2004.05.08 Patents? I don't need no stinking patents

Design for Variable, Driver-Controlled Downforce on High Performance Automobiles

The following consists of the major ideas of a patent that I cannot afford to file.

Many professional racing leagues, and more than a few high performance production automobiles employ designed stratagems for dealing with aerodynamic forces. Specifically, Formula 1 and CART racing leagues employ air foils to provide downforce on the automobiles while racing. These air foils are configurable to effect different amounts of downforce to correspond with what the racing situation is deemed to require. The main trade-off being that though the downforce helps with cornering and acceleration, it inhibits higher speeds by incurring increased drag. As such, the pit crew is capable of making calibrated alterations to the air foils to try to achieve the most rewarding compromise.

I propose to connect these air foils to an actuation mechanism that can be controlled and varied to suit what the driver deems instantaneously appropriate for the driving conditions. The actuation mechanism could either alter the angle of attack of the air foils, or change their profile - whatever is effective in altering the aerodynamic forces applied to the vehicle by the airfoil.

The primary benefit of this system is that vehicles could have greatly enhanced manoeuverability by having the air foils apply increased downforce during acceleration, braking, and cornering. Also, when trying to reach higher speeds the air foils could be feathered for reduced downforce, and hence reduced drag.

The simplest way to activate the air foil controls, from a design perspective, would simply by a separate control. This may be less ideal from a driving standpoint, as it could be just one more lever or pedal that the driver might not have time to address simultaneously with the other controls.

Another way to activate the air foil controls may be to tie them into the inputs of the other controls. The brake system could be a blending of air foil activation and classic friction system, with the air foils applied first. This makes much sense because the air foils will produce increased drag, and help the braking effort. Also, braking is usually initiated before cornering manoeuvres, where the air foils are also of assistance. It would be possible to tie the air foils activation to the deflection of the steering wheel as well, for the aforementioned reason. Lastly, a speed-sensing control system could also apply the air foils during acceleration, and then trim them back as the speed increased.

I was hoping to only offer this idea to whatever professional racing team inducted me, but so far I don't seem to be having much luck getting interviews. I also doubt that it would be of much use on the class-8 trucks I engineer.