What about solar photovoltais area in the upper surface, compared to two kinds aerodynamic values ?
I was wondering if, for example, a 0,05 drag with low area for solar cells, could be worse than a 0,1 or 0,12 drag vehicle with a huge area for solar cells.
I will make a drawing about a solar "Morelli" or "solar Aptera" I imagined.
Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
You have to look at how fuel is spent in each application. In automotive applications, most energy is spent overcoming aerodynamic drag. The amount spent accelerating mass is relatively small. I'm not saying weight reduction doesn't matter, only that it matters very little compared to other applications.
For rockets, most of the fuel is spent accelerating mass, therefore reducing mass is critical, and spending money on exotic lightweight materials is justified.
Shaving 50 lbs off of a vehicle doesn't much impact fuel economy.
I agree that home use and low grade consumer CF is not so good. This is why we don't see it commonly used. To do it right is expensive, and to do it wrong is pointless.
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