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Old 08-08-2008, 04:41 AM   #18 (permalink)
blackjackel
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: los angeles
Posts: 119

Whitey - '05 toyota corolla LE
90 day: 28.91 mpg (US)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cfg83 View Post
blackjackel -

I am imagining a hood-based solution. The analogy is the CPU cooling fan that has radiator fins. Imagine that the top of the engine is the "CPU" and the underside of the hood has tons of fins attached to it that also come in contact with the engine.

The hood could have a grid of holes to help with venting. At highway speeds, the holes would look "solid" to the airstream (right?!?!?!).

There could still be a fan with an operable grill at those pesky stop lights.

Focusing the heat/venting on the hood could isolate the safety risks.

Problem: Maybe you would see "mirage heat" radiating from the hood while you drive.

Problem: Heat blasting into the cabin when you roll down the windows.

Both problems sounds like another reason for a rear engine classic VW bug configuration.

CarloSW2

The idea of a CPU and heatsink was the EXACT idea that was in my head when thinking of this solution... You could probably solve problem two by centering the blades of the heat sink on the windshield so the hot air goes up and over and not to the sides...


Quote:
Originally Posted by Sayyad View Post
How about running the hot coolant through the inside of a double-walled aluminum belly pan, such that the belly pan acts as both an airflow improving and cooling device at once. The pan could even have fins hanging down an inch or so, keeping the airflow going straight front-to-back as well as providing further cooling to the fluid inside. Just keep the coolant away from the even hotter exhaust pipe, and watch out for speed bumps and rocks.
Didn't Toyota or Honda integrate a little steam turbine with a gas engine recently?
What is a radiator for? It removes excess heat. This heat comes from the fuel you payed for. I would say that instead of having a radiator at all we should be doing something about using all that heat for something. What I'd like to see is a diesel-stirling-electric hybrid. Imagine (or calculate) how far our cars would go if they actually used most of the energy from the fuel they burn.
You could sandwich an ass load of TEC or thermoelectric plates in between the heatsink and the engine, that would generate electricity, possibly a LOT of electricity, you could probably power the whole car's electrical system from this TEC setup taking the load off of the alternator alltogether...
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