Wind generators on electric cars

[nightlife]

Steven Dufresne, that was a good one.  LOL

[PYRODIN123321]

YOU COULD USE WIND POWER TO POWER A CAR IF YOU DID NOT GO INTO THE WIND BUT CUT CROSS IT THE CROSSWINDS PROVIDE THE POWER TO MOVE IT PERPENDICULAR TO THE WIND CAUSE THERE IS NO WIND RESISTANCE THERE
YOU COULD ONLY GO A PERCENTAGE OF THE WIND SPEED BUT WOULD BE BETTER THAN A SAIL CAUSE YOU COULD USE A LITTLE STORED UP JUICE FOR WHEN THE WIND WAS NOT SO STRONG.

COOL LINK
Steven !!

[tbird]

Steven,

if you mean it is not possible to go into the wind, you must have missed this link

http://www.gizmag.com/the-first-race-for-wind-powered-vehicles/9953/

also your comment "THERE IS NO WIND RESISTANCE THERE" is not true.  trying to stay simple, wind resistance is anything that disrupts the smooth flow of wind.  thus the side of your car being driven 90 degrees to the wind would present resistance.

if you are in your car stopped, you feel the true wind from the direction it is coming from.  when you take off, you create wind too.  now the wind you feel is called apparent wind.  the faster you go, the more the direction moves to head on. if when you started you were facing downwind and its strength was 20mph, you would feel no wind when your speed reached 20mph.  as you go faster, you will start to feel the wind again (now in your face instead of on your back).  if you started off facing into that 20mph wind, by the time you reached 20mph on your speedometer, you would feel a 40mph apparent wind.  that's why airplanes take off and land into the wind.  they can be going slower and still provide lift.

this same lift is what moves sailboats.  the sails are just vertical wings instead of horizontal (giving horizontal lift [thrust] instead of vertical lift).  most can sail to within 45 degrees of the true wind (angle of attack).   closer than that, the angle doesn't provide enough lift to overcome the resistance (wind and water).  that's why the cars in the race use a mechanical drive.  you'll notice they all have minimum surface area (looking at it head on) and very little road surface contact.

as you can see from this reply, it's hard to keep it simple.  as my teacher told me at graduation, "we learn more and more about less and less" .

tom

[WilbyInebriated]

ok, looks like i need to put a description in front of the video link to avoid YELLING from the cheap seats. yeah, that means you pyrodin, you must have missed two links...

click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOSFpnbnGjY to watch a video clip of a vehicle moving directly INTO A HEADWIND, powered only by that headwind.

[PYRODIN123321]

@ tbird

I'm not Steven Dufresne, I was just sayin it was a cool link..
i know, there is still resistance, i shuold have said less resistance...
i typed that way to quick

@WilbyInebriated
... sorry i didnt mean to yell, i just always type in caps and i forget to turn it off
I can see how a wind powered machine can move into the wind( energy in, is energy in, no mater where you use it)
i was thinkin along these lines (see pic)

i apologise for the incorrect statements didnt think about it long enough.....
ill try to keep my incorrect typing to myself   

(pyrodin-lights cigar in cheap seats)
(everyone else- booo)
(pyrodin-what? No smoking either!!)