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Old 06-27-2014, 05:14 PM   #10 (permalink)
basjoos
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Upstate SC
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Aerocivic - '92 Honda Civic CX
Last 3: 70.54 mpg (US)

AerocivicLB - '92 Honda Civic CX
Team Honda
90 day: 55.14 mpg (US)

Camryglide - '20 Toyota Camry hybrid LE
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolfwhistle View Post
What if you build a wide and close to the ground air dam, but rather it being solid and pushing air aside just behind the point of impact... right at the front, could we cut a very flat and wide hole, nearly inside wheel to inside wheel... a duct or collector if you will, that connects to a very flat and wide duct that extends to the rear of the vehicle? Essentially the dam would be a collector feeding a stream straightener. The smoothest full-length belly pan ever... could this air flow be directed into the nasty air behind a vehicle in some way (a way I wouldn't know how to do) and then be used lessen drag? I can see ground clearance and issue for some if not many vehicles. But, I am asking, could this work on others.

Also, on any vehicle would it be possible to harness the 'unwanted' pressure and flow of air towards a wind powered generator while driving? It might not eliminate the need for an alternator / generator, but with an AC compressor type electric clutch on the Alternator, it could be kept turned off either automatically or manually when not needed, is it even feasible?
That's basically what I am doing with the underside of the aerocivic, except I'm not using an air dam to feed the duct. The front has a low stagnation point to divert most of the air over and around the car, which combined with an engine compartment underpanel to prevent the engine compartment from dumping air under the car, minimizes the amount of air passing under the car. The full length smooth underpanel is the top of the duct. the inside portion of the double side skirt are the sides of the duct and the road is the bottom of the duct. The side skirts are coroplast and can flex when they contact the road so ground clearance isn't a bottom. At the back the airflow under the car diffuses up to help fill the space under the boat tail.

Ideally you are trying to aeromod to reduce these "unwanted" pressure build ups. On normal cars, the high pressure zone at the base of the windshield is used to help move air through the air vents. On the aerocivic, I have reduced this high pressure zone so much that there is almost no air movement through the car's air vents unless I turn on the fan.

But even when there are high pressure zones around the car, the spinning prop on a wind powered generator (such as were used on some early aircraft to generate electricity) creates a lot of drag and leaves a long trail of turbulent air downstream of it. A Fly Baby pilot reported that when he installed a wind powered generator on his homebuilt aircraft to power some avionics, it knocked 5 mph off of his airspeed.
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Last edited by basjoos; 07-01-2014 at 09:03 AM..
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