Quote:
Originally Posted by todayican
I am gettin excited about building some aero stuff!
Getting the F-150 to do patterns, prototype and testing this weekend, and already looking forward to the next product to develop :-)
I was looking at an old post and something jumped out at me, it was the image indicating the various cds of following a car and towing a trailer, the lowest portion made my jaw drop! .31 cd to .12 cd!
Any how, Ive had another idea for a while, to build a "pusher trailer" and installing an ev motor - Or 10hp diesel - Or both. (the Diesel would be on a clutch and only be used for droning down the highway right in its effeciancy "sweet spot"
And or just the Diesel and a gen head and use it as a range extender for pure EVs.
Some neat ideas I want to monkey with are:
making the tongue variable length and deploying it based on vehicle speed (over 45mph it would "tuck" in close to the car, under 45 when more clearance is needed for turns etc, it would extend 20 to 24 inches.
Figuring out a good looking, removable, and effective gap seal for the tow car to REALLY make the aero work.
Seeing if I can get the damn thing actually built in the next 2 weeks :-)
So again, I ask: Input, suggestions, ideas, criticisms?
So again, I ask the gurus what they think
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If you haven't read everything already on the internet for Range Extender Pusher trailers you'll want to do that.Especially Mr.Sharkey's Porsche 944 / VW RXT-P.
AC Propulsion Inc. has done a number of 'wake-rider' RXT-G trailers which you may also want to inspect as well as the all-new PRU RXT-GP Diesel pusher.
To get the lowest drag you're gonna need all-compound surfaces which require massive amounts of man-hours to fabricate ( I'm in over 800-hours on mine so far ),so I don't know about your 2-week target.
The telescopic tongue feature will require some clever engineering especially for the gap-fillers.
My gap-fillers are on the trailer itself and there is a symbiotic reinforcement feature do to this placement which really helps when striking killer pot-holes 'n such,and in 'roll.'
If you have a Scan-Gauge or such,you might cobble up a prototype trailer body and 'road-proof' it as in the JEEP Cherokee vs Prius comparison on the Stunt-Busters You-Tube clip.