Kamis, 15 Januari 2009

Aerodynamics For Fast Electric RC Cars

By Niranjan Pradhan

Speed thrills and that is why fast electric rc cars are popular among radio controlled hobbyists. But did you ever wonder how much effort goes into designing a system that goes up to once unimaginable speeds that we are now accustomed to.
Simply put it's immense.
There are so many aspects of making fast electric rc cars that are responsible for the kind of speed that they are designed for. One of those very important parameters is the aerodynamics of the car body. You will see how and why the aerodynamics of a fast electric rc car plays such a pivotal role in designing the vehicle.
Aerodynamics is basically the study of forces that come on a body when it travels at a great speed through a medium especially air or atmospheric air. This word is mostly used in context of aeroplanes, rockets and spaceships. But then it becomes equally important in case of fast cars.
Basic Governing Principle
The principle that forms the basis of aerodynamic study is the Bernoulli's theorem. It says that the total energy at any point of flow will always be constant. However energy will change from one form to another. For e.g. potential energy may be converted to kinetic energy or heat or some other form of energy without disturbing the total amount of heat. On a closer mathematical analysis you will find the following relationship.
P α 1/V Where P = Pressure V= Velocity
The relationship above means that on a surface like that of your fast electric rc cars body if the velocity of air increases then the pressure exerted on that surface would reduce. Now let me make it more lucid for you to understand.
You have two surfaces of your rc car. One is the top surface and the second is the bottom surface. When the car rushes through air in one direction essentially air flows along the surfaces in opposite direction. However because of the design it so happens that the speed of air flowing through the top surface is slower as compared to that of the air flowing along the bottom surface. As per the principle above with decrease in speed the pressure on top surface increases. This increase in top surface pressure greatly improves the stability of the vehicle while running at high speeds. It pushes the car down which in turn provides the traction needed for smooth running.
RC sprint cars have a very high speed to weight ratio. Thus it is very important for them to have a design that is favorable and can take care of the aerodynamic forces to come up with a much more stable rc car.
Overall aerodynamics plays a very important role not only in case of fast electric rc cars but also in many other areas like real life cars, aeroplanes, rockets, sail planes, missiles, fighter aircrafts etc.

Author is a regular contributor to the rc cars site http://www.rccarshub.com You have the right to republish this article provided you retain this resource box as it is.

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