Linner Strømlinet Vogn II

[christofoo]

Originally Posted by Sven7

Just cause I'm still logged in, I'll reply right away.

First, I would like to use some sort of bright paint job. Safety green is a bit conspicuous but maybe a nice 70's blue or lime green.
http://static.corradoworld.com/pictu...ciroco_MK1.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8152/7...24b9f49d_z.jpg

It would also need ample reflectors- probably the kind that look black until you shine a light on them- over the "painted black" areas.

Last, I would have LED running lamps. It might be good to make them flash like some motorcycle headlamps, and since it will be registered as such, that would be legal. Not sure how to go about putting together the lighting- do you know of any good threads?

Yeah, bright paint color is very good, I understand your hesitation in painting the whole thing neon green. Reflectors are good at night when (if) you're being overtaken (more of a cycling issue), no good for any other circumstance. But forward lighting is key for the cross-traffic under right-of-way issue, which is a really critical and common scenario. Actually, the other supplementary solution I might be alone in suggesting is a chrome dome. Full daylight is the single condition where forward lighting tends to under-perform, in that scenario if all your top-half curved surfaces have a chrome finish then you become a source of glare.

Sorry, I don't know of any good threads I can direct you to for this purpose, and I'm not even totally happy with the available cyclist solutions (although I have some high power P7 LEDs in LiIon flashlights that I blind everyone with).

The thought I have put into this suggests the next place to look might be converting motorcycle luminaries to LED, but...

I'm not familiar with motorcycles period.

The end-game is getting tons of light sprayed indiscriminately across a wide azimuthal range, including the horizon and above during the day preferably in a flashing mode, then being able to direct it to the road so you can see where you're going at night without blinding oncoming traffic. Obviously automotive luminaries are really good at doing this but can't be converted to LED due to the specificity of the reflector design to the bulb type, and would be mechanically too big anyways.

Here's my other idea: Get a Magicshine, plus taillight. Turn signals would have to be a separate kit. You can try getting it without the battery pack and get a DC-DC converter so it can splice into your trike's battery, but that may just be extra work. Steal some road-pattern lenses from some cheaper lights so you can spread the pattern along the azimuth. Make a mechanical lever so you can toggle the hot spot height, up in everyone's eyes in the day, down on the road at night.

[freebeard]

I saw it. I am planning on doing an irregular radius lexan window. The headlights would also be under radiused lexan since I figure glass would be hard to find and heavy.

Did you see how the commenters were more concerned with the old car in the barn than the design?

By 'glass' I meant Lexan. But there is a company locally that makes windshields for motorhomes. I may draw up a schematic and walk in to see if I can get a free price quote.

My friend has worked with fiberglass a bit on top secret projects and makes it sound easy. He's also done some (cosmetic) carbon fiber work. From some quick Googling it sounds like CF is more expensive, stronger, more likely to crack and lighter than fiberglass. That would leave the latter's strengths to be much lower cost and higher durability. Can anyone give me numbers for weight comparison? Also, how much durability will the vehicle need? I don't know. Probably depends on the frame flex.

It's 'easy' but don't breath the fumes. My understanding is that carbon fiber is harder to mold around concave or convex edges, as it's stiffer that glass fiber.

With three wheels, the frame shouldn't flex in torsion.

I need to make a 3D model and get some good proportions and perspective going. It's hard to work out.

Aren't you in some design school? Have they covered 3d modelling or do you have a preferred application? I think you basic choices are box, NURBS or sub-division modellers.

Last, I would have LED running lamps. It might be good to make them flash like some motorcycle headlamps, and since it will be registered as such, that would be legal. Not sure how to go about putting together the lighting- do you know of any good threads?

LED headlight - Google Search

[freebeard]

Actually, the other supplementary solution I might be alone in suggesting is a chrome dome.

I'm really irritated by people who fly flags for their local football team in traffic because they are distracting; but in this case an anarchist flag on a whip antenna might be a life saver.

[Sven7]

christofoo

Yeah, bright paint color is very good, I understand your hesitation in painting the whole thing neon green. Reflectors are good at night when (if) you're being overtaken (more of a cycling issue), no good for any other circumstance. But forward lighting is key for the cross-traffic under right-of-way issue, which is a really critical and common scenario. Actually, the other supplementary solution I might be alone in suggesting is a chrome dome. Full daylight is the single condition where forward lighting tends to under-perform, in that scenario if all your top-half curved surfaces have a chrome finish then you become a source of glare.

I can see how a chrome finish would be great for visibility but that woul be even worse than neon green!

I am a cyclist as well and commuted on bike all through high school, all year round. So, I am aware of the visibility issues. I had thought about having a flag lift up during low-speed driving but perhaps that would add too much drag.

Sorry, I don't know of any good threads I can direct you to for this purpose, and I'm not even totally happy with the available cyclist solutions (although I have some high power P7 LEDs in LiIon flashlights that I blind everyone with).

The thought I have put into this suggests the next place to look might be converting motorcycle luminaries to LED, but...

I'm not familiar with motorcycles period.

The end-game is getting tons of light sprayed indiscriminately across a wide azimuthal range, including the horizon and above during the day preferably in a flashing mode, then being able to direct it to the road so you can see where you're going at night without blinding oncoming traffic. Obviously automotive luminaries are really good at doing this but can't be converted to LED due to the specificity of the reflector design to the bulb type, and would be mechanically too big anyways.

Here's my other idea: Get a Magicshine, plus taillight. Turn signals would have to be a separate kit. You can try getting it without the battery pack and get a DC-DC converter so it can splice into your trike's battery, but that may just be extra work. Steal some road-pattern lenses from some cheaper lights so you can spread the pattern along the azimuth. Make a mechanical lever so you can toggle the hot spot height, up in everyone's eyes in the day, down on the road at night.


I intend for this car to cruise at speeds up to 65mph. I want it to be highway-worthy. Therefore, my main lighting has to be DOT approved and VERY bright. I have been considering mounting Hella 500 style driving lights inside the nose but they draw 55W each. I will probably end up with some sort of HID or halogen car headlights for the night and Audi-style LED strips for the day.

Good idea on directing the lights in people's eyes during the day, but how much oncoming traffic is really going to cause a problem? Only when I'm turning left across an intersection? I feel that maybe blinking LED running lights may be sufficient and I will just have to drive defensively. Having full-strength headlights on all the time would really drain the battery.

Speaking of which, does anyone know of a thread dealing with electricity consumption vs. CdA vs. battery size, or something of the sort? I'd like to have a rough estimate of how much space I'll need for batteries. Let's say I want it to go 100 miles on a charge, use a 26hp motor drawing on lithium ion batteries, and have a CdA of 1.5.

[Sven7]

freebeard-

Sorry, I was responding to christofoo when you posted!

Did you see how the commenters were more concerned with the old car in the barn than the design?

Actually forgot to look back at your thread after the T-bird stuff. Gotta finish this post, do some job searching, then go back and review it. I do LOVE the old Chrysler prototypes though!

By 'glass' I meant Lexan. But there is a company locally that makes windshields for motorhomes. I may draw up a schematic and walk in to see if I can get a free price quote.

Oh, of course. I seem to remember custom auto glass isn't terribly expensive?

It's 'easy' but don't breath the fumes. My understanding is that carbon fiber is harder to mold around concave or convex edges, as it's stiffer that glass fiber.

Project: Mad Hatter

With three wheels, the frame shouldn't flex in torsion.

Duh, why didn't i realize that.

Aren't you in some design school? Have they covered 3d modelling or do you have a preferred application? I think you basic choices are box, NURBS or sub-division modellers.

I graduated with a BFA in Transportation Design from CCS last spring. They taught us to use Autodesk Alias so that's what I use- it's very powerful for making pretty surfaces but isn't meant for mechanical design. It'll work well enough to lay out suspension parts and whatnot for visualization, but you couldn't mill a cylinder head from it.

When the time comes to make the actual body I will probably print out sections from my Alias model as guides for the buck.

LED headlight - Google Search



[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/RNzps.jpg
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/ofGMD.jpg

Uffda.

I'm really irritated by people who fly flags for their local football team in traffic because they are distracting; but in this case an anarchist flag on a whip antenna might be a life saver.

They're irritated at you for rooting for the other team! Anarchist... haha. How about a white EM logo on a bright green flag?

[freebeard]

Sorry, I was responding to christofoo when you posted!

Actually forgot to look back at your thread after the T-bird stuff. Gotta finish this post, do some job searching, then go back and review it. I do LOVE the old Chrysler prototypes though!

S'okay. It's supposed to be asynchronous.

When you do remind me which thread that was (or post in the thread) If it falls off the front page, or I don't get an email tickler, I lose track of where I said what [outlandish claim].

I may draw up a schematic and walk in to see if I can get a free price quote.

Oh, of course. I seem to remember custom auto glass isn't terribly expensive?

But if the quote is free I have a talking point!

Uffda.

Paul Arzens - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Actually I guess it was 'Union flag' I was thinking of:
"There's foxes in the hen house Cows out in the corn
The unions have been busted Their proud red banners torn"

Christmas In Washington by Steve Earle

I saw a truck with a wide load that had flags made of a fine mesh net in orange. I wanted some to put on the rear corners of my VW van. (they always hit the left rear corner)

I graduated with a BFA in Transportation Design from CCS last spring. They taught us to use Autodesk Alias so that's what I use- it's very powerful for making pretty surfaces but isn't meant for mechanical design. It'll work well enough to lay out suspension parts and whatnot for visualization, but you couldn't mill a cylinder head from it.

That's surprising. Autodesk's AutoCAD is *the* name I associate with Computer Aided Design. Do they provide an Export path back to AutoCAD?

[Sven7]

I did a little sketch model just with some curves to get a feel for the dimensions and volume. It's got a 108" wheelbase and it's 39" wide. The passenger space is about 26" tall by 48" long. 20" wheels in front and 24" in the back, or something like that.

[freebeard]

Speaking of which, does anyone know of a thread dealing with electricity consumption vs. CdA vs. battery size, or something of the sort? I'd like to have a rough estimate of how much space I'll need for batteries. Let's say I want it to go 100 miles on a charge, use a 26hp motor drawing on lithium ion batteries, and have a CdA of 1.5.

sizing batteries for small vehicles - Google Search

The model seems to confirm the sketches. It will be interesting to see how you handle the front fender/skirt.

[NeilBlanchard]

With any three wheel design needs to control the Cg:


(click on image to see source article)

If you can get consumption down to about 100Wh/mile, then you'll need a 11-12kWh pack (with about 10kWh DOD) and based on the cells I was planning CarBEN EV5 around, that would be a volume of about 3.5' x 10.5" x 5.5". The individual cells are 10.5" x 5.5" x 0.375" and you would need about 112 of them. (CarBEN EV5 has space for ~768 cells for a ~55kWh pack.)

[christofoo]

Originally Posted by Sven7

...
I can see how a chrome finish would be great for visibility but that woul be even worse than neon green!

I am a cyclist as well and commuted on bike all through high school, all year round. So, I am aware of the visibility issues. I had thought about having a flag lift up during low-speed driving but perhaps that would add too much drag.
...

Perhaps I err on the side of stating the obvious? While I'm at it, I'd suggest wheels that are round.

I forgot about HID. That's probably the way to go.

=======================

I like the idea. Now I want a freeway etrike too.