Ecomodding Infographic - I'd like to make one! - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

SvdM · 09-02-2010, 03:49 AM

Hi there.

I'd like to make an Ecomodding infographic.

I think the list with pictures about the aeromods that one can do is just fine and for now I'd maybe just add it as a list on this infographic. However, I'd like to start with some of the other more tricky info perhaps, the generally accepted departure angles and such. Formulas too. There can be a part with the terminology [on one side, say] and a short explanation of each term...

I see a lot of images on the site (Like this: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...pes-11183.html ), but I'd like to add them all together and present you guys with a free vector-infographic at the end that you can print out as big as you want or just keep on your PC.

I need input from all y'all knowledgable folks though. What info would you want on it? What would you like to see together on a page rather than in bits and bobs?

Also, since it's free, would I have to quote any of the books some of these images come from in any official manner, as I plan to redraw them if I can in a vector format? The quotation method I am familiar with is the Harvard method ( http://www.infosecsa.co.za/Reference_Techniques.pdf ) - anal I know, but if you guys figure this to be the right way to do it, then so be it.

Schalk

euromodder · 09-09-2010, 05:05 AM

What would such an infographic look like ?

WeatherSpotter and saands are trying to get relevant info and user experience from the forum into the Wiki - as I guess they've also realized there's a lot of good info out there, but it becomes more difficult to find as the forum grows.

Maybe it can be integrated into that effort so all info is grouped together ?

With pictures however, there's also the problem of copyright.

SvdM · 09-09-2010, 05:32 AM

Although I do not for one minute pretend to be as brilliant as some of these guys, you'll get an idea:

Information Is Beautiful | Ideas, issues, knowledge, data - visualized!

I'd like to group some of Hucho (?) and other's findings on one page as much as possible, just to serve as a good starting point for personal modifications on your own vehicle (so mostly aerodynamic stuff).

Graphs, images, formulas etc...

I suppose it would be a good place to start with explaining the aerodynamic work of the 1930's first and then moving onto modern aerodynamic nuances.

But like I said, I welcome the help of- or I'd be delighted to help- the more knowledgeable folk out there in creating such a graphic to benefit this site.

I'm assuming this graphic won't make much sense to someone who's just stepped onto the site, but would make a lot of sense once's he / she has read the part of why aerodynamic conversions will most likely benefit your FE.

saand · 09-09-2010, 06:47 AM

svdm interesting idea, to get something particularly useful or reliable you may need to do a lot of research it has taken me considerable time to gather together all the info for the wiki and I am still not near finished and weather spotter has been doing lots of pages as well so there is lots of work there. Maybe what we have done will help you though.

Im not sure what you’re going for but if you’re after ideas an overall starting point might be to show the flow of energy from petrol to the wheels I percentage terms. So starting at petrol 100%, in combustion it splits off to force and heat, heat gets lots force then goes to split off to alternator, AC, power steering, transmission..... and so on down to the wheels / motion forward then losses of this motion, air resistance, breaking,

Then under each split you could show pictures and efficiency numbers for each modification which would improve fall under each split/contributing factor to efficiency.

There are pictures in the wiki and in the mod list. there are efficiency numbers now in the wiki with more numbers going in all the time.

As for what people want. I assume people want to know what hypermiling methods or car mods they can do, how to do them and what the efficiency gain is and cost (money and time) it will take to do the mod. You can easily get in everything but the how to do the hypermiling method or car mod could be difficult as it’s a lot of info to fit into a single picture.

This is the general approach I have used for the wiki.

If you are going to pursue the info graphic your welcome to make up a wiki page, posting the graphic while you make progress on it, it might cause some more interest/help if people see how you are going with it and what info is lacking or just post the graphic on this thread as you go.

good luck

SvdM · 09-09-2010, 07:09 AM

Thanks saand, what you said sounds good. I'll try and figure out the wiki and all the links, but in essence, I'm a picture-person* and might knock on your door for some guidance.

*Part of the reason why I want to do this is so I can have many things in one place.

And yes, you're right, some of the mods and how to's won't fit on a infographic that'll remain legible and not look like a sea of words. However I think one can make a quick reference to the most used materials / mods in each section and provide links to the relevant threads [they'll be dumb links that you'll have to retype unfortunately unless I/we can later make the infographic on the web more interactive].

I think your idea of explaining and grouping all the losses are great. Once I've seen more of the data, I'll have to do a 'storyboard' or two or 10 to figure out the layout, but I think I'll do an infographic or two and post it here [or the Wiki], just to get people to understand what it is I'm trying to accomplish and for those who can contribute, to do so.

It's not going to go quick though

...

Weather Spotter · 09-09-2010, 12:30 PM

I'll chime in here. You are right it will not be easy or quick, but the result would be very nice for visual orientated people (like me).

I like Saand's ideas for a graphic. I also think that just organizing all the pics of the different mods we have would help.

You could make an animation with the worst aerodynamic shape (cube I think) and move it towards an ideal (box fish) design. With each change add a pic of the mod by it's self (off to the side) and the coefficient of drag improvement for that mod. Rolling through a 5 min animation will cover most of the mods and show the possibilities of what can get done.

If you want to gather data for the aerodynamic shapes, graphs, pics, diagrams I would point you to this:
Reference threads on aerodynamics - EcoModder

You could use this or you (we can help with the formatting) make a new page under the Wiki main page>Reference Material>Aerodynamic graphs, charts, and ideal shapes .

I would love to see more information about this topic, when I went to mod my car it took some digging to mentally "get" what my car should look like.

With saand and I being ~12 hours different in time zones (you are in the middle) one of us will be around most any time for you to bounce ideas off of or help.

As for pic copyright issues, we can see what the rules are for images uploaded to the site, I think we have the right to reuse them within the ecomodder domain (wiki included). If not we can ask users to add the pics and then we compile them.

SvdM · 09-10-2010, 01:26 AM

@Weather Spotter: I don't know Flash and although I know a bit of 3D modelling, I don't know the animation side thereof, but a nice Flash animation would be the absolute best to get the message across.

I will start with the vectorising of some of the stuff here on Ecomodder and we can take it from there

Thanks.

Weather Spotter · 09-10-2010, 07:04 AM

I do not know flash ether, but once the vector part is done someone who does will see your work and take it to the next level. That is the point of doing it wiki style

SvdM · 01-10-2012, 01:17 AM

Hi, so I finally got around to making a vector image of the following. The Streamlining Template is not done yet, but you get the idea. The image uploaded is a JPEG version of the Vector file I created.

Let me know what you think. I've just pulled the images off here, so if anyone knows the exact source and can supply the correct image labelling and referencing (I'm used to the Harvard method of referencing), you're welcome to post them here; I'll then add them to each picture if you deem it necessary.

Later on I can bundle all the most important images with regards to aeromodding considerations and add commentary from the people in the know to further explain certain things (hopefully in laymen's terms).

Sven7 · 01-10-2012, 01:58 AM

Those graphics look good but I think most people come here wanting to save gas; the drag reduction % doesn't mean a whole lot to them. If you can give an estimate of a % increase in MPG it will have more impact. Also, the "basic redesign" is confusing.

I'd be down for doing a line drawing exploded view of all the common aeromods on a car and common materials to use for them. Then you could trace over it in Illustrator to make your vector. It probably isn't necessary to go into the history of aerodynamics.