MDI Compressed Air Technology (C.A.T)

Digg.com led me (1, 2) to a short article on what could prove to be a promising technology: a vehicle powered by compressed air, also available as dual energy hybrid engine.

Being a syndicated article formatted for print and broadcast, there were no links to further references, so I researched the subject a bit deeper and found a slew of information on this clever French-built innovation (though the concept isn't new).



Here are a few of the links I found interesting:

• mdi.lu: Moteur Developpement International (MDI). French content only, but labeled as the only official site for the MDI products.
• theaircar.com: English version of a multilingual site. There are some basic coding error in the site that make it sometimes switch language though...
• Compressed Air Technology systems: nicely detailed engine technical specifications in English. Links to technical drawings, animations, videos.
• Science Channel video report: In case the attached YoutTube version goes belly up. Narrated by Jay Ingram, from the excellent Daily Planet Canadian science news show.
  
• Air engine: Wikipedia entry on the concept.
• How Air-Powered Cars Will Work: older article on How Stuff Works that also introduces the similar concept of Cryogenic Heat Engine.
• Scuderi Air-Hybrid Engine: article on a another interestig take on compressed air hybrid engine technology.

The reasons and challenges involved are obvious, but I hope MDI finds an effective way to muffle the vehicle's rather loud audible output. Zero or reduced emissions are definitely a very respectable and timely achievement, but noise/sound pollution can also be quite a scourge, particularly in urban areas.

All in all, I can picture a great future for this technology, especially in the Third-World in the short term, which has so far been more opened than wealthier countries to fossil fuel alternatives.