With Green economy initiative as the buzzword these days, car manufacturers have been driven into fabricating innovative designs that are not only fuel efficient but also low on carbon emissions. Instead of reworking an entire engine or drive train, study of aerodynamics has become much more important for the car manufacturers to generate the same.
Through integration of inventive design and simulation technique called bubble tracking approach, MIRA has tried to understand car aerodynamic equation in order to improve streamlining by cutting vehicle’s air resistance. Thanks to new technique cars are placed in wind tunnels and tiny soap bubbles filled with helium are ejected behind them. The bubbles are captured by 12 video cameras and each one captures a two dimensional view of the action. Software can then calculate each bubble’s speed and build in a picture of the air flow around the car.
The bubble technique is not completely new and it has been used before to test models of NASA’s space shuttle. But, MIRA’s camera system gives insight by capturing the precise movement of individual bubbles in 3D for later analysis and exploration. The bubble-tracking approach captures the speed as well as the direction of air flow, which makes it more useful than existing tracking techniques such as injecting smoke trails around the car. The technology can help designers build faster cars that produce less carbon emissions.
Via: NewScientist
