Quote:
Originally Posted by cfg83
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Nice find!
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Did you notice the smart materials demo on the active spoiler didn't quite go as planned for the GM guy?
At around 2:50 in the vid, he deploys the spoiler, and then immediately tries to un-deploy it, saying... "Fast deploy. And... fast un-deploy!" ... as he presses the un-deploy button. But nothing happens. Yet, without missing a beat he adds, "... when we're ready for that."
So he delivers a few more sentences and then jabs twice more at the button, and it finally un-deploys.
I'm guessing: he just finished explaining how the alloy's "memorized" shape is activated within a predictable temperature range. So the deployment current heated up a shaped alloy, extending the spoiler, but the retracting alloy couldn't pull back down again until the first alloy cooled enough that it could be stretched again.
Neato. Tells us the alloys are more like "slow" electric motors than regular motors. (Which is still OK for things like active aero.)