INTRODUCTION
A wind-powered car converts wind
power into electric energy, thereby helping the car to move forward. The
concept of harnessing wind energy has been derived from the fact that, whenever
we put our hands out from the windows of a fast-moving car, the tremendous
force of the wind can be felt. This force can as well be harnessed into
electrical energy and be used as a clean source for running cars. There are
several wind power pros and cons, so you should try and gather as much information
as possible on that.
Vehicles powered by wind energy use wind
turbines and valves which are placed in such a position that the turbines can
start moving. The valves absorb wind which is needed to power the car. There's
an alternator connected to the valves which in turn changes kinetic energy into
electric energy. The electric energy so generated is stored in a DC battery,
and it's connected to a controller. The controller is responsible for
converting DC to AC voltage. The controller is assisted by power diodes in this
conversion of DC to AC.
A cable connects the controller and
accelerator and it passes through a couple of potentiometers. It's the
potentiometers that act to resist and regulate the speed of the car. The
efficiency of this is excellent as the number of rotating and revolving parts
are very less, thereby helping it to move quite fast. In case the accelerator
is put of full speed, the controller gives out the full voltage. On the other
hand, whenever pressure is released from the accelerator the controller stops
releasing power, thereby slowing the vehicle.
A wind-powered car uses the configuration of
motor to wheel, thereby providing the auto an increase of power supply. A
number of motors are linked to the wheels so that the braking and propulsion
system works efficiently. Similar to the automatic gear system, a wind-powered
car has a single gear system. In such a car, a vacuum braking system is
introduced and in this kind of system the force of brakes is derived from
atmospheric pressure.
It's even possible to maintain and
run an air conditioner in such a vehicle. The motors are cooled with the help
of wind thereby increasing efficiency, besides preventing overheating. The
power generated by wind energy helps in continuously charging the batteries,
and this is one of the main features of such a vehicle. Unlike other batteries,
which need to be charged for a specified period of time, these batteries have
no such condition. Whenever you drive, the battery is continuously and automatically
recharged. A volt meter is also fitted, which helps in tracking the current
from the battery.
So, a wind-powered car is an excellent vehicle
to be used in these days of global warming. However, these cars are still in
the developmental phase, and there has been no mass production of such cars.
THE WIND TURBINE PROPULSION SYSTEM
Imagine a windmill
fixed onto a cart. We lock the wheels in place and use the wind to charge a
battery. We may then use the electricity to move the cart. If there is energy
available it will always be enough to move the cart, it might not go fast (jet)
it will absolutely move. The windmill however doesn't become less efficient if
we move it up the wind. On the contrary, moving the cart the availability of
wind goes up, more units of wind pass though the mill and there is drag. The
drag doesn't seem useful but it represents most of the losses, regenerating 50%
of the drag would give us 150% of the "engine" power (ignoring the
mass) We may overcome the (big) losses from converting the energy to
electricity by using the mechanical energy straight away. Just like with the
battery mechanical energy is always enough to move the vehicle. It might not go
fast (jet) if there is wind it will always move. The vehicle can move in any
direction we want it to move in. Driving up the wind the turbine spins
backwards, it's rim goes much faster backwards than the car moves forwards.
Driving it down the wind the turbine works more like a sail.
KITE BUGGY EFFECT
kite
buggy is a light, purpose-built vehicle
powered by a traction kite (power kite). It is single-seated and has one steerable front wheel and
two fixed rear wheels. The driver sits in the seat located in the middle of the
vehicle and accelerates and slows down by applying steering manoeuvres in
coordination with flying manoeuvres of the kite. This activity is called kite
buggying. The speed achieved in kite buggies by skilled drivers can range
up to around 110 km/h (70 mph), hence protective
clothing, including a safety helmet, is
commonly worn.
BATTERY CHARGING VS ROTOR "SAILING"
We
normally tend to leave a vehicle alone for say 8-14 hours then we use it for
30-60 min. Over such time a windmill designed for charging the battery would be
more interesting then a mechanical contraption build for propulsion. It would
require more parts but a combination of both may give us best of both worlds.
From a legal perspective the wind energy doesn't exist so it isn't limited by
law (jet).
WIND POWER CAR
The
wind powered car that converts wind
power to electric energy which in turn
moves the vehicle. The unusual wind-powered car hit a top speed 2.86 times
faster than the wind during one recent run, a feat that — depending upon your
perspective — is either the result of hard work or the same voodoo responsible
for Ryan Seacrest’s hair.
His explanation, then,
sounds deceptively simple.
“If
you’re on a bike and you’re going downwind, you don’t feel any wind anymore at
all,” he said. “You lose the power of the wind when you reach the wind speed,
because there is no relative wind at that point.”
When
he isn’t obsessing over aerodynamics, Cavallaro works for Sportvision, the
company that created the FoxTrax
hockey puck — aka the “glowing
puck” — and the yellow first-down line shown on telecasts of football games.
Cavallaro’s boss at Sportvision, world-class sailing navigator
Stan Honey, turned him on to the DWFTTW question. Working with a
hang-gliding buddy, Cavallaro did the math and built a model to prove DWFTTW is
possible. Skeptics weren’t convinced.
“I
thought people would say, ‘That’s cool,’ but they didn’t. They said, ‘Wow,
you’re an idiot.’ So we decided to build a full-size one. That’s when we
approached a couple of sponsors.”
THE BASIC CONCEPT.
Cavallaro
lined up help from Google and Joby Energy and set to work with the San Jose
State University aero department on an ultralight, four-wheeled vehicle with a
17-foot-tall propeller. The vehicle is made mostly of foam and mimics the
aerodynamics of a Formula 1 race car. But it’s the propeller that is
key to how it is possible to travel downwind faster than the wind. It’s also
the source of the biggest misunderstandings about how the vehicle works.
“Skeptics
think that the wind is turning the prop, and the car is turning the wheels, and
that’s what makes the car go,” Cavallaro said. “That’s not the case. The wheels
are turning the prop. What happens is the prop thrust pushes the vehicle.”
The wheels turn the prop,
which turns the vehicle’s wheels, which turn the prop, which turns the
vehicle’s wheels. Cavallaro knows what you’re thinking.“It sounds like a
perpetual motion machine — but you’ve got the wind as an external power
source,” he said. Cavallaro said building a transmission capable of
transferring power from the wheels to the prop was almost as hard as convincing
skeptics that the vehicle would work. It took
longer than a year and a lot of trial and error to make it work. “You’ve got to
come up with a transmission that can handle those loads, even though it’s not
at a high horsepower,” he said. “You break some things, and then you build
bigger.” Cavallaro says the car achieved 2.86 times the speed of the wind (with a wind speed of
13.5 mph) during a test run at New
Jerusalem Airport in Tracy, California, May 17. That was the best of the eight
runs it made that day.Next up is a run for a record certified by the North
American Land Sailing Association. Cavallaro isn’t too nervous about setting
the record, because he’s created the category. “As long as we actually achieve
all the objectives of the category, then we’re guaranteed to get a record
because we’re the first,” he said. Follow the team’s progress at its blog, Ride
Like the Wind (Only Faster). And if you’ve got questions, post ‘em in the
comments. Cavallaro has been answeringthem. (electricity) and this would
probably occur at a fairly inefficient rate.
WIND
POWER FOR CARS
Cars
are becoming a primary focus in sustainable design and pollution prevention.
According to scientist there were over 240 million cars registered in 2005 in
the US alone and that number has continued to grow in subsequent years. While
there have recently been developments in hybrid and electric cars (even solar
powered cars) there has always been a fascination with adding wind power to
cars.
Somehow
it seems feasible to attach a wind turbine to a car and generate electricity as
the car drives. I've heard my friends bring it up and I've read about it. People
wonder, wouldn't the inertia from the car's accelerated mass (which is enough
to power through the air) also be enough to power the wind turbine without
wasting energy? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is no. Placing a
stationary wind turbine on a car and expecting it to generate additional
electricity (compared with the energy spent to move the car) would constitute perpetual motion which is considered impossible based
on known physics. That said, there are several ways that wind power can be used
in combination with automobiles to create useful, efficient systems.
One
French company called Venturi has added wind power to their electric car which allows it to charge in other
ways than just solar. The end result is an urban short-distance car that is
able to extract more renewable energy from it's environment and thus become
increasingly flexible and reliable. To read about the specs on this vehicle
head on over to Inhabitat for a full review.
This
type of wind power for cars is considered passive because it is only deployed
when the car is parked. That's the key, if the turbine was always erect it
would slow the car down and create drag when in driving mode. Competing forces
are at work while the car is in motion and since the car uses pure electric
energy the value would be offset. If however, the car used some other fuel
source such as gasoline and a wind turbine was used when in motion, energy
would simply be converted from one form (gas) to another
Another
way that wind energy can be captured for powering a car is in the braking
system. Just like parachute packs are sometimes used to slow dragsters and the
US space shuttle as it lands on a runway, rapid-deploy wind turbines could be
use to slow a moving automobile as it approaches an obstacle or red light. This
would be considered a form of regenerative braking and probably be less
efficient than direct electric braking systems used on today's most efficient
cars (such as the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight). Considering the amount of
energy consumed simply by deploying and then retracting a wind turbine, and the
often short distances that braking power is needed, along with the need for additional
direct braking (to guarantee safety in windy conditions) this type of wind
power for cars would probably only be used for very specific limited systems...
or perhaps just for fun :)
As
Breakthroughs in automobile technology continue, wind power will surely play a
role. In many ways the aerodynamic design of cars is a type of wind harnessing
technology. If you have seen other wind powered cars or know of systems
currently in development please share them here at Wind Power Authority.
WIND-POWERED VEHICLES
They
have traditionally been associated with seafaring vehicles that, until the
advent of steam engines, relied primarily upon winds which
were used to drive the sails of such vehicles to their
destinations. In the Western world, such sail-based wind propulsion on water persists in the modern day
within primarily leisurely activities, such as sailing boats, sailing ships, yachting, and windsurfing. A special case is ice yachting on ice-covered
water.Terrestrial sail-based wind propulsion in the form of land sailing and land
windsurfing are also popular recreational
activities. Terrestrial and sea-going wind propulsion by use of kites as
propulsion subassembly are also wind-powered vehicles. OceanKite, KiteShip,
KitVes, are just a few contemporary examples of kite-based wind-powered
vehicles. Kite buggying is an ongoing WPV activity.
WIND POWERED- ELECTRIC
VEHICLES
Wind-powered electric vehicles primarily use
wind-turbines installed at a strategic point of the vehicle, which are then
converted into electric energy which causes the vehicle to propel. While they
are not in mainstream use yet, many schools have begun building the new
technology and research into their curriculums to teach students and to get
them active in the subject. Sea-going electric propulsion where the electricity
is derived from the kite subassembly is an ongoing activity by KitVes.
ON LAND
Terrestrial wind-powered electric vehicles includes Ventomobile and
Mercedes-Benz Formula Zero, as well as the Greenbird, which currently holds a
world record for fastest Wind powered vehicle.
VENTOMOBILE
The InVentus Ventomobile racing at the Aeolus Race 2008. The Ventomobile
is a solely wind powered lightweight three wheeler designed by University of
Stuttgart students. It won the first prize at the Racing
Aeolus held at Den Helder, Netherlands, in August 2008. Matthias Schubert,
Chief Technical Officer of the teams’ main sponsor REpower Systems AG,
applauded the integration of the InVentus Ventomobile project into the
coursework of the students: “The achievement of managing a big team over many months,
and even making select construction tasks part of undergraduate teaching cannot
be estimated highly enough! The enthusiasm the students show in renewable
energies and the development of innovative solutions should serve the industry
as an example for the development of new technologies."
Mercedes-Benz Formula Zero
Unlike
traditional racing, which focuses merely on the order of finish, Mercedes' new
concept introduces energy efficiency as an integral part of the competition
.The Formula Zero Racer is loaded with technology designed to extract the
maximum thrust from the electric hub
motors, aero-efficient solar skin and high-tech rigid sail .
GREENBIRD
Ecotricity's Greenbird vehicle, designed and piloted by Richard Jenkins,
broke the land speed world record for a wind-powered vehicle in 2009.“Greenbird
recorded a top speed of 126.4 mph (203.4 km/h), and sustained a speed
of 126.2 mph (203.1 km/h) for the required time of three seconds,
beating the previous, American held, record of 116 mph (186.7 km/h),
set by Bob Schumacher in the Iron Duck in March 1999 at the same location. The
UK's leading energy company, "Ecotricity," has just launched the UK's
first high performance electric sports car. Dale Vince, founder of
Ecotricity, presents "Nemesis," an electric sports car powered by
wind energy. Faster than a V12 Ferrari, it was created in record speed as
well - only 2 years of development by an "A-Team" of top-notch
British Formula One engineers, who were also behind the creation of the McLaren
F1, the Lotus Elan, the Corvette 2R1, the Jaguar XJR15, and the ever-popular,
De Lorean. Vince contended in 2008 that the Nemesis would "blow the
socks off Jeremy Clarkson (of BBC TV show, Top Gear) and smash the
stereotype of electric cars."
The
stereotypical electric car is usually considered impractical and slow; however,
Nemesis defies stereotypes, reaching speeds up to 170 mph and 0-100 in 8.5
seconds. Needing a charge every 100-150 miles, Nemesis takes 2 hours to
charge from its "fast charger" or 8-9 hours from a regular mains
supply. Ecotricity isn't stopping there. The company contends that
technology used for development of the Nemesis will be used in Ecotricity's
next projects, which include plans for a wind-powered electric super car that
will exceed speeds of 250 mph. Vince claims, "We wanted to prove
electric cars can be quick to develop, beautiful to look at, cheap to run, and
run entirely on wind power. I was not looking for something ecological,
worthy, and a bit self-sacrificial, far from it. I wanted to create
something exotic and desirable. Something that would turn heads and
challenge stereotypes." Perhaps Ecotricity isn't fulfilling
impractical electric car.
NEGATIVE DRAG
Can a bicycle wheel have
negative drag?
Now, this is probably another one
of those "trick" questions, but this time we are prepared to expect
that the obvious answer ("no") is most likely wrong because it
answers a constrained interpretation of the question. Indeed, the force
acting on the sail of a sailboat is nothing but "negative drag"; so,
we know it is theoretically possible. The question is whether a rotating
bicycle wheel that is practical can exhibit this behavior. So, the more
explicit question would be to ask whether a bicycle wheel could have negative
drag in certain wind conditions.
Makers of high-end racing wheels
apply Computational Fluid Dynamics and wind tunnel testing to their product
development efforts to come up with new manufacturing techniques, spoke
patterns and rim profiles to reduce air drag to a minimum. Recently some
models have been rumored as showing "negative drag" on wind tunnel
tests. The meaning of such test results is surrounded by a bit of
controversy. After all, aerodynamic accessories, such as spoilers,
fairings, streamlined helmets, etc, can lower the total air drag acting on
the bicycle and rider, as compared with riding without such accessories. This
may be construed as the net effect of the accessory being negative drag
(certainly, exploiting the marketing hype would be hard to resist). But upon
further technical scrutiny, it turns out that these wheels are apparently
reducing the air drag not only by streamlining the flow over other parts, but
when the wheel is tested in isolation, the measured drag force is actually a
forward thrust. The reports claim that on the bike, in some wind conditions
the hub axle is literally pulling the bike forward; although, there are other
reports suggesting that negative drag is measured only on tire / rim
assemblies, and is not inclusive of the forces acting on the spokes and hub.
Nevertheless it is interesting that even the rim can generate forward
thrust.
Initially the rumors of negative
drag met with some skepticism among bloggers and on internet forums, but
consensus seems to be building to accept that the phenomenon is real. Of
course, even in a wind tunnel, it is very difficult to measure the few grams
of air drag acting on a rotating bicycle wheel. Negative drag is also
confirmed by a CFD analysis by the American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics, which compares some of the high-end wheels, see below picture.
The complete report is available
here . Note that
negative drag occurs only when the yaw angle (the angle between the apparent
wind and the direction of travel) is not zero.
This means that for all cases of
negative drag, the simulated condition includes a wind speed relative to the
ground. Accordingly, it is conceivable that the rotating wheel
is extracting propulsion power from the wind, as discussed above.
It is interesting that unlike the sails on a boat, negative drag (i.e.,
thrust) is generated presumably with winds coming from either the right or
the left directions without the need to change the shape of the
"sail".
Note: In this analysis by the
AIAA, the only wheel with negative drag is a disc wheel. However, since then
other wheels by Zipp and HED, including wire-spoked models, have been
reported having negative drag in some tests.
|
WORKING
A wind-powered car converts wind
power into electric energy, thereby helping the car to move forward. The
concept of harnessing wind energy has been derived from the fact that, whenever
we put our hands out from the windows of a fast-moving car, the tremendous
force of the wind can be felt. This force can as well be harnessed into
electrical energy and be used as a clean source for running cars. There are
several wind power pros and cons, so you should try and gather as much
information as possible on that.
Vehicles powered by wind energy use wind
turbines and valves which are placed in such a position that the turbines can
start moving. The valves absorb wind which is needed to power the car. There's
an alternator connected to the valves which in turn changes kinetic energy into
electric energy. The electric energy so generated is stored in a DC battery,
and it's connected to a controller. The controller is responsible for
converting DC to AC voltage. The controller is assisted by power diodes in this
conversion of DC to AC.
A cable connects the controller and
accelerator and it passes through a couple of potentiometers. It's the
potentiometers that act to resist and regulate the speed of the car. The
efficiency of this is excellent as the number of rotating and revolving parts
are very less, thereby helping it to move quite fast. In case the accelerator
is put of full speed, the controller gives out the full voltage. On the other
hand, whenever pressure is released from the accelerator the controller stops
releasing power, thereby slowing the vehicle.
A wind-powered car uses the
configuration of motor to wheel, thereby providing the auto an increase of
power supply. A number of motors are linked to the wheels so that the braking
and propulsion system works efficiently. Similar to the automatic gear system,
a wind-powered car has a single gear system. In such a car, a vacuum braking
system is introduced and in this kind of system the force of brakes is derived
from atmospheric pressure.
It's even possible to maintain and run an air
conditioner in such a vehicle. The motors are cooled with the help of wind
thereby increasing efficiency, besides preventing overheating. The power
generated by wind energy helps in continuously charging the batteries, and this
is one of the main features of such a vehicle. Unlike other batteries, which
need to be charged for a specified period of time, these batteries have no such
condition. Whenever you drive, the battery is continuously and automatically
recharged. A volt meter is also fitted, which helps in tracking the current
from the battery.
So, a wind-powered car is an
excellent vehicle to be used in these days of global warming. However, these
cars are still in the developmental phase, and there has been no mass
production of such cars.
CONCLUSION
Hence this car use wind power as the fuel and its economical and it is also
an ECO FRIENDLY car it will not spoil the environment and if this become popular and we can use this means the
will be a better environment. This can be used in sports car so we save our
environment. As per the quote SAVE OIL SAVE INDIA we can also save india by saving fuel by the help of this wind power
car and here wind act as a alternative fuel.
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