View Single Post
Old 08-14-2017, 10:22 PM   #1 (permalink)
The Toecutter
Master EcoModder
 
The Toecutter's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Ghettoville, USA
Posts: 251

Rebellion - '16 KMX Framekit Custom electric velomobile
Thanks: 148
Thanked 184 Times in 112 Posts
Critique this velomobile body

I've been putting together an electric assist velomobile with the goal of approaching less than 10 Wh/mile at 30 mph on flat ground with the rider pedaling with an input of 100W. I want to make sure that I have the body streamlined to a decent degree. The first body, depicted in this post, is being made out of corrugated plastic. It is not good at making compound curves, and generally only likes to be folded in one direction. I came up with the design below based on the Rumpler Tropfenwagen and the lakester salt flats racers, with a bit of influence by the LeMans velomobile. After that is a picture of the trike as it exists today. Open wheels are a necessity in order to fit it in and out of my doorway, and the body width is as narrow as possible while still providing clearance for the steering bars and without the wheels scrubbing. I estimate a frontal area of 0.6 m^2, but I am hoping to get a 0.25 Cd or below. Better shapes will be built after this one, but this will be the starting point.

The drawing of the body is done to scale. 1 square in the blue grid is 100 mm.

Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	Trike Body Initial Drawing.jpg
Views:	529
Size:	45.8 KB
ID:	22402   Click image for larger version

Name:	072017 2.jpg
Views:	207
Size:	149.5 KB
ID:	22403   Click image for larger version

Name:	052617 1.jpg
Views:	226
Size:	20.4 KB
ID:	22404   Click image for larger version

Name:	052617 3.jpg
Views:	196
Size:	37.4 KB
ID:	22405  
  Reply With Quote
The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to The Toecutter For This Useful Post:
ChopStix (08-15-2017), Daschicken (08-18-2017), samwichse (08-16-2017)