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JulianEdgar · 05-08-2020, 02:12 AM

I noticed that there is flow separation near the A pillar on the side glass of my Gen 1 Insight. (Tufts angled upwards near the pillar.)

I wondered if I could do anything to fix this. I tried some aerofoil aluminium extrusion as a turning vane.

Unfortunately the material I have is in 290mm lengths. (It came with a small vertical axis wind turbine I bought.) I attached it to the A pillar with tape and wood spacers. Converging duct - outlet smaller than inlet.

I made a few adjustments and found it to work well. I used a whiteboard marker to show on the glass where the tufts were going with the turning vane (solid lines) and without the turning vanes (dotted lines). (Where there are only solid lines, there was no change.) Five tufts show much improved behavior, and one tuft slightly improved behaviour.

I then ditched the aerofoil and made some plastic guides out of PVC pipe sliced up, but results were poor.

I've looked to see if I can buy that extrusion by the metre, but for the life of me, I can't find it. So at the moment I am stuck.

05-08-2020, 02:12 AM	#1 (permalink)
JulianEdgar Banned Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: Australia Posts: 2,060 Thanks: 107 Thanked 1,607 Times in 1,137 Posts	A pillar guides I noticed that there is flow separation near the A pillar on the side glass of my Gen 1 Insight. (Tufts angled upwards near the pillar.) I wondered if I could do anything to fix this. I tried some aerofoil aluminium extrusion as a turning vane. Unfortunately the material I have is in 290mm lengths. (It came with a small vertical axis wind turbine I bought.) I attached it to the A pillar with tape and wood spacers. Converging duct - outlet smaller than inlet. I made a few adjustments and found it to work well. I used a whiteboard marker to show on the glass where the tufts were going with the turning vane (solid lines) and without the turning vanes (dotted lines). (Where there are only solid lines, there was no change.) Five tufts show much improved behavior, and one tuft slightly improved behaviour. I then ditched the aerofoil and made some plastic guides out of PVC pipe sliced up, but results were poor. I've looked to see if I can buy that extrusion by the metre, but for the life of me, I can't find it. So at the moment I am stuck.