Thread: Hover Craft

I have disliked cars for quite a long time now. The mechanics of them cause so much friction and wasted energy. Also, I find it ironic that the parts that create the friction with the road (wheels) also slow the car down because of this friction.

So this is my idea and it needs lots of work. Some sort of platform which is where the rest of the frame is built on. Underneath this platform would be multiple fan like devices, like small propellers. These, of course, would alow the vehicle to hover (or I guess fly if you wanted).

Before I go on, is this even feasible? Could these small propellers keep the vehicle at a steady distance from the ground?

Oh, and if these were to be mass produced we could maybe get rid of roads and have some sort of air lanes. Have you ever thought of how much space we waste with pavement.

Have you considered how much more energy is required to lift an object clear of the road surface by such a mechanism? At a rough guess it is an order of magnitude more.
Have you also noted the problems of controlling the direction of such craft? Not easy.
Driving hovercraft around would certainly be fun: perhaps more fun than driving a car, but it would certainly not be an energy friendly solution to transportation problems.

My knowledge on this is very little so I'll just throw another idea out there.

What if magnets could be used somehow to run the propellers to save on energy. I'm not really sure how this would work, just an idea.

I was inspired by the "maglev" train in china.

Then go straight for maglev, which depends upon an appropriate track, and drop the hovercraft idea entirely.

I don't mean to sound too discouraging, but as far as I understand your idea so far it won't deliver any energy saving benefits. Please don't let this negative response discourage you from thinking of other ideas. Why not do a little research via google on hovercraft or maglev trains, or both?

and also, have you considered how much these vehicles whould be buffetted by the wind? i would love to hear of a design that could compensate for 40mph winds without blowing adjacent vehicles around.

Originally Posted by DaBOB

My knowledge on this is very little so I'll just throw another idea out there.

What if magnets could be used somehow to run the propellers to save on energy. I'm not really sure how this would work, just an idea.

I was inspired by the "maglev" train in china.

I believe the maglev is less efficient than low friction wheels(normal train wheels) at anything less than say 120mph. If you think 2 parallel arrangements of electrons will slide past each other while in a repulsive magnetic field you are much mistaken.
I believe the only reason the chinese get any efficiency benifit(and it is a very small benifit) at all is because they are able/willing to run them so fast for such a high percentage of a journey.

Moving fans using magnets ??


Your idea of hovering car exists, it is called the "Moller Skycar" several year ago, and it was a failure.

...What about ultra-high frequency oscillation?

It depends what your goal is?

Hovercrafts already exist, they cost a lot of power(fuel) to operate which in a few applications is offset by the usefulness of going from water to land.

If you want to fly there are helicopters, but the complex nature of the mechanics makes them extremely expensive in maintenance cost and make mechanical failure dangerous in some cases.

A flying car does exist but its a prototype (may be thesame car mentioned before).

If reducing friction but still drive on land is the aim, perhaps having a wheel that turns on a frictionless magnetic joint might be possible (you might use many wheels such as a car with 8 wheels to reduce the load on each wheel).

Having Hovercraft Seadoo's (recreational vehicles) might be a riot. And it would allow rescue operations quicker and easier access to people in distress in some regions where terrain stability is an issue such as during floods or when someone is stranded on broken/thin ice.

I wonder if a large carbon fiber tank with vacuum in it might make a lightweight vehicle even lighter(sort of a mini zepplin)?


".What about ultra-high frequency oscillation?"
someone told be an inventor had made a dimmer for neon lights, by turning on and off the light at a frequency the human eye could not perceive. Apparently it can turn the intensity so slowly and gradually that you dont realize the light is dimming.

What I need is a way to magnetically attract my car to all the SUV's on the road. That way I can just get behind these people and leech off the power they are wasting by driving around with one person. Perhaps an ultrasonic distancing system to keep the pull just the right amount. I bet my gas mileage would go way up

The very fact that you have all that friction enables you to have pretty good control over the car, braking, cornering, parking on a hill etc etc. I take it you want to replace the car with this magnetic hover thingy for personal commuting, I can not see it working. :? :?

Originally Posted by DaBOB

I have disliked cars for quite a long time now. The mechanics of them cause so much friction and wasted energy. Also, I find it ironic that the parts that create the friction with the road (wheels) also slow the car down because of this friction.

Just a side note, the friction that you are thinking of here is between the wheel and the axel, not the tire and the road. The tires don't slide along the road, they roll, so friction between the tire ad road doesn't matter (unless you are sliding around on ice).

Originally Posted by Scifor Refugee

Originally Posted by DaBOB

I have disliked cars for quite a long time now. The mechanics of them cause so much friction and wasted energy. Also, I find it ironic that the parts that create the friction with the road (wheels) also slow the car down because of this friction.

Just a side note, the friction that you are thinking of here is between the wheel and the axel, not the tire and the road. The tires don't slide along the road, they roll, so friction between the tire ad road doesn't matter (unless you are sliding around on ice).

This is also not quite true the tyres do roll but not perfectly, the steering has various geometry built into it i.e. Toe in, Camber etc which causes friction, also the tyre has a foot print which is continually scuffing along the road, this is why tyres wear, also the wheel rotates by means of roller bearings between the Axle and the Hub the friction here is very small and not worth taking into account,
I think the ICE reciprocating engine is the one that needs improving, if we could get a small nuclear reactor the size of an egg then we may be able to use a steam turbine? :wink: :wink:

Another loss of energy here is the fact that the portion of tyre in contact with the road is flat. if you consider a single spot on the tyre it is constantly being flexed and released as the wheel rotates, the more it flex's the more energy is diverted away from propulsion (hence flat tyres increase fuel consumption). Ask any cyclist.

What about public transport. I think it will be the pioneer of energy saving.

Yes it will..