Comment by kitd
7 years ago
I was wondering what the advantages of compressed air are over water. Given water is an incompressible fluid, I would have thought it was a much more efficient means of driving turbines and other moving equipment.
7 years ago
I was wondering what the advantages of compressed air are over water. Given water is an incompressible fluid, I would have thought it was a much more efficient means of driving turbines and other moving equipment.
But the fact that it is incompressible makes it more difficult to use it as a store of energy to be used on demand.
One of the advantages of compressed air is you can let a little out of the tank to power one thing for a bit, then a little more to power a different thing, and only need to run the generator when the tank is out of air.
An air leak usually doesn't cause damage.