Quote:
Originally Posted by Sven7
I see one big difference: The falcon's feathers point lengthwise while broom bristles would face crosswise. When the air is going across the bristles instead of with them, I imagine it would make a lot more drag, and therefore noise. It would be interesting to see a kind of feather inspired mechanism, though. A lengthwise one. (Or maybe both, and compare them)
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Yes,the approach,breakover,and departure angles limit our ability to run the bristles longitudinally,'cause they're just going to be snapped off if suspended from below these no-man's land.
A 45-degree canting,projecting rearwards would be my compromise.If they strike,they'll just deform and scrub and rebound once past the obstacle.
I have no idea if they'll modify the flow at all.
I do know that the wheels are responsible for significant drag so they're worth messin' around with.
In my perfect world,I'd have hinged fairings which fire to a stowed position when a forward-looking ranging device detected proximity to an approaching hazard,then re-deploying once past the danger.They'd go all the way within a fraction of a millimeter of the road,shunting all the air around the tires,then boat-tailing to kill any would-be turbulence behind.
Pre-preg carbon-fiber fairings would be the easy part.The acoustic or radio ranging part would have to be left to a certain radio-head I know.
In daylight,one could just manually hit a solenoid switch on the shift-lever or some other ergonomic location.
After dark,or in inclement weather,you'd want an electronic eye minding the store.