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Inflatable Car
Soft, spongy cars would prevent injury to occupants, pedestrians, stray cows..... | |
When you're not using it you just let the compressed air out of it and fold it into a briefcase (saves space in cities normally reserved for carparks and compressed air is much more PC than compressed CO2)
How is it driven? I hear you ask. The fabric from which it's made is covered entirely in
flexible photovoltaic cells driving incredibly compact, powerful electric motors geared directly to 3 thin, inflaable wheels in a reverse trike format, 2x frontdrive, 1x reardrive & steer.
Roadholding provided by ground effect suction (baked in F1 years ago)
For nighttime usage a number of thin capacitors are interleaved with insulation in the inflatable skin.
Just think of a mobile Jumping Castle.
Bumber Airbags
http://www.halfbake...ea/Bumper_20Airbags
Inflatable safety emerges from the bumbers, in an accident. [Aristotle, Mar 29 2001, last modified Oct 05 2004]
Foldaway Car
http://www.halfbake...idea/Foldaway_20Car
The car that folds into a suitcase turned out to be baked but to this base you could add an inflatable body. That body could increase visibility, a key problem for micro cars. [Aristotle, Mar 29 2001, last modified Oct 05 2004]
Ground Effect & Racecar Aerodynamics
http://www.mulsannescorner.com/data.htm
I doubt you'd get an inflatable car to these speeds. [UnaBubba, Mar 29 2001, last modified Oct 05 2004]
GM Reports Record Sales of New Disposable Car
http://www.theonion...disposable_car.html
[centauri, Mar 29 2001, last modified Oct 05 2004]
British Army loses inflatable tank in high wind
http://news.bbc.co....i/wales/2367313.stm
[hippo, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
[link]
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that's half-baked allright... the daily commute and its requisite traffic jams would be much more fun, but could they survive 70mph? |
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Wouldn't the wheels melt into the road? My shoes do that on hot days and they area couple inches thick and with lots less friction. Or maybe the colling air strem would counteract that... Is anyone real good at physics? |
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Absterge, if you're stuck in a traffic jam at 70mph you need to look closely at your definition of traffic jam. |
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Thanks waugs, you sure know how to deflate a guy's ego. |
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This is actually quite a challenging idea and I can't pull any car like this from the web or memory. However I should note that (for pedestrian safety) the two safest cars to be hit buy were probably the Trabant (East German car with a compressed cardboard body) and the Robin Reliant (UK car with a fibre glass body). It might be worth noting that a 5th European safety standard has been established to measure the effect of jarring a pedestrian's head in a collision. |
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lol, UB. No, what I was saying is that in bumper-to-bumper traffic, actually bumping people along might be fun, but at the *opposite* extreme, I was questioning the ability of anything inflatable to hold together at 70mph. |
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<warning:obligatory pun> Aw, did waugs burst your bubble? |
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Be careful when handling puns, absterge. You never know when one will blow up in your face. |
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I thought it easier to add the word suction for those too young to remember the ground effect F1 cars of the '80's, and authoritative links are scarce. [see link] |
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While I'm thinking of it, I forgot to mention the possibility of adding an inflatable companion for long trips. |
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How about a car made from the custard's skin? Solid enough to hold the engine (mine always is, anyway) yet flexy enough not to "trifle" a pedestrian who gets in the way. Make some custard, build your car from the skin, use remaining custard to make re-heatable seats. |
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And when it goes mouldy, or ants eat it? |
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Hey, custard's pretty cheap - make another. Choose your colour - food colouring's fairly cheap too. When stuck in traffic, and feeling hungry, take a bite out of the bumber. |
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Responding to the question whether an inflatable vehicle could withstand speeds of 70 mph- Goodyear made several prototype inflatable aircraft circa late 1940s/early 1950s ("Inflataplane") which could cruise comfortably at about 70 mph, with a top speed of nearly 100 mph, as I have mentioned in another thread. As for an inflatable car- it might be feasible to make a car from plastic foam (LDPE or HDPE), but it wouldn't deflate (not without some distress on the part of the owner or driver.) Perhaps if each wheel had its own power supply, such that there was no heavy central engine mass or drivetrain (a Vespa scooter engine with automatic transmission at each corner?) |
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Ack! I just had an image of an inflatable SUV. It would be a regular car when uninflated. |
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Would this Bizarro car have tires made out of steel? |
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I don't see why not. It has a pretty good air suspension system. |
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I dont understand why not attempt this... |
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With electric control their is no need for axles, the motor(s) and steering gear can be attached directly to the body. Sounds like extra safety accomplished. The motor could constantly blow the car full, so that if there is a leak, the driver is notified in due time. Multiple compartments can see that no major puncture is achieved unless the car was vandalized, in which case you know when you start the car. |
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