with beards" (see other articles) and live on in the hope that one day I can save on my fuel bills even if I have to slow down a little.
