Agam to develop fuel-efficient car engines

Israeli company's prototype uses turbine that allows for 80% gas reduction and 90% reduction of C02.

By DANIELLE KUBES
filling gas 88 (photo credit: )
filling gas 88
(photo credit: )
The Israeli air-conditioning company, Agam Energy Systems Ltd., is expanding its energy conservation technology to develop fuel-efficient technology for car engines. "Cars are very inefficient," said Ofer Spottheim, business development manager at Agam. "It's the same idea that has been used for the past 100 years. When I took my driving lessons 25 years ago it drove at 10 km/1 litre. It still drives at 10km/1 litre." Instead the new engine developed by Agam will enable cars to drive at 45 km/litre. The engine is more efficient even in start and stop city driving because the car stores recoverable kinetic energy. With oil on a worldwide price hike, Spottheim is confident that there will be a big market for fuel-conserving technology. Compared to a regular car that runs on a piston engine, Agam's prototype uses a turbine that allows for an 80 percent gas reduction and a 90% reduction of C02. Previous attempts at creating a turbine engine have failed mainly because of the extremely high amount of energy required to move the compressors. Since cold air is compressed much easier, Agam devised a water-ring compressor that cools the air by spraying cold water. The engine can also be used as a small to medium sized electricity generator, eliminating the need for coal. Up to 22% more efficient than typical electricity generators of the same size, the price will also be lower per kilowatt. So far, Agam's prototype has lived up to expectations and the product is expected to be implemented in 2011 in power plants and in 2012 for cars. Agam, run by reserve colonel Moshe Maroko, a former commander of the IDF technology unit, who was twice awarded with the 'Israel Defense Award', was able to make the leap from air conditioners to engines because both technologies are based on the laws of physics. Agam added that the company has not neglected original products and is developing an air-conditioning system at double efficiency that is entirely devoid of Freon - a destroyer of the ozone layer. The mind behind these efficient products is a former senior scientist at the Weizmann Institute Dr. Gad Assaf, who is a specialist in energy and thermodynamics.