Experimental study of compressed air engine working in parallel operation mode

Power performance of pneumatic motor (PM) limits its application in compressed air vehicle (CAV) as an auxiliary power. This study presents an investigation of the power system with parallel operation mode based on experiments to improve the power performance of PM. First, the test bench of PM in parallel operation mode is built. Then, a series of experiments are conducted to investigate the effect of key parameters on the power performance, economy and energy conversion efficiency of CAV. The interaction among the key parameters of the PM and the influence of them on the power performance are discussed. Subsequently, the power performance, economy and energy conversion efficiency of the PM working in single and parallel operation modes are compared. Experimental results show that the maximum power output of the PM is 979 W, and the energy conversion efficiency of PMs 1 and 2 are 6.54% and 6.80% when the PM works in parallel operation mode. The parallel operation mode of PM can improve the power performance, economy and energy conversion efficiency of CAV.