Ram Air Wind Alternator

[BuffaloChips]

I haven't read all the responses here at the moment. But, to JanGeo, The idea of a clutching system was to alleviate the horsepower drain not stop the engine alt. from producing power. As for increasing the ram air system discussed. Have you thought about, or tried some type of funneling device to catch more air and accelerate it into a smaller more compressed area? I doubt the issue of extra drag from a system like this would truly be significant. I know a guy that drives his truck everywhere with the hood popped to the safety latch. This lets the hood sit up at least an inch. He claims he gets about a 3mpg boost on the highway just doing that. He hauls granite loads a lot and doesn't seem to thing there is significant drag.

[Ted Hart]

Originally Posted by ketel0ne

So here's the concept a, 6-8" Ram air tube from the grill to an 6-8" blade assembly with a larger pulley to a half sized pully on one of these alternators. I have several hundred pages of alternator documentation(zip file) of how to pull this off. Looking for your thoughts. Also thinking that a solar panel could be rigged into the setup as well against the battery.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Permanent-Magnet...QQcmdZViewItem

Interesting! Have you considered the power req'ts of spinning this alternetor assembly at some (lower?) RPM? Nothing is free...not even power-making devices; ie, it takes power to make (less) power! The law of conservation of energy prevails....And, have you considered the square footage involved with the solar collector...just to generate the current required to charge / partially charge the battery while "motoring" down the road? Wow! If it were feasible, the aftermarket would have scooped this up !

[theholycow]

Welcome, FX Flyboy. I have to say, since you've commanded me in your avatar:

I shall do so. Seriously...I'd be doing it anyway. It's what I'm really good at.

Anyway, note that you've responded to a two-year-old thread. Many or most of the users involved are no longer participating.

[trautotuning]

Just one quick question to this old thread.

How would a turbine, behind the bumper, be of any added aerodynamic drag??

Its behind everything, and the radiator would still get air since air goes past the blades (just at a slower speed obviously).

I have thought deeply of doing this and see absolutley no bad things coming out of it. It its behind the front bumper it is not going to create more drag, take away air from the radiator (like a grill block would), and it will provide free energy... so?!?!

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

Originally Posted by trautotuning

Just one quick question to this old thread.

How would a turbine, behind the bumper, be of any added aerodynamic drag??

Its behind everything, and the radiator would still get air since air goes past the blades (just at a slower speed obviously).

I have thought deeply of doing this and see absolutley no bad things coming out of it. It its behind the front bumper it is not going to create more drag, take away air from the radiator (like a grill block would), and it will provide free energy... so?!?!

Anytime you have air moving over the car, drag is created. Any time it is passing through a hole in a car, more drag is created. If that air is meeting some resistance in that hole (such as that created by a wind turbine), more drag is created.

An air dam on the front of a car would create more drag than a car with no air dam. I'm pretty sure that the mileage gain comes from deflecting the air which would otherwise pass over the uneven surfaces of the underside of the car, which has more drag than the air dam. (Someone correct me if I am wrong).

Here's one way of doing it...combination charging system, rotating air dam and gyroscopic speed governor:




For the real story behind the picture, click on the link below:
http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower...odelAtest.html

[trautotuning]

Originally Posted by JoeBob

Anytime you have air moving over the car, drag is created. Any time it is passing through a hole in a car, more drag is created. If that air is meeting some resistance in that hole (such as that created by a wind turbine), more drag is created.

Sure, but there is already so much drag in the grill that it would not make a difference at all.

There is the hood latch, the radiator, ac stuff, and well... the engine! So another object (and one that actually allows air to flow through it) would be insignificant to aerodynamics but very helpful in supplementing the alternator...

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

I still think there would be drag equivalent to the amount of power the alternator would use, but I could be wrong...give it a try and let us know...

[theholycow]

IMO, if it's somewhere that it's not going to create significant drag, it's also not going to get enough energy into it to make significant electricity.

I really doubt that it could work, but I'd be interested to see you try and find out what your results are.

[KitCarlsonEMS]

Here is an alternator test for you. Rig up an alternator to a bicycle. The easiest way is a small bike with the rear tire removed and a belt to run an alternator connected to the stationary platform. Use it to power a headlight. Wire light with "on-off" switch. Get on and pedal, now turn on the light. See how long you can keep the light going.

30 years ago I used this generator as a part of an "Energy Talk" with school children. Even the most energetic child, would last only a minute.

Electricity is rarely free. Education in physics is priceless!

[theholycow]

What kind of headlight was it? A lightweight human on a bicycle puts out 165 watts at 20mph on flat land.

*WARNING: Taking thread onto a tangent....*

Hmm...I got that number from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_performance and actually, there's some interesting measurements in there:

For example, assuming no wind, one gets the following results for kilocalories required and power delivered to the pedals (watts):
175W for a 90 kg bike + rider to go 9m/s (20 mph or 32 km/h) on the flats (76% of effort to overcome aerodynamic drag), or 2.6m/s (5.8 mph or 9.4 km/h) on a 7% grade (21% of effort to overcome aerodynamic drag).
300W for a 90 kg bike + rider at 11m/s (25 mph or 40 km/h) on the flats (83% of effort to overcome aerodynamic drag) or 4.3m/s (9.5 mph or 15 km/h) on a 7% grade (42% of effort to overcome aerodynamic drag).
165W for a 65 kg bike + rider to go 9m/s (20 mph or 32 km/h) on the flats (82% of effort to overcome aerodynamic drag), or 3.3m/s (7.4 mph or 12 km/h) on a 7% grade (37% of effort to overcome aerodynamic drag).
285W for a 65 kg bike + rider at 11m/s (25 mph or 40 km/h) on the flats (87% of effort to overcome aerodynamic drag) or 5.3m/s (12 mph or 19 km/h) on a 7% grade (61% of effort to overcome aerodynamic drag).

Knock 30% of the weight off and only save 6% of the power requirement at 20mph; savings drops to 5% at 25mph. I wonder what the numbers are for a car driving 40mph or 70mph...