Thread: hybrid plateau
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Old 05-29-2010, 08:58 PM   #3 (permalink)
Bicycle Bob
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The cooling air path won't benefit by being convoluted. I'd focus on making smooth, sealed ducting to the rad that can flex to vary the intake area to meet demand. I'd try to center the intake at the front stagnation point to minimize fan use.

I wonder if we might benefit from using oversize rads to reduce the needed airflow. I guess it wouldn't be hard to put a thermometer probe on each side of the rad to compare outflow temperature to water temperature in the top hose. There are probably aero benefits to slower flow through the rad as well as reduced volume. The team that built the globe-circling Voyager aircraft had to write their own textbook for our kind of speeds, and still gave up 20% of total drag to cooling - while flying, not rolling. I smell fruit.
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