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Post by the light works on Apr 11, 2020 19:06:18 GMT
this is really just a bit of engineering curiosity, but I found myself wondering about the engineering involved with making a debris pickup system that could operate at highway speeds. the parameters would be simple: it must be capable of driving at highway speed on public roads without failing any ground clearance requirements. it can't have parts that make sparks on the roadway.
extra bonus if the natural slipstream of the vehicle does the work or helps do the work.
I was wondering if it could be designed such that it created a low pressure zone under the chassis such that lightweight debris was vacuumed off the road and then deposited in a collector. then the question would be what it could pick up - it could probably do paper and empty beverage containers, but could it pick up chunks of tire tread and things like that? would it create a bow wave that would blow lightweight things away from the vacuum zone?
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Post by rmc on Apr 11, 2020 21:08:46 GMT
I've actually watched a C-130 do a GREAT job of clearing debris off a grass airstrip. It was trying to slow. So it reversed its props, and MAN the stuff went everywhere! I don't think it's the direction you wanted to go, but I'd think a road could be cleared (I don't know about specifically vacuumed clean), but cleared of a lot with something arranged like that reversed prop C-130. Trouble is the force of turboprops pushing one way would likely have to be offset with jets pushing the other to keep it at highway speed. Anyway, about your idea of creating suction under the vehicle: I think it might pick it up, but some of it might end up tossed somewhere behind the vehicle? That's the gut feeling I get mulling it around in my head. In other words, the pulling force starts to lift the debris, but by the time the debris is off the ground some, the vehicle is already passed by? What I saw was something like in the last 10 percent of this video: And this ground effects car with extra vacuuming fans is possibly capable of inadvertently being the road sweeper you've envisioned: www.lemans.org/en/news/ground-effects-from-diffusers-to-vacuums/13185Actually, thinking more about it, the better vacuum you have the less air flow. So, if it's a good ground effect vacuum, the debris in the vacuum doesn't move... after the vacuum is gone - movement. Edit: Wrong! Starting WITH air moving toward a good vacuum IS going to have an air flow! I'm such an idiot! \_('^')_/ If you have a vacuum chamber, it's when air rushes back in when stuff moves. That's one way to look at it. Of course, no ground effect is going to be sealed air tight. So, I'm back and forth on this one! |
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Post by the light works on Apr 11, 2020 22:07:01 GMT
yeah, the challenges I see are getting enough airflow to lift things, directing it into the collector, and then getting it back out of the collector without the debris also leaving. since I was thinking of larger debris and not of dust, filtration is not so much of an issue.
my work truck has enough of a bow wave to blow debris around and the thought today was that it would be awfully handy if a person could just run over something and collect it without really interfering with traffic. I suppose a person could make a curved duct with a screen to deflect debris out of the airflow and have a propeller drawing on it but that feels a bit like cheating.
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Post by Cybermortis on Apr 12, 2020 21:07:01 GMT
If the air being sucked in was passed into a chamber and spun into a vortex, centrifugal forces should push the heavier material to the outside of the chamber. More or less how the vortex vacuum cleaners work.
A possible design would be for the chamber to run horizontally along the length of the vehicle, maybe using the drive shaft itself to create the vortex through a protective housing with projections on it.
Ground clearance need not be a major problem. You could rig up rigid skirting that can retract into the main body of the vehicle through electric motors. They could be automatically controlled by a computer system connected to sonar sensors that scan ahead of the vehicle and adjust the height of the skirting if it detects anything higher than the current clearance allows. Such a system could also be retracted entirely when not in use.
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Post by the light works on Apr 12, 2020 21:22:23 GMT
If the air being sucked in was passed into a chamber and spun into a vortex, centrifugal forces should push the heavier material to the outside of the chamber. More or less how the vortex vacuum cleaners work. A possible design would be for the chamber to run horizontally along the length of the vehicle, maybe using the drive shaft itself to create the vortex through a protective housing with projections on it. Ground clearance need not be a major problem. You could rig up rigid skirting that can retract into the main body of the vehicle through electric motors. They could be automatically controlled by a computer system connected to sonar sensors that scan ahead of the vehicle and adjust the height of the skirting if it detects anything higher than the current clearance allows. Such a system could also be retracted entirely when not in use. thevortex vacuums I have seen all appear to just use the shape and size of the chamber to create the vortex. |
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Post by GTCGreg on Apr 12, 2020 22:08:03 GMT
If the air being sucked in was passed into a chamber and spun into a vortex, centrifugal forces should push the heavier material to the outside of the chamber. More or less how the vortex vacuum cleaners work. A possible design would be for the chamber to run horizontally along the length of the vehicle, maybe using the drive shaft itself to create the vortex through a protective housing with projections on it. Ground clearance need not be a major problem. You could rig up rigid skirting that can retract into the main body of the vehicle through electric motors. They could be automatically controlled by a computer system connected to sonar sensors that scan ahead of the vehicle and adjust the height of the skirting if it detects anything higher than the current clearance allows. Such a system could also be retracted entirely when not in use. thevortex vacuums I have seen all appear to just use the shape and size of the chamber to create the vortex. The vortex isn't used to create the vacuum, it's used to separate dirt and dust from the airflow. The dirt and dust is collected in a collection chamber and the clean air is discharged usually from the top. The actual vacuum is supplied by a blower or fan. Sometimes these are called cyclone dust collectors and can often be seen on the roofs of manufacturing plants.  They come in variety of sizes |
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