To Wheel Or Not To Wheel ?

[Frank Lee]

https://news.engin.umich.edu/2017/07...lar-challenge/

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/auto...cid=spartanntp

This 4-wheel solar car can go highway speeds and has .1Cd. It is raced on public roads in a region complete with foul weather and high winds but I don't know how much interaction the racers have with other traffic.

You need not worry about whether your one-off is a trike or not for safety regulations; it won't be crash tested and if it has the lights, horn, etc. your State requires and it passes inspection, it's golden.

1fr/2rear trikes can be more than adequately stable. There are more of them than tadpoles.

That orange tired thing has a loooong way to go to be classified as a Morelli shape! I mean, there's a kinda-sorta overall similarity but the Morelli is all about aero and that orange tired thing has the aero of a barn.

[All Darc]

the CD of this car it's lower than Aptera, but the LDA it'a even better, am I right ? Due much reduced frontal area than Aptera.

My idea it'sa bit different. I have to draw...

Originally Posted by Angel And The Wolf

Above, below, same difference, except that below, combined with the rear center wheel fairing would eliminate that protrusion above.

Cameras and view screens would get rid of the claustrophobia.

in fact, lieing flat with the screens above, or google glasses, could keep the driver within the upper and lower skins of the plate.

[All Darc]

Bye bye plan to contact their team to the creation creation a ideal wheel streamlined covers for Morelli's design...

Speed it's a factor for supersonic planes. In supersonic the aedynamics it's a bit different. I remamber this reading this forum somewhere. I didn't knew very low speed was also factor.

Originally Posted by aerohead

Motor vehicle aero drag is basically a function of pressure drag.
Pressure drag is a function of flow separation,or lack thereof.
Flow separation is closely associated with the health of the boundary layer.
The best attached flow for 'real' vehicles is with a fully turbulent boundary layer.
This will occur when the Reynolds number goes super-critical,which for 'real' cars, occurs at about 20-mph.
If you keep a car below 20-mph,you can keep it in a laminar boundary layer,which really reduces turbulence-induced surface friction.
Surface friction isn't a problem with 'real' cars and a laminar boundary layer would actually increase pressure drag (overall drag) in a 'real' car.
The Ecorunner,by being 'short' ,and driving 'slow' can claim a very low 'laminar' Cd,but this would never possible with a 'full-size car,moving at real highway velocity.
The Reynolds number is associated with length,kinematic viscosity,and velocity.Once you get to around Rn = 500,000,the boundary layer will transition,from laminar,to turbulent (TBL).Golf balls are artificially roughened to trigger the immediate transition to TBL,allowing flow to remain attached longer before separating,thereby reducing the low pressure wake (pressure drag),and extending the distance of the drive.
The Rn of cars is measured in millions.

[All Darc]

Interesting, but it probably have low solar panel output.

How we determine exactly where frontal area ends, if by looking to the a given shape we get confuse ?

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

https://news.engin.umich.edu/2017/07...lar-challenge/

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/auto...cid=spartanntp

This 4-wheel solar car can go highway speeds and has .1Cd. It is raced on public roads in a region complete with foul weather and high winds but I don't know how much interaction the racers have with other traffic.

You need not worry about whether your one-off is a trike or not for safety regulations; it won't be crash tested and if it has the lights, horn, etc. your State requires and it passes inspection, it's golden.

1fr/2rear trikes can be more than adequately stable. There are more of them than tadpoles.

That orange tired thing has a loooong way to go to be classified as a Morelli shape! I mean, there's a kinda-sorta overall similarity but the Morelli is all about aero and that orange tired thing has the aero of a barn.

[All Darc]

Maybe the hope for a affordable electric solar vehicle for families comes from a poor country.
No offennse to USA and Europe people, but their industry want to make $$$, and not give clean car to save the planet.

Engineering Students build India's 1st Solar-Powered Vehicle - Team-BHP
SERVe: An amazing solar car designed by Indian students - Rediff.com Business

For a solar lightweight car, why we need 15kWh battery ? Why not just 7KWH ?

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

This 4-wheel solar car can go highway speeds and has .1Cd. It is raced on public roads in a region complete with foul weather and high winds but I don't know how much interaction the racers have with other traffic.

It needs Wheel spats shaped like a little double-sided plow.

That orange tired thing has a loooong way to go to be classified as a Morelli shape!

It lacks the reflex curve on top of the nose. Morelli specifies a circular cross-section, this has (or could have) a superelliptic cross-section. Surface development is an issue, like ...putting doors on it.

Originally Posted by All Darc

Maybe the hope for a affordable electric solar vehicle for families comes from a poor country.
No offennse to USA and Europe people...

The hope, maybe; but the R&D will come from capitalists and the production will come from China.

[All Darc]

A electric vehicle to fit in you pick-up ?
NASA made it in 1971, the Lunar Rover :

https://youtu.be/5aDSYTMqyQw?t=2057

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OL3OmM-CYQ

I wonder if such foldable vehicle could be redesigned to get flexible solar cells, like a tent to easily assemble over it.

[All Darc]

I remamber about the news of solar panels that worked by night. Indeed interesting, harvesting the heat and turning it electricity. Collect energy from the very hot asphalt sounds great.
But it could interfear with electromagnetic waves, like from cell phones.

Originally Posted by freebeard

Needs better solar panels, like ones that absorb infrared that is re-radiated from the road or even after dark:

https://inhabitat.com/solar-panels-work-at-night/

edit: [links on that page 404. ]
Try https://duckduckgo.com/?q=inl%20sola...nna&t=palemoon

Here's another one, capturing the blue part of the spectrum through re-radiation in a hydrogel:

This New 'Green' Antenna Could Double Solar Panel Efficiency

So — blue absorbing panels on the top, and infrared absorbing panels on the bottom.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by All Darc

Is this also valid for Brazil ?

As long as it's fitted with a motorcycle-type handlebar, it works.

[Angel And The Wolf]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

As long as it's fitted with a motorcycle-type handlebar, it works.

In Texas, the regs were changed from "Stradle type seat, handle bars, and open topped, to include closed cabinned, steering wheeled, car type seat. In Texas, three wheels or less means "Motorcycle"

Your State may vary.