A Magic To Improve Aerodynamics : TOYOTA PATENT

[MPGomatic]

I just saw this mentioned on Reddit. Crazy cool. Bring on the 3M Aluminum Tape?

[Ecky]

Subscribed.

[codenamezero]

Has nothing to do with the tape being aluminium or what not... IMHO, is just how aerodynamic works... look at this link that I bookmarked 4-6 years ago:
Nimbus 4D improvement

If you put zigzag tape at the plane where the air hit the surface, it will help break the turbulence...

[MobilOne]

I think that the zigzag tape and the aluminium tape work to do the same thing two different ways. The zigzag tape is a vortex generator (IIRC) used to provide laminar flow and the aluminium tape is a static electricity dissipator used to improve laminar flow. Perhaps, a narrow strip of aluminum tape zigzaged along one edge with pinking shears. I have thought of using pinking shears to zigzag some Gorilla tape and stick it at the leading edge of the roof of my 3500 crew cab. Perhaps, some day.

[codenamezero]

Originally Posted by MobilOne

I think that the zigzag tape and the aluminium tape work to do two different things two different ways. The zigzag tape is a vortex generator (IIRC) and the aluminium tape is a static electricity dissipator. But they both work to improve air flow.

I call bull**** unless they make their aluminum tapes FLUSH with the body + SEAMLESS and the aero effect remains, THEN I would say their "static electricity dissipator or whatever" actually works... otherwise as far as I can see it, their tape act exactly as any tape you put on the body that breaks the air.

Edit: You know, putting ugly zigzag tape is not gonna help sell cars... but mixing it with some bull**** and shinny might help sell cars. Obviously normal consumer wouldn't want a brunch of zigzag tapes on their car.

[19bonestock88]

The normal consumer certainly wouldn't, but I might give the tape a try... The worst thing to happen would be some wallet-scale weight reduction, lol

[freebeard]

Edit: You know, putting ugly zigzag tape is not gonna help sell cars... but mixing it with some bull**** and shinny might help sell cars. Obviously normal consumer wouldn't want a brunch of zigzag tapes on their car.

It wasn't obvious until you pointed it out. Thanks!

I'm just trying to understand what's going on here. OP starts the thread after not posting since 11-11-2008, 11:06 PM in Instrumentation. Your last previous post was on 07-07-2011, 01:17 PM in General Efficiency.

Currently Active Users: 870 (4 members and 866 guests).
Threads: 30,960, Posts: 510,786, Members: 29,658, Active Members: 512

That's a lot of lurkers! On-topic: Not a bunch of hill-billys, these are Toyota engineers. You may have noticed the Japanese carry refinement to an highly elevated level. Or, not...

[codenamezero]

Originally Posted by freebeard

It wasn't obvious until you pointed it out. Thanks!

I'm just trying to understand what's going on here. OP starts the thread after not posting since 11-11-2008, 11:06 PM in Instrumentation. Your last previous post was on 07-07-2011, 01:17 PM in General Efficiency.

Currently Active Users: 870 (4 members and 866 guests).
Threads: 30,960, Posts: 510,786, Members: 29,658, Active Members: 512

That's a lot of lurkers! On-topic: Not a bunch of hill-billys, these are Toyota engineers. You may have noticed the Japanese carry refinement to an highly elevated level. Or, not...

Well this thread came up on Aerodynamic first page, I recently bought a Mirage and planning to do aero mods to it, so I start looking at this site again for ideas. :P

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by ChopStix

I don't know about the foil tape strips and the effects of basically "capacitance" on the aero effects of panels. But I have seen these foil stickers on autos, and airplanes over the years.

I'm aware of some static dischargers fitted to aircraft, but they're usually either shaped like antennae or like randomly loose wires.