Vortex strake device and method for reducing the aerodynamic drag of ground vehicles
 

Vortex strake device and method for reducing the aerodynamic drag of ground vehicles Patent Number US7255387 B2
Patent US7255387 - Vortex strake device and method for reducing the aerodynamic drag of ground ... - Google Patents
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If I were to think of this as a rain diverter on a roof, such as found over an entry-way I'd say yes, it works.

However we are talking air pressures and vortexes which have a life far from and beyond the moving body.

What say yee? ..........unicorn or will work to some degree?

EDIT: I found this quote in the forum.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...html#post10971

It's obvious the U.S. Patent Office hasn't hired anybody of Einstein's caliber recently.

I don't know who's tossing these ideas directly into the Unicorn bin, but he'd better check first ...

Hit the "Richard M. Wood" link to find other patents he's linked to.
Have a look at some of those, and you'll see the original assignee is ... NASA.

Quite a few of the patents his name is on, actually work and are used by ecomodders .


So unless ecomodder wants to look stupid, get it out of the Coral ...

NASA schmasa, faking moon landings since... :D

I agree, this does not belong in the Unicorn Coral. Wood is the real thing, and dare I say it, sounds like an Ecomodder at heart:

Wood — who chairs the Society of Automotive Engineers' (SAE) Truck and Bus
Aerodynamic and Fuel Economy Committee and is a member of the American
Trucking Association's (ATA) Engineering and Technology Policy Committee and
the Technology and Maintenance Council (TMC) Future Truck Committee —
believes mounds of misinformation and factually incorrect statements are
severely damaging the move to make aerodynamics more acceptable and
understood.

Surprisingly, Wood says some of it is coming from the Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA) SmartWay effort and the Department of Transportation's (DOT)
effort on fuel economy...

“The reason I'm interested in this topic is to reduce the number of false
aerodynamic assumptions or statements being made that imply that one size fits
all and there's no complexity to the function of aerodynamic technology..."

He started creating a list of facts to replace the factoids that were spreading through
the industry.

An example:

Fact: Smoothing the trailer surface will not create laminar flow or reduce friction drag.

Wood's explanation: Friction drag reduction can only occur by changing the boundary
layer from turbulent to laminar. However, at operational speeds a laminar boundary
layer is only possible in the first 10% of the trailer length. As a result, 90% of the
trailer will have a turbulent boundary layer with a constant friction drag level.

“My motivation drew out of the frustration from repeatedly hearing the same misleading
aerodynamic claims,” he says. “I'm not saying that it has been intentional, but they
could have heard it, and pretty soon it becomes a factoid — something that everybody
believes is true but is not really true because there's no basis for it or proof for it. It's
just a phrase people use. You hear those phrases get cycled back and people start
explaining the physics of their products based upon statements, which do not truthfully
describe the way the aerodynamics are working. I said, ‘This is getting out of control.
The fleets are going to start using these statements, and as a result, aerodynamics is
going to go by the wayside. Instead of people embracing aerodynamics, it's going to
decay.’”

Wood believes statements should be supported by published literature authored by
recognized experts. To be accepted and published by professional societies, a work has
to be supported by numerous published papers that support your findings.

Read lots more good stuff): With misinformation and factually incorrect statements
swirling, Richard Wood is out to ease the turbulence

It looks and sounds like Mr.Wood should be invited to become a member of ecomodder.

>

I bet he'd be delighted to find his work in the Corral :rolleyes:

.

:rolleyes:

.

I did not think that a submission to the corral as an indictment, but the place for a debate to take place.

This is the second time this has happened, people making assumptions, so I just will not post anything in this section to prevent such misunderstandings in the future.

Fences and strakes are used on aircraft, so there might be something to this patent in my opinion.

We also see these features on more and more racing cars, and they are being regulated by the rules because they work, right?

This is all I had read before, guess I didn't get it fully - sorry.
Clarification for the future - and for others:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...sed-16428.html
Is it a myth or is it real?..................answer seems to be REAL.

So what tests have these devices passed?

Also...what CAN be moved INTO the corral, CAN likewise be moved OUT of the corral...pending rational (I know, I know) agreement that it shouldn't be in the corral.

'tis better to ERROR on the side of caution, than to LEAP into the chasm of abandon.