Clean Motor Power via the Liquid Air Engine from Dearman

This engine designed by Peter Dearman runs on liquid air and leaves no carbon footprint from the exhaust pipe. This means it can compete with hydrogen and electric in the world of zero emissions – all positive news on the renewable energy transportation front.

Now comes the task of finding out how much it costs to feed this engine through injecting it with cryogenic (liquid) air. Yesterday the respected British engineering consultancy Ricardo validated the commercial potential of Dearman engine technology. The engine operates by injecting cryogenic air into ambient heat inside the engine to produce a high-pressure gas that drives the engine. Where hydrogen exhaust leaves water vapor, Dearman’s exhaust emits cold air.

Ricardo’s research endeavor hopes to verify the engine is cheaper to build than battery electric or fuel cell technology and that the engine is  commercially viable proposition.

The Dearman engine operates without a spark plug, with cryogenic liquid air injected instead of petroleum. There isn’t any combustion but the air is stored at cryogenic temperatures (sub minus 160 degrees Celsius).

As the Dearman engine website explains:

“This is a zero emission engine that we believe can be lower cost than other alternative solutions, whilst offering highly competitive energy density and re-fuelling rates. It operates by vaporising liquid air with ambient heat to produce high pressure gas that drives the engine, with cold air as the only exhaust.”

For those wishing to see and hear Peter Dearman explain and demonstrate his technology, this video is worth the view.

According to the Dearman Engine Company, the technology operates through the controlled boiling of cryogenic liquids (e.g. air or nitrogen). If this boiling takes place in a confined space then high pressure gas can be produced that can be used to do work.

The website writes:

“Previous attempts to develop this technology involved large and heavy high pressure heat exchangers making it expensive and unsuitable for mobile applications.

“The Dearman Engine Company is exploiting a novel approach (patent granted) where the heat exchange process takes place inside the engine. Heat is provided by direct contact with a liquid heat exchange fluid. This step eliminates the heavy and expensive heat exchangers required previously.”

More power to them in the name of sustainability and climate stability.

Photo: Dearman Engine Company

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