compressed air to run 2000w petrol generator

[Sunking]

Nothing new about the idea and already been done long ago. There was even a car made to run on compressed air. Navy torpedo use to run on compressed air, and just about every jet engine is started on compressed air.

Just like converting water to hydrogen to store energy has all failed. Sure it physically works, but once you look at the efficiency fails miserably. Been a long time since I looked at the conversion numbers, but you are looking at 10's for efficiency. Means you burn 10 gallons of fuel to get 1 gallon of energy. Piss Poor conversion and the reason why there are no commercial units out.

[peakbagger]

That approach has been proposed for gas turbines. About 1/3rd of the power going into a gas turbine goes to compressor section to compress the incoming air. Compressed air would be stored in underground salt domes during off peak and then injected downstream of the compressor section near the combustor so that the turbine puts out a lot more power compared to conventional version. There is additional benefit in that the air stored underground is lot cooler and therefore denser.

Compressed air has lousy power density, a compressor is not very efficient in converting power to compressed air or used as an expander so the overall wire to wire efficiency is poor. The only way it works is to scale it up to point where salt domes can be used to store huge volumes of air.

[J.P.M.]

I suspect that would be one pretty big air tank for a home system.

+1. Think of something about the same size as the home.

[SunEagle]

Compressed air is one way to store energy but it is certainly not anywhere being efficient or most practical due to the space needed and maintenance required to keep the system working.

[Robert1234]

I suspect that would be one pretty big air tank for a home system.

[emartin00]

It would be far less efficient than batteries, that's for sure. A generator isn't designed to run on air, and probably wouldn't run that well.
Utilities do use compressed air storage in some areas, where there a large underground caverns to store air. But it's not very efficient even with specifically designed equipment.

[almac]

instead of batteries to store solar power how about running an air compressor during the day then discharging this compressed air through the air intake of a 4 stroke petrol generator to drive the engine . would this be better than battery storage? not worrying about the heat loss during the compression, too technical