Historical premices to develop of the ecologically clean
Speed Transport and power devices.
Is shown, that historical validity on boundaries of three last centuries the technical devices determining the First and Second industrial revolutions were created. The development of new process engineerings in during of the Third industrial revolution begun in a middle of a Twentieth century, and ecological crisis arising in its end creations on the new basis of the ecologically clean transport and power devices with separate capacity require.
If we look through the eyes of our fantastic Konyok-gorbunok into depth of past centuries, we may notice that «the round dates» of a calendar, i.e. turn of a new century always seems to bring fundamental breakthroughs in science and engineering.
Seventeenth century ended with the steam boiler D.Papin, 1688, the steam-vacuum pump Savery, 1700, the steam turbine Branca, 1685 and the “atmospheric” machine T.Newcomen, 1712, which determined the main directions of development of steam machines.
Eighteenth century created the steamcar Cugnot, 1770, steam machine J. Watt, 1775, steamship Stevens, 1802, and first industrial locomotive Stephenson, 1814. These machines determined “a century a pair”. Together with steam turbines Parsons, 1884 and Laval, 1892, through the end of the Nineteenth century steam power dominated in industry and transport. There was the First Industrial Revolution (1750-1850).
Second Industrial Revolution (1850-1950) has replaced bulky steam machines by the more compact internal combustion engines. The first “real” automobile Benz, 1885 should think shown a correct way. The astounding speed of one mile per minute was exceeded in 1899 and by 1913 the automobile has accepted of practically modern kind.
Simultaneously, at the turn of the century there were other dramatic changes. Electrical engineering developed quickly, the Trans-Siberian Road was opened (1901), the Wright brothers first achieved powered controlled flight (1902), the Ford Motor company was established (1903), the first helicopter flew (1907), the first air passenger was flown (1908). On the boundary of the last and present centuries X-rays both radioactivity were opened, are invented by a wireless and telegraph, relativity theory is created and pressure of light is measured. . . The achievements of the early Twentieth century are well-known.
The achievements of the end of our century are less clear, especially in the transport industry . . . If to look unprejudiced, modern transport essentially uses hundred-year-old technology – the internal combustion of fossil fuels – albeit with a century of refinement. Automobiles and planes, outwardly being modified, save untouched inefficient gist. in its deep. Uncontrollable burning of hundreds of millions of tons of fossil fuels has created an ecological accident, menacing to a civilization. The Greenhouse Effect, caused by superfluous heat and smog, is accompanied by extraordinary force by showers, floods and hurricanes. Therefore the Third Industrial Revolution, conditionally begun in a middle of a Twentieth century, goes under the flag creations of the wasteless process engineerings and ecologically clean power devices with separate capacity.
Can outline two similar unsolved problems which are both related to the ecological crisis arising at the end of the second millennium – the creation of a Commercial vertical take-off and landing airplanes (VTOL) and Electromobiles with Alternate (non-chemical) Power Sources. Examined the paths and ways of the solution of these problems are considered which are capable to divert arising ecological crisis of large cities. Main reasons are marked on which these problems were not decided for expired more than thirty years.
First problem – the creation of a Commercial VTOL, has arisen in civil aviation in the beginning of 60’s simultaneously with the beginning of wide air transportations. It is connected with compulsion remote of the airports from centres of cities and necessity of the solution of the social-ecological problems, such as reduction of door-to-door travel time, increase of safety of flights, decreasing of the area of the airports, drop of a noise on district and contamination of natural environment. Practically all these problems are eliminated at creation of the VTOL.
Fig.1 The summary diagram of the VTOL- 60
This was first addressed in the 1960’s. More than sixty VTOL projects have been considered (Fig.1), however, despite huge financial investment by government and aviation industry, not a single successful VTOL transport has been produced. The reason here not only in low power efficiency of the known air power plants and systems of creation of a vertical thrust, but, mainly that they do not answer even the modern requirements on safety and ecology.
The second problem arising also at the end of 60’s is connected to searching of alternate power sources for automobiles. The closing of the Suez Canal deprived Europe of deliveries of Arabian petroleum. The problem was decided by building of large oil ships and new oil pipelines. There were generated new ecological problems, in view of a small reliability of these transport means and scales of contamination of natural environment at frequent accidents.
Searching alternate power sources for automobiles in the different industrial country was begun on two directions:
- The development of a battery (chemical accumulators), allowing an electric-powered automobile, i.e. an electromobile;
- Research on the flywheel, as a power source of ecologically clean a giromobile
Not concerning the first path, which, generally speaking, has not until now resulted in a positive outcome, over the last three tens years the transport flywheel have been investigated as an absolutely clean power plant. However, flywheels as we know them posses basic problems which preclude their commercial success as power plants. RTC VZLYOT has investigated fundamental changes in flywheel technology and is prepared to propose several design schemes for practical applications in ecologically clean transport.