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Nanotechnology-Powered Wiper-Less Windshield
fab writes "Italian car designer Leonardo Fioravanti (who worked for Pininfarina for a number of years) has developed a car prototype without windshield wipers. This amazing technological feat is made possible thanks to the use of 4 layers of glass modified using nanotechnology. The first layer filters the sun and repels the water. The second layer, using 'nano-dust' is able to push dirt to the side. The third layer acts as a sensor that activates the second layer when it detects dirt, while the fourth layer is a conductor of electricity to power this complex mechanism. I haven't been able to find an English article, but there is always a google powered translation of the Italian article."
Don't breathe this.
Now I want one that has adjustable levels of tinting for privacy and blocking out the sun.
That's pretty cool if you live in a climate when your main problem is dirt / rain. But what about ice/sleet/freezing rain, which is the bane of my existence now that I'm living in the Midwest.
Is this any stronger than a standard windshield, or will the rogue baseball do it in?
This sounds like a good idea but I live in an area that gets a lot of snow and the windshield wipers help clear the snow off the window when it is coming down heavy, and I don't see how this would work in that situation.
so how long until an executive at a rival company demands that they produce one with 5 layers?
One more is always better, just ask Gillette and anyone with a guitar amp.
Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
Maybe I'm stupid, and being your typical /.er I didn't RTFA, but how does a second layer deal with dirt? Is the first layer permeable? That's just... weird.
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Was there something terribly wrong with wipers to begin with?
I wonder how well the lack of wipers cope with snow, frost, chunks of dirt, and various other things. How will it handle little stone chips on the windshield? Will that spot simply remain dirty?
Like bird poo, smashed butterflies, roadkill blood, garbage, mud, tree leaves, etc?
Will this ultimate wipeless windshield be able to clear it away?
will not work in the south where the greatest windshield ornament is bug juice.
...if every new vehicle had this, along with rear-view cameras to replace external mirrors?
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/33930
welcome our new windshield wiperless car overlords.
My sig beat up your sig.
Cool - this totally reminds me of that episode of C.O.P.S, when a chemical mishap produces some sort of dirt-repelling cloth that the Big Boss uses to make a super clean suit. I don't remember if there was anything else to the plot though...
No. It will cost 0. Yes, 0. Just like always-on lights we have in Canada cost, yes, 0.
The gas engine wastes so much power anyway and never runs at optimal that the so called loses are meaningless. 100HP engine can generate 100W of power without any additional fuel costs. Heck, on a bike you generate 100W of power without too much effort. You can only speak of loses with some *efficient* hybrids or electric cars. But then the windshield doesn't need to be powered all the time anyway.
Regardless, this technology may be most helpful in places where wipers are currently not used. For example, motorcycle helmets. Or cycling glasses.
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/shiny red CANDY button...
Yeah. That oughta do it.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
Nuova idea della Fioravanti: per il suo ventesimo anno di attività, l'azienda fondata dal famoso designer che per anni ha fatto la storia della Pininfarina (sue quasi tutte le Ferrari più belle) ha appena proposto la prima auto senza tergicristalli. New idea of Fioravanti for its twentieth year of operation, the company founded by the famous designer who for years has made the history of Pininfarina (almost all his most beautiful Ferrari) has just proposed the first car without wipers. Un prototipo battezzato Hidra che grazie al ricorso alle nanotecnologie ea un particolare studio aerodinamico riesce a tenere sempre pulito il parabrezza, pur non avendo nessuna spazzola. A prototype baptized Hidra that thanks to the use of nanotechnology in a special aerodynamic study can keep clean the windscreen, while not having any brush. Tutto nasce da uno specialissimo vetro che grazie a quattro sofisticati trattamenti superficiali modificano le caratteristiche del vetro a livello molecolare. Everything stems from a special glass that thanks to four sophisticated surface treatments change the characteristics of glass at the molecular level. Il primo (a contatto con l'aria esterna) è a base di biossido di titanio: filtra il sole ma, soprattutto, regala al parabrezza un forte effetto idrorepellente. The first (in contact with the outdoor air) is based on titanium dioxide: filters the sun but, above all, gives the windscreen a strong hydrophobic effect. Il secondo strato di vetro è in realtà costituito da polveri microscopiche che spingono lo sporco ai lati del vetro, a loro volta azionate da sensori posti nel terzo strato che fanno pulire il parabrezza a seconda delle necessità (quantità di acqua o sporco da smaltire). The second layer of glass is actually made up of microscopic dust pushing dirt on the sides of the glass, in turn activated by sensors placed in the third layer forming clean the windshield as needed (quantity of water or dirt for disposal). E il quarto strato? And the fourth layer? E' il più fantascientifico perché è un conduttore di corrente, necessaria per alimentare il funzionamento di questo complicato parabrezza. And 'Unbelievable as it is a conductor of electricity, needed to power the operation of this complicated windscreen. Tanta meraviglia, secondo la Fioravanti, potrebbe essere prodotta in serie fra 5 anni, ma già adesso funziona. Tanta wonder, according to Fioravanti, could be produced in series between 5 years, but now it works. Ed è stata installata sulla Hidra, una concept car multifunzionale, ossia MPC (Multi Purpose Coupè), una 5 porte, 4 posti, basata su una scocca già immaginata per offrire grandi risultati per quanto riguarda dinamica del veicolo, sicurezza passiva, flessibilità. It was installed on Hidra, a concept car multifunctional ie MPC (Multi Purpose Coupè), a 5-door, 4 seats, based on a body already imagined to deliver great results with regard to dynamic vehicle passive safety, flexibility. Per la storia dell'auto si tratta di una svolta: in 100 anni per pulire il parabrezza, dalle prime utilitarie alle modernissime supercar, si è sempre fatto ricorso alla vecchia, cara, spazzola del tergicristalli. For the history of this is a turning point in 100 years to clean the windscreen, from the first utility to modern supercar, has always resorted to the old, expensive, brush the wipers. Oggi, grazie alla Fioravanti, destinata ad andare definitivamente in pensione. Today, thanks to Fioravanti, intended to move permanently retired.
If you're in a warmer climate, try bird-crap and bugs. Try driving down I-5 from Redding to Sacramento CA in the late spring sometime. Bugs coming at you like a freakin' hailstorm. Grasshoppers, dragonflies... Big juicy bugs that leave splats. Or, if you're relay lucky, you might get hit by a stray tomato flying off a truck. Let's see a nano-wiper sweep away that!
You're so lucky, I live in Texas where it gets so hot, it rains molten metal. If we are lucky, it rains solid metal, in the winter of course. Well, I have to go, its night now, which means that the temperature is low enough to venture out of the life support module to repair the ceramic radiators.
My brother attended Penn State as an electrical engineer. One of his internships was with a professor's company who was working on embedding nanotubes into windshields in order to produce electricity and heat. I'm not sure how far they have gotten with it but I do know we talked about this around 5 years ago.
Someday you'll spray nano-particles on your ass and you won't have to wipe for a whole week. Of course, you could try petroleum jelly today, but it's uncomfortable, unless you like that sort of thing.
So two nuns are on a road trip, when suddenly a tiny diminutive demon jumps on the hood, and plasters himself against the hood, making scary noises and faces. And the driving nun says, "Ah! What do I do?" So the passenger nun says, "Well, turn on the windshield wipers!" So the driving nun turns on the windshield wipers. But the demon just grabs on to the wipers, and now he's just going back and forth while making his scary noises and faces. And now he's agitated. So the driving nun says, "Ah! What do I do?" And the passenger nun says, "Well, turn on the windshield wiper fluid! It's filled with holy water." So the driving nun turns on the windshield wiper fluid, and it SEARS the demon, and there's all this screaming while there's a huge, thick cloud of steam. But when the smoke clears the demon is still there, going back and forth with the windshield wiper, with his flesh all seared, and now he's REALLY pissed, right? So the driver nun says, "Ah! What do I do?" The passenger nun thinks for a minute then says, "Well, show him your cross!" So the driving nun leans out the window and screams, "Get off my fuckin' hood!"
I remember some oldish sci-fi book where the protagonist made himself very rich developing something like this. Supposedly it worked by making the surface vibrate slightly so that water, dirt, etc simply wouldn't adhere to it.
I'm trying to think what it was.. something by Arthur C. Clarke maybe? This review of The Ghost from the Grand Banks mentions "a really satisfactory windshield wiper". Ah yes, Chapter 3, "A Better Mousetrap", "[the Mark V Wave Wiper] doesn't merely keep off water -- it shakes off any dirt that's already there".
The blindingly obvious realisation that makes him truly filthy rich is that not only can cars make use of it, but that is has huge potential applications for buildings, skyscrapers especially.
use this technology on the body so I don't have to wash my car as often.
so, what does it cost when some a-hole smashes your windshield to steal the $0.85 you left in open view?
In sharp contrast to the usual high-school essays that submitters come up with.
15 minutes??
It only takes 15 minutes if you count the time it takes to drive to Autozone, which should really be amortized over the other items you're also purchasing. Or you're an auto mechanic working for a dealership doing an inspection and "saving time" by doing that wiper replacement for someone without calling first.
Of the remaining 5 minutes, maybe a minute in total is spent actually removing the assemblies (my wiper arms don't go full up like a normal car, so for me there's a trick to it, but it doesn't take longer than a minute) and the rest is walking into the store and waiting for an employee to get freed up. They have an odd* policy whereby they only have complete assemblies on the floor, the replacement blades are behind the counter for some reason. The employee does thread the refill for ya, though.
This costs between $6 and $10 for a pair of blades, meaning that if your blades are differently sized, you have to keep an extra refill around and do it yourself next time. I don't see why you'd pay for full assemblies every time when the only thing that wears out is the rubber.
*not really that odd when you think about it. They're obviously trying to foster the either the idea that replacing the entire assembly every time is "just how it's done" or that "just the blades" aren't even sold separately.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
One more is always better, just ask Gillette and anyone with a guitar amp. Like Nigel's?
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
A brother-in-law talked me into applying an Amway window treatment, and I was amazed at how well it shed water. You could, and I did, drive alongside a semi at freeway speeds and the water just slipped off and out of sight. It was absolutely convincing. Its only drawback was that you had to reapply it every several weeks. At first it worked even down to 25 mph, but gradually wore off as you used wipers at slower speeds, especially if you used the washer fluid, and eventually you had to use wipers as high as, say, 50mph, at which point I would reapply it. That bottle ran out and I tried some others which worked as well.
There was also a mental adjustment period for me; water just streams up and over the car, not to the sides, and it seems so wrong to not have wipers sweeping back and forth. The streams going up the windshield were so different from what I was used to that it was distracting and somewhat headache inducing, and it took several rainstorms to get used to it. But now it's wipers that look wrong.
Until you see it from inside, it is hard to believe how well it sheds water splashed up by the semi alongside you, but it is literally almost as clear as having no water on the windshield. It made a believer out of me.
Infuriate left and right
attempt = fail.
/. used to be news for nerds, now it's 'omg my new toaster is clear, so we can watch toast, well, toast!' type of site.
The ultimate goal is to make a system that can replace the current system and do nothing less than the system it's trying to replace or improve on. That is 1 of the goals of progress. This isn't progress but a neat 'wow' factor that most consumers care about anymore instead of functions.
Time value of money
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
The real news is that Google just dropped an almost perfect machine translation of an Italian article and nobody noticed. I surfed all over the articles website amazed buy one article after another, not by their content, but by the translation. Hasn't anybody else noticed? Perhaps it is a fruition of Google scanning and comparing those thousands of U.N. Documents they said they would use a year or two ago.
"Where have all the good people gone?" - Jack Johnson
Are you sure you are at the correct forum? This is a *nerd* forum, we dig neat tools and tips and tricks. A billionaire nerd would still think that is neat and actually would go out and sharpen his bugatti wipers, just to check it out. That's the difference between suits and nerds. Money is always secondary or even lower to *neat stuff*.
I'd like to see a comparison of advantages and disadvantages of using this mechanism instead of what is essentially a DC motor, an arm, and some gearing. If there's no advantage and it costs more why do I want it? In any case it better be proven before I use it because if there's even a small chance I'll be unable to see while doing 110km/hr down the freeway I won't touch it.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
But does it stop bullets?
i hope this technology is used in making eye glasses, especially for those of us who bike through any kind of weather.
I wonder what the owner would have to pay out of pocket for driving behind someone on a gravel road...
Interesting concept, totally impractical when compared to traditional wiper blades.
I can't imagine an insurance company would be happy to replace this article's thousand dollar windshield, when it inevitably breaks.
I'd rather have a rear window defroster that wasn't lines of conductive paint, which break or wear out after a few years. It'd be as popular as sliced bread if there was some sort of doped glass, which isn't terribly weaker than normal glass, that would uniformly heat when electricity is applied. Having that for side windows, and the rear window would be awesome.
MadTV's Spishak razor skit predates that Onion article by about 5 years.
the bugs are individually plucked out of the air in advance by butlers wielding chopsticks.
I bought some plates with that treatment, and finally I manage to keep the gravy separate from the potatoes. It does a nice "Moses and the red sea" trick too with the soup.
Now you've made me want to click it. There's candy!
Won't someone think of the squeegie-guys?
And after the baseball does it in, the cost of replacing the super-duper high-tech nanotechnology four layer glass windshield will do you in.
A top layer that repels water. Swell. But how long does that layer last when subjected to your typical environment?
A second layer of microscopic dust that somehow pushes dirt to the side. Can anybody fathom any mechanism for this?
A third layer that's a sensor for dust? WTF?
A fourth conductive layer?
One possible mechanism might be that the fourth layer is charged up to several thousand volts, charging the unwanted dust, then it reverses polarity, repelling the dust. Which might have a chance of working at 0% humidity and very fine dust.
Also note that the gratuitous reference to nanotechnology, which in this context probably refers to what we normally call "powdered ingredients".
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/DyeHard/story?id=440893&page=1
http://www.nanoxchange.com/NewsNewsstand.asp?ID=283
Damn kids...
And how does it do with snow, sleet, or freezing rain?
For that matter, since he's in Italy, how 'bout volcanic ash, should Vesuvius go up?
And how much does it cost, and how complicated is it to build, install, and maintain, in comparison to a DC motor and the mechanism for wipers?
Note to developer: KISS is the acronym of the day for engineering.
mark
What happens when it gets hit by a pebble at 75mph?
Visit the
... what will one of these cost to replace every time some truck tire flings a rock through it?
Have gnu, will travel.
Cool that someone's thinking about Nanotech, but it sounds like what RainX does, and RainX is a really simple, fairly inexpensive solution.
A lot of people have already commented on this windshield's ability to repel frost or ice. More to the point, its probable inability to do so. That's okay, as I wouldn't expect my car to automatically keep ice away when I park outside on a winter's night. But the next morning, when I grab my blade and start scraping off the ice... what damage might I be doing to the windshield? It seems like a pretty fragile arrangement of thin layers, and I don't imagine a sharp piece of metal would be good for it. Also, what of small objects or rocks that fly up and hit it?
Excuse me but the only time I even think about windshields and wipers is when it's raining cats & dogs and the old wipers are dangling useless from the old blades, which for the life of me I could be an able-bodied Stephen Hawking and still not figure out how to remove and replace them with the new ones in time before the whole damn rain storm for which I bought them had already passed! Believe me if I could afford a windshield that didn't need useless set of wipers that always deteriorate before I need them I'd buy it. -Bozo_de_Niro-