Can you heat a co2 ram ?

[woody]

If my calculations are correct.
A one litre high pressure paintball tank @ 5000 psi holds much the same energy as a 0.6 kg ( one litre volume ) co2 tank... approx 33 litres @ 10 bar.
With as Mike pointed out the benefit of NO decrease in pressure due to freezing but there is a weight penalty.

[andrewmahoney]

Do you think we will have to change to air or nitrogen in the future,what with global warming and stuff?

[woody]

No

[geeza]

Nitrogen is now not allowed by the FRA rules, so unless there is some legislation preventing the use of CO2 then it is unlikely to be used in the future.

[maddox]

The amount of CO2 we, roboteers over the world, release during a year is nothing compared to the cow farts of One Zulu tribe.

Compare to what I do with my car. 180 grams of CO2 for 100 Km. For events I do about 18 kg of CO2 to get there on year base. And thats including complete Team RCC.

Now imagine 2 500 000 cars in Belgium alone, with at least the same output, not related to Robot Wars

What enviromental impact do we have with or few 100 over the globe.

[mark_m]

Isnt the CO2 captured from the air? (closed system therefore not actually contributing to global warming at all)

Why is heating a ram unsafe anyway?

[maddox]

Mark.
CO2 is a waste product of other processes. Like making hydrogen from natural gas(98% of the hydrogen we use is made that way). Thats more efficient(and therefor cheaper) than taking the small % CO by fractional distilling air.

Heating a ram unsafe. Depends how warm you make it. If you go over 40°C it becomes very uncomfortable to handle. And that could pose a problem when other people -like tech checkers or arena marchals- need to handle the robot.
But in itself, with the mandatory 1000PSI relief valve its not dangerous.

[mark_m]

Thanks Mario. From looking at the phase diagram I would guess you wouldnt want the bottle to reach above 31°C either?

[maddox]

The worst that can happen for the combat robot is that the valves dont work. And the PRD will make short work about the overpressure.
Then it becomes a pure loss of gas.

[xtreme]

Wont the local pub have the smaller co2 bottles? they can get them changed for u too cant they? its what we use for portable mig. use the argon/co2 mix in the workshop but a little CO2 bottle is handy on site. then just use refill station for paintball bottles. wont be liquid draw so turn bottle upside down when decanting. i dunno what im on about but the pub gas/Cellar Gas/Drink dispense gas whatever you wanna call them, shud work right?
black bottle. theres some with nitrogen in the bottle that pubs use too isnt there? dont get that 1 if there is. ill shut up now.