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real time air resistance meter

a meter to tell you how much air resistance the skin or your vehicle is experiencing
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if you had a flat lcd that represeneted the manifold of the skin of your vehicle, it could show you what areas of your car skin are feeling what air resistance as the car travels or is still in the wind.

i believe the ideal display would operate by observing pressure sensors embedded throughout the skin of the car, and undercarraige, and the lcd could show a color coded display of the ammount of pressure felt by that area....somewhat like a color coded map realtime news temperatures.

i think, at the least this could help drivers of cars use areo drafting by driving in the air wake of each others vehicles. also, it could just be cool looking on the dashboard.

zeev

zevkirsh, Nov 10 2006

pressure sensitive paint Pressure_20sensitive_20paint
no details as to how it would work. [xaviergisz, Nov 10 2006]

pressure sensitive surface pressure_20sensitive_20surface
my anno, re-posted as a separate idea [xaviergisz, Nov 10 2006]

car wind tunnel paint car_20wind_20tunnel_20paint
[xaviergisz, Feb 27 2007]


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Annotation:







       It'd be even cooler if the colour of the car itself changed with pressure.   

       This could be achieved with two closely spaced layers (top layer transparent) which are separated by an array of millions of tiny elastic blobs - as pressure increases the blobs spread out, thus the colour of the car would change.   

       EDIT: dammit, this anno is good enough to have its own separate post.
xaviergisz, Nov 10 2006
  

       How would you measure the resistance without effecting the resitance?   

       How does this work? Magic? You have described the interface but not the sensor itself.
webfishrune, Nov 10 2006
  

       I wonder if it would work as expected, even if there was a pressure sensor system and display. Does the air pressure show the resistance? If a 6ft plank of wood is travelling at a certain speed, the pressure along the sides would be pretty much the same as a 12ft plank of wood at the same speed. But the resistance would be different due to the different lengths. Now think about the 'negative' resistance on the top of an aerofoil.
Ling, Nov 10 2006
  

       Where would the lcd display appear? Only to the occupants of the car?
wylie_coyote, Nov 10 2006
  

       "How does this work? Magic? You have described the interface but not the sensor itself."   

       try mounting all body panels on force sensors, to measure the force (direction & magnitude) pushing each panel through the air. The vector sum of those forces gives the net drag. Or, a force sensor at the interface between the body and the drivetrain gives the sum of air drag and non-driving wheel rolling resistance. Of course, this all implies building the car from scratch, around the force sensors.   

       the sensors themselves? off the shelf.. just type in "load cell" on google
iron_horse, Feb 26 2007
  

       //at the least this could help drivers of cars use areo drafting by driving in the air wake of each others vehicles// Very bad idea. And [-] for stupid lack of capital letters.
MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 26 2007
  

       Load cells on the body blocks would probably work, but that wouldn't be any good for vehicles without body blocks, and wouldn't take into account the drag from the underside/chassis of the vehicle.   

       I wouldn't mind knowing the *total* wind resistance of my vehicle as I'm driving, but I can't help thinking that a good litres per kilometer or l/100km meter wouldn't tell me all I need to know.   

       [Max] why is this a very bad idea? Not saying you're wrong, but please clarify. I have been guilty of slipstreaming trucks before, in fact when I used to ride a pushbike everywhere, slipstreaming busses was the only way to travel...
Custardguts, Feb 26 2007
  

       The electical resistance of air is extremely high (in fact all the references I found on a quick search decline to state a value!) Not sure why you'd want to monitor this... ;)   

       [When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail]
csea, Feb 26 2007
  

       //[Max] why is this a very bad idea?// because (a) slipstreaming gives you excellent economy right up to the point where you slam into the back of the other vehicle and (b) the affectation of omitting capital letters pisses me off.
MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 27 2007
  


 

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