As I was searching to find what can I print for my car, I found Mark and his company. It is an excellent example how 3d printing can help a small company to make custom products. They use 3d printing to make custom car audio speaker boxes, pods and attachments that look vary cool. They may run out of business when 3d printing spreads and Maker / DIY culture becomes mainstream ;-) Probably not, as they certainly have creative spirit which will enable them to thrive on the market.
Vortex generators are small vanes that are mounted on various vehicles, mostly aircraft, to improve their aerodynamic performance. In theory they could be installed on a car and improve the fuel economy and increase MPG (or lower the liters per 100km for us Europeans). Since they are easy to make and design, there are several 3d printable models. They are also very cheap so you can make dozens for a few dollars.
Samm Shepard 3d printed vortex generators and made road tests with good results. He also explains a science and aerodynamic principles behind it.
Kyle also does a great job in simplifying the science behind it and also has real-life tests with positive results but claims they are only useful on high performance cars.
Autospeed magazine did some testing and achieved positive results in 2006:
Vortex generators on cars can achieve measurable, scientifically proven improvements in car aerodynamics – reducing both lift and drag. The Lancer Evo is probably the shape of things to come – expect vortex generators (of whatever design) to be used on new cars, especially to improve the flow around corners towards the rear of the body.
Positive gains can be achieved only by practical experimentation. That’s the downside – the upside is that the vortex generators are easy to temporarily stick into place with masking tape, and just as easily removed if they are not achieving the desired results. They’re also cheap enough that buying ten or so for experimentation is a good investment.
But they did have some negative results if they were placed on wrong places.
One of the commercial vortex generator producers, AirTab, did some testing and they achieved significant improvements on trucks. Due to their box shape, their aerodynamics is very bad.
Several research papers, like this one by MIRA show that the fuel savings can reach up to 3% with installed vortex generators.
Here are vortex generators mounted on a Sprinter van:
And user experience of RV owner:
Since vortex generators are easy to 3d print and easy to install and uninstall they could be great gadget to experiment with and see if you can save some fuel.
Christian von Koenigsegg explains how his company uses 3D printing in prototyping and production of amazing hypercars. They use it in everything from prototyping of car seats and foot rests to titanium 3d printed main structural car parts. Performances they achieve trough innovative technologies are incredible.
While there is no new information about Urbee 3d printed car, Local Motors is advancing their technology and they just released video of their vehicles first drive. Only the inner passenger compartment and chassis is 3d printed while electric motor, batteries, suspension, transmission and wheels are not 3d printed but there is probably work to increase number of 3d printed components.
Someone posted a video that shows how he uses 3d printer to make a custom car part to do some automotive hacking. The part connects air intake and carburetor of two different car types. It links VW Syncro air box and Toyota 4Y carburetor into functional unit. It is a sort of car hacking. You use incompatible non-operational parts to make something new and functional.
Recently I paid 25$ for simpler and much smaller air intake plastic part for my Mercedes A class from 2001. Since it is an older car I had to search several used car parts salesman. Since Croatia is EU such car parts are easier to find now, but some years ago it was much harder and more expensive. I didn't even thin about printing the par myself since it didn't even cross my mind. next time I'll know better. There is booming used cars markets in developing countries that also need many spare parts and this is where 3d printers could be of some assistance.
