Downwind faster than the wind... in a wind-powered car...

[niky]

This one ought to go on Mythbusters. Ingenious solution to the problem... and one that people argue almost over as feverishly as the airplane on a treadmill...

 

[nick09]

Uh.. Your link is broken.

 

[niky]

Have net problems... been trying to fix the link. Should work now... missed one measly letter in the Youtube link.

 

[Keef]

What is the significance of this wind car?

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

It's nice to know that when we run out of gas, we can drive wind-powered cars.

 

[nick09]

Just try to get clearance for those blades and imagine a road full of them. Sure it's nice but it won't get any awards in practicality.

 

[Stevisiov]

It's cool, but I'm not entirely sure of the point, but hey, its not up to me what other people spend their money on.

 

[Tornado]

Ingenious solution to the problem... and one that people argue almost over as feverishly as the airplane on a treadmill...

I know rather little about advanced aerodynamics, so I have to ask: are you implying that the only people who disagree with the concept are those who have no idea what they are talking about (basically, the same people who said an airplane wouldn't take off on a treadmill), or am I reading too much into this statement and you actually mean that there is legitimate criticism of the idea?

 

[Omnis]

Well it's not hard to sail faster than the wind. So this is plausible. The question is, what is the driving mechanism? Am I correct to assume that the wind acts on the propeller, which then acts on the wheels through some kind of gearbox? Do the wheels drive the propeller at speed? There's gotta be some kind of terminal velocity or maximum speed, right?

 

[niky]

The idea is that a car can move downwind faster than the wind that powers it.

There's a whole lot of people who think it can't be done.

And after looking it up... it appears that people have done it before... at up to five times the speed of the wind. Sorry... didn't know about that!

http://www.reghardware.com/2009/03/31/greenbird_breaks_record/

I guess the difference here is that there's mechanical conversion of energy involved... not just passive sailing. The mechanism behind this one is incredibly Rube Goldberg-esque compared to a conventional sail-car... the wind pushes on the propeller, which acts like a sail... the car moves. As the wheels turn, they turn a mechanism that turns the prop against the wind, making it go faster.

 

[Jim Prower]

Well, there are some actual sails that will allow a boat to go faster than windspeed. Windsurfers, especially. Doesn't exactly surprise me.

The prop development, I suppose would be useful for wind power...which is questionable as a source of energy, depending on who you ask.

 

[Perfect Balance]

I understood this wrong at first. I thought the car was moving into the wind, and the propeller was driving the wheels, moving it forward, which in turn made the propeller spin faster, thus moving the car even faster. I thought someone had created an epic free energy source or something.