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USA, Bend, OR
Three wheel roadster + hydraulic home refueler
Eco-Fueler Corporation has developed a unique vehicle and a unique type of hydraulic compressor to fuel it. The American Roadster is a three-wheel vehicle defined by the Highway and Transportation Board as a “Trike”, which is included in the definition of a “Motorcycle”. Developing 100hp from its in-line 3 cylinder engine, the Roadster can reach a top speed of 120mph with a 450 mile range. It can transport a total of three passengers and operates on compressed natural gas (CNG). The company also reports a significant investment in their hydraulic home refuelling technology.
Eco-Fueler is currently in discussion with another Oregon company to begin assembling the Roadsters, and is working with Cherry Motors, a Chinese engine manufacturer, to provide a test engine. The company has reportedly had difficulties sourcing a suitably-sized natural gas engine in the United States. In the meantime it continues to work on the development of its own engine.
The compressor is said to have significant advantages over the current state-of-the-art methods of compression, in a wide and significant variety of industrial and alternative transportation fuel applications. The engineering work has resulted in the completed design of a whole family of compressor products ranging from household applications for the compression of natural gas for use in a family vehicle, to complex industrial designs that will withstand the most stringent requirements including the compression of hydrogen gas for possible future widespread use in alternative fuel vehicles.
Hydraulic compression makes use of a floating piston, which transcends the barriers imposed by the traditional fixed mechanical linkages and replaces them with an incompressible fluid. Eco-Fueler says this approach introduces advantages in system performance, efficiency, reliability, and compression ratio improvements. These systems can deliver output pressures as high as 25,000 psi or more. Hydraulic compressors also bring a high degree ofcan also improve operational flexibility through software adjustable compression ratios.
The elimination of the mechanical linkages has eliminated a great deal of the wear problems, and noise, inherent in the mechanical compressors. This has led to a 20 to 30 fold increase in length of maintenance intervals. The incorporation of hydraulic valves has also eliminated the requirement of electrical switching.
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