The innovative Clever Solair Air project, originated from the collaboration between Open Mind and Gaia Energy, develops a technical analysis of the possibility of using compressed air as an accumulator and energy vector.

The project stems from the need to store energy in order to allow for its efficient use when needed. Over time, this need has been resolved through technologies such as reservoirs, batteries, flywheels, transfers, etc.Historically, however, the most used conservation vector has a limit related to the type of accumulation and it is on this limit that the research carried on focuses its attention.The limit lies in the difficulty of transforming energy from compressed air into electric power.

The research focuses on energy transformation from compressed air into electricity, through the combination of the properties of air and the efficiency of a rotary engine, specifically designed to transform energy from compressed air into electricity, which then becomes available to a rotating shaft and its flywheel.

The aim of the research is to analyze the opportunities and limits associated with the transformation of the potential energy of gas under pressure into mechanical energy through the expansion of the gas itself. The study identifies, without analyzing them in detail, the opportunities and limits of its potential application, focusing only on the system whose purpose is transforming potential energy of compressed air into mechanical energy.

Specifically, the analysis conducted was oriented towards the identification of the operating principles common to all fluid-powered machines, therefore applicable to different types of hypothetical engines.

All systems which supply compressed air (compressors) both from an energy and mechanical point of view are explicitly excluded from the study, as well as storage systems (gas bottles). The study assumes instead to possess an infinite source of compressed gas at 30 bar, which gets expelled into the environment at the engine exhaust at 1 bar.

Furthermore, any consideration is kept on a sufficiently general level in order not to depend on the application (stationary or on vehicle).

Energy-related considerations are therefore limited to the flows necessary to keep the motor in thermal equilibrium without considering the efficiency of the motor itself.

In the second part of the research, we analyze how the compressed air vector can be used as a principle of primary accumulation starting from renewable sources.

Ultimately, the research has shown that it is possible to obtain mechanical work from the expansion of pressurized gas.

In conclusion, this means that the accumulation of Energy by means of Compressed Air is an efficient system for having energy availability in critical conditions by accumulating it from renewable sources, thus ensuring that these sources are completely “carbon free”.

It is evident that the properties of a compressed gas are such as to allow, in theory, to operate an engine. However, the analysis of the final state of the gas poses some problems which must be addressed and resolved on a theoretical level before moving on to experimentation.