Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Lee
Torque forces especially acceleration through the wheel are minute compared to braking, bump impact, and cornering forces. Don't look for lighter wheel potential with that idea.
Wheels, being on the "front line" with regard to impacts and other ugly events are oftentimes not perfectly true, even though they started out that way. If the rim itself is to also function as a motor, I think it will need a robust design such that it doesn't lose lots of efficiency if running tolerances get huge i.e. the thing gets knocked wobbly.
I like the idea of having wheels be the "fuse" between the expensive bits and all the hazards of the road.
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Those are very good points, Frank, and thanks for sharing that perspective.
As for lighter wheels, didn't the Corvette crew try out composites some years back? If so, how'd that turn out?
As for the wobbly wheel problem after curb rash or big potholes, I'm wondering how much battle damage happens to the inner arc surface of the wheel. Not the bead rim, but that concentric curved surface where the wheel rim/sidewall turns inward (and where stick-on weights go), which is where I'd want to put the permanent magnets. I've bent a rim or two on an old BMW, saved them, so will look to see how much deformation (if any) happened there.
Again, my reason for wanting to put the permanent magnets as far out on the wheel as practical, is to get as much torque as possible from a given shot of electromagnetism: The farther out, the more torque. Compare to the MTSU app. on the brake drum: The effective lever arm on those magnets could be improved substantially.