My active wing project version 2.0

[Patrice911]

I finally finish version 2.0. It took me quite some time, I had other projects going On that took priority.
Here the tread about version 1.0
My Active wing project

Version 2.0 is cockpit adjustable for both positions, I'm still using the high beam flash switch to select the low downforce/low drag position.
And using the brake light to return it to the high downforce/ high drag position. I'm using a Pot. for position feedback and a simple comparator circuit
with 2 Pot. to adjust the 2 positions. I'm using a linear actuator mounted sideways under the deck lid and activating a bell crank and a push rod passing
trough the grill to move the wing. I did the mechanical part first and test it out on track in a fix status, non moving state last year. Then I work on the electronic
when I had some spare time. Last weekend I tested it out on track. My plan was to do the first half of the session with the wing always in the high downforce
position and the second half putting the wing in low downforce on the main straight. It was difficult to get a consistent good run down the main straight in the beginning of the session because of the traffic. Looking at the rpm it look like I was getting about 200rpm more at the end of the straight with the wing in low downforce position.
On one session toward the end I ended up in more open position I had 3 consecutive laps with a good run down the straight 2 laps with low downforce and 1 with high downforce.
The 1 with high downforce being the middle one. Saturday night I look at the data from the Traqmate and it confirm that the top speed down the straight was faster with the wing in low downforce position by about 3mph. Here a screen shot of the Traqmate below. I open the same file twice that I can get different color for the laps. Lap 11 in red is the high
downforce one. If you look on the segment analysis at the entry speed and the max speed you will see the difference. Lap 12 I brake a little bit later and ended up running deep in the corner so top speed for that one should be more like 129.6 mph. 12 entry speed is 1mph down on 11 but still ended up 1.5mph faster (factoring for the later braking).
Sunday I was planning for more testing. When I started the car in the morning it made a strange noise like a clacking sound on the engine right side, it sound like an exhaust leak. I check it out and found a missing stud on the exhaust header on one cylinder. I still cannot really figure it out why I didn't hear it on the Saturday, I guess when the engine cool offovernight and it was also cold in the morning in the mid 30F it open up the gap between the header and the head. I manage to fix it up with a bolt and a nut basically making a stud with a head on it.
When I started it back everything was normal. I decided to enjoy the car the rest of the day and turn the testing into a reliability testing. I used the low downforce on the straight every laps. It work perfectly.

From the testing I had done before with wing and without I had found out that difference on that same straight was about 5mph. So if I gain back 3mph I'm happy with that. I did not try changing the position (angle of the wing) this weekend but I guess that I'm pretty close the max. I can gain back. there is still that wing and hardware in the airflow even if the drag of it is minimize.



Here some pictures of the system.









Electronic during testing.



Electronic install where radio was.



Adjusting pots with knobs.

[Flieger]

Watch out for lawsuits from Red Bull

DRS: The Drag Reduction System explained | Racecar Engineering | Race car technology explained

[Patrice911]

You know, they should be the one giving me some money.... I'm working on this since 2008, tested version 1.0 in 2009 and now I have finally a good working version. Its nice to see F1 doing this also, but I'm still 1 step ahead of them. I can change the wing angle from inside the car. They have fix position like my version 1.0.

[Flieger]

Good Point.

[cgarr]

That is so cool! Maybe apply some Strain Gauges in ver 3.0 and have it auto adjust depending on the track that's loaded into the GPS?

[piggdekk]

Patrice,
I was looking at the other thread and when I've seen the wing profile I was a bit shocked. The profile You're using should give You plenty of downforce (and drag) even with zero angle of attack. Are You sure that it is not stalling when You move it in the curves? Most importantly why not going for a more neutral profile so that when You want to reduce the downforce You really do instead of being stuck with such an aggressive profile? With a less aggeessive profile You may need to move it more when You need downforce, but should get much less downforce in the straights.
As for patent is concerned, I did something like that on my RC nitro car when I was 13th or 14th . It was cool. It was connected with the throttle servo. When the throttle was closed I had the maximum downforce, when the throttle was open the wing would go neutral.

[Patrice911]

Originally Posted by cgarr

That is so cool! Maybe apply some Strain Gauges in ver 3.0 and have it auto adjust depending on the track that's loaded into the GPS?

GPS control can be nice, but what if it decide to select a low down force setting when I need a high one !!!! I might be in for a nice ride.......

Originally Posted by piggdekk

Patrice,
I was looking at the other thread and when I've seen the wing profile I was a bit shocked. The profile You're using should give You plenty of downforce (and drag) even with zero angle of attack. Are You sure that it is not stalling when You move it in the curves? Most importantly why not going for a more neutral profile so that when You want to reduce the downforce You really do instead of being stuck with such an aggressive profile? With a less aggeessive profile You may need to move it more when You need downforce, but should get much less downforce in the straights.
As for patent is concerned, I did something like that on my RC nitro car when I was 13th or 14th . It was cool. It was connected with the throttle servo. When the throttle was closed I had the maximum downforce, when the throttle was open the wing would go neutral.

The wing profile is from Jack Olsen Poor Man's Aero: Wingin' It
He did all the research on it, I just took the profile he came up with and it work pretty well, thanks Jack.
When I see other car with wing at the racetrack I always look at the profile and often it is kind of similar.

Version 3.0 might be a different wing. What I'm thinking is a wing more like an airplane, where when you want lift ( in my case downforce )
the flap extent out changing the wing profile. With the setup that I have now the push rod can easily push a rod in the wing to extent the flap out.
Do you have any wing and flap profile to suggest?

[Eric86Red911]

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[piggdekk]

Patrice, my point is: do You really need downforce in the straights? The other cars You see are running a profile which is a compromise because they cannot move it. In Your case I believe you should need a profile that You can tune in to be almost neutral on the straight parts of the circuit, and then take advantage of the change of position to generate downforce when You need it.
I don't have a profile to suggest, but I'd really start from something simple, like a slightly concave NACA. For these well known profile there are tables telling You lift and drag for a wide set of angles od attack. This way you can estimate how much downforce You will generate at the different positions. A changeable profile sounds interesting, but I think it is much more difficult to calculate lift and drag for it.

[Jack Olsen]

Originally Posted by Patrice911

The wing profile is from Jack Olsen Poor Man's Aero: Wingin' It
He did all the research on it, I just took the profile he came up with and it work pretty well, thanks Jack.
When I see other car with wing at the racetrack I always look at the profile and often it is kind of similar.

Well now I'm borrowing back from you, Patrice.

And reviving a very old thread.

I've started expermenting with a very simple (and pretty inexpensive) scheme to change the angle of my wing to a low drag setting on the long straights of my local track. I dug up an old sent of uprights and made a new top piece to connect to my wing. Instead of doing a single strut in the center, I'm running a carbon fiber strut up along each upright. I'm using Mazda Miata headlamp motors and it will be activated by a press-type button on the steering wheel. Either releasing the button or touching the brake will return the wing to its high-downforce position.

I'd previously tried a system that used a pedal and a cable, but it didn't work well at higher speeds. Here's this afternoon's test of the basic function. I don't have the carbon fiber or Heim end pieces yet, but I cut a couple of pieces of L stock and attached a motorcycle battery. Here's video:



(Click on the image for the video.)