Mirror designs, if we can't use cameras yet.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by benphyr

So vent-visors in my Odyssey picture above are worse drag culprits per their frontal area than say roof racks or something else of the same area located elsewhere on the vehicle because they are right at the A-pillar.

Thanks for helping those-who-knows-less.

If the vent visors allow you to comfortably ventilate the van without using AC,then their drag will probably be overshadowed by the energy savings of not running the compressor.
If your side glass was perfectly flush the visors might perturb the flow more than we'd like.
Any local disruption they cause should be cleaned up by the time the flow reaches the back of the van.I'd be inclined to keep them.
Roof racks would be avoided at all cost.With receiver hitch cargo boxes,there's no compelling reason to use the roof for any storage.

[freebeard]

How about this picture posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr in the 'spotted in the wild' thread:



A West Coast style mirror pushed forward instead of out. They would naturally be angled for visibility and the airflow is coming sideways off the windshield.

This is what I wanted to do with my panel van before I had to sell it on.

[MN Driver]

There were comments about the dead/deleted link for the mirror laws by state but I didn't see anyone posting the working link, sorry if I missed someone else posting this.
Mirror Laws by State (U.S.) - EcoModder
Hope this helps.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by freebeard

How about this picture posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr in the 'spotted in the wild' thread:



A West Coast style mirror pushed forward instead of out. They would naturally be angled for visibility and the airflow is coming sideways off the windshield.

This is what I wanted to do with my panel van before I had to sell it on.

The Italian peninsula was thinking likewise
http://sf.streetsblog.org/wp-content..._Vegas_BRT.jpg

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by SvdM

So, would this be a bad idea for side-mirror drag reduction?

Viewed from the front, the stalk / rectangular catchment area has about 1/2 the m² area of the mirror. In plan view, the 'triangular exhaust' area has just more than 1/2 of that again in m². It's close to Template C in plan.

Those with access to 3D printers could easily make this. It might need some beefing up in the area where the two connect etc.

The open-faced strut would behave much like angle iron in the airstream.I don't have that with me,but I believe that the Cd is over 1.00.
The jet created would be asymmetrical with respect to the mirrors wake and could possibly make things worse.
The mirror in free flight would be Cd 0.30 - 0.25

[freebeard]

thinking likewise

As well as the Springfield OR fire department

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by cowmeat

Bullet Mirror Fender for Retro Car Mazda Toyota Datsun Mitsubihi ect LH RH New | eBay

I'm considering trying to retrofit something like these on Turtle. They seem to fit the profile of sticking out far enough to detach the airflow. What do you guys think?

I'd want to make the installation reversible so I could re-mount the oem mirrors when I go to sell it, but these seem like they would cut a lot of the mirror drag.

*The nearest part of the mirror body should be around 80mm from the Honda's glass.
*The lightening holes in the struts are a no-no.
*The discontinuity between the contour of the housing and that of the pivoting mirror surround wouldn't be the best for airflow.
*And so far,we don't know that a round profile is any better than a rectangular profile.Many low drag and racing cars are using rectangular or oblong shapes.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by Xist

Is there any way to just use lenses and mirrors, like with cameras and LCDs, but without electronics?

Like a U-shaped periscope, projecting onto a larger screen?

I imagine that image quality would degrade, though.

If somehow you could do that, you could have a mirror in the normal location, and a series of other mirrors reflecting into the car.

An exterior, body-hugging, fresnel lens objective with internal view-screen was promoted 20-years or so ago as a drag reducing replacement for conventional side-view mirrors.I've never seen nor heard of it since.

[Vekke]

I think my A8 project will get this kind of mirrors, like the style is moving in WRC series. Basicly position is same as in my lupo conserning cars length but they are lower. I will use the same convex mirror part like in the lupo project as it worked perfectly (no blind spots). Housings will be 3d printed. I will try do design so that they can be installed easily to most vehicle doors. This means you could print them anywhere.



IMO toyota housing is too close to body. I think they have just added small mirrors to same place as other teams :/



Same for citroen too close to side window and maybe even too high



I belive the VW has seen most wind tunnel time and it places mirrors best aerodynamically wise for that reason. Conserning the hood to a pillar airflow and distance to sideglass... (If you dont want to put them to sidewindow like I had)

[freebeard]

I'd probed Google Images looking for an example of a feature I've seen on WRC racers, without success; Your post has two examples—the Yaris and the Golf.

It's the wide-body wheel arches with the open back, front and rear.