Slashdot Mirror
Next-Gen Windshield Wipers To Be Based On Jet Fighter "Forcefield" Tech
cartechboy writes "It looks like the old-school windshield wiper is about to be replaced by new technology — but not until 2015. British car-maker McLaren is apparently developing a new window cleaning system that is modeled from fighter jet tech. The company isn't revealing exactly how it will work, but the idea comes from the chief designer simply asking a military source why you don't see wipers on jets as they land. Experts expect McClaren to use constantly active, high-frequency sound waves outside the range of human hearing that will effectively create a force field across a car's windshield to repel water, ice insects and other debris. Similar sound waves are used by dentists to remove plaque from teeth."
This wiper also keeps lions away.
so it also drives cats, dogs and other animals crazy in 100m radius?
Jet shaped vehicles may be required to use this device.
I'm pretty sure that most tech involving sound waves is not developed in space.
All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
This idea appeared (invented in?) The Ghost From The Grand Banks by Arthur C.Clarke.
It seems like every time I buy a windshield wiper anymore it is trashed within a few days. There's a lot of players out there in the windshield wiper industry that peddle garbage, and it is hard to know which one is good.
Will the vibrations exacerbate the crack?
What happens when its raining heavily, and a vehicle going the other way hits a puddle, and dumps a massive wave of water on your windshield? What happens when its full inch of heavy slush? I'd say its a nice addition on top of regular wipers, but I'm very skeptical about replacing them.
You could just buy a bottle of Rain-X.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
In space, no one can hear you wipe
Surely someone at the automotive companies has already tested a tiny, high pressure air nozzle that sweeps across from just below the windscreen. It's nice that McLaren is driving new technology, but face it, our cars could be much better. The issue is always budgets, and the $1 here, $4 there for better components supposedly adds up to automobiles costing 2-4x what they currently do. At least that is what the accountants that turn down the engineers ideas say. Sometimes that is true, sometimes I want to yell bullshit as I whack someone upside the head with a baseball bat.
Why not use a superhydrophobic nano coating?
I remember another car manufacturer was testing this in the late '90s-early 2000s, Mercedes IIRC?
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
I invented some noise-cancelling headphones that work perfectly beyond the atmosphere.
Is this why my dog howls when he drives my McClaren in the rain? I always thought he howled for the sheer fun of it!
There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what you're talking about. -- John von Neumann
Similar sound waves are used by dentists to remove plaque from teeth.
Um, I hear those sound waves just fine (high frequency sensitive). My dentist had to give up using it on me.
If this sounds anything like that horrid sonic plaque cleaner, I'm going to have to move to my zombie apocalypse survival compound in Montana. Too bad, I was saving it for the actual zombie apocalypse.
-- I have monkeys in my pants.
I, for one, welcome our new ice insect overlords.
Jet fighters use bleed air to clear the windscreens, not high frequency sound. The pilot just has to remember to use it sparingly on the ground, or the windscreen melts, which most pilots agree is a bad thing...and mechanics get really ticked off replacing them. Another way to clean the windscreens is a quick shot of JP-8 from your nearby in-flight refueler (booms works best), but you didn't hear that from me...
Impetuous! Homeric!
As one who drives through regions (think the U.P. of Michigan for U.S.'ers), I am curious as to how it will "fix" the bugs getting smeared on the windscreen.
For maximum effect, apply JP-8 and scorching hot exhausts simultaneously!
This sounds like it could be incredibly expensive to fix/replace. What happens if one of the frequency generators goes out? Will current repair shops be able to service the vehicles? How precise does the alignment have to be? What about microfractures?
Not having to deal with water and snow would be nice, but only if it doesn't interfere with/cause more maintenance....
"Our goal each year should be to increase the number of goals we set for ourselves!"
> . . . to repel water, ice insects and other debris . . .
Great. I just hate it when those ice insects hit my windshield.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
but passenger aircraft have very standard motorized windscreen wipers, really low tech...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pIasu8TdhA&hd=1
Similar sound waves are used by dentists to remove plaque from teeth.
Having had one of these sound wave plaque removing treatments, I can assure you they do not work as well as the analog method. While the physical scraping might be less enjoyable, their results are far superior.
I'm not the only one with this opinion. Others I have spoken with say the same thing and you can use your favorite search engine to see similar comments from a multitude of people.
But just like mp3s, automatic transmissions, flappy-paddle gear changers and photography, to name just a few, the far superior analog method will eventually be replaced by the inferior method and people will think we're making progress.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
I'm pretty sure that most tech involving sound waves is not developed in space.
Why? Sound waves propagate just fine through solids.
...for about 30 seconds and then as the aircraft accelerates past 200kts or so, the rain x is scrubbed off. We tried it, didn't work. Best thing is to use a plexiglass polish to keep the glass as smooth as possible between flights. A bug hitting the windscreen of a fighter jet going 500+kts is not going to be repelled by high frequency sound or any hydrophobic surface. I've seen dents in the leading edges of the wings just from hitting grasshoppers...
Impetuous! Homeric!
Ok so a set of replacement wipers costs me $20 at the local autoparts store. I replace my wipers once a year, and if something happens that I need to replace one, in an hour (including driving to the autoparts store) I'm all set. No special training, tools, diagnostic computers, calibrating equipment etc etc.. required.
Now I'm going to install something that when (not if) it breaks will cost me hundreds if not thousands of dollars to fix.
Let McLaren install these in their $1m cars aimed at the rich and famous. It's not like you see Ferraris and Lamborghini's driving in the rain anyhow.
If there's a solid there, then it isn't space, is it?
automatic transmissions, flappy-paddle gear changers
What's the difference? Any type of mechanical multi-speed transmission is a kluge. You don't find them in trains, planes, ships, power stations, etc. On the road? Get a Tesla.
In our avionics shop one prankster would set (after hooking up a concealed tweeter) the audio oscillator just above the range of normal hearing and enjoy the reactions from those who still had some of their high freq sensitivity left.
His other trick was telling noobs the black plastic urinal cup on OV-10 Broncos was an "auxiliary interphone" and having them speak into it while listening for side tone.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
I believe 30,000 cycles per second is greater than 40 cycles per second and less than 60,000 cycles per second so 30 kHz is within that range. Did you read 40 Hz as 40 kHz?
"Inferior" and "Superior" are subjective. It might give an inferior cleaning but still be a superior product for other reasons. My Nook Color is a technically inferior product to my mother's Nexus 10, but I consider it a superior product because it costs significantly less. Likewise, my car has an inferior engine when comparing power, but it's far superior in terms of mileage. Canada may be inferior because they invented Justin Bieber, but they're actually superior because they got rid of him.
I use stuff called Plexus on motorcycle windshields and helmet visors. It cleans, protects, and polishes out scratches and haze. I've never tried it at 200 kts, but it's amazing stuff. Would be interesting to know how it works on an aircraft canopy.
Rain-X I used on the inside of goggles to prevent fogging until I discovered Scott No Fog Cloth. Nothing else works like it.
:wq
...WIPE the slate clean?
My sig has no nature
I've seen dents in the leading edges of the wings just from hitting grasshoppers...
If pilots are doing 500+kts at altitudes reachable by grasshoppers, I'd be worried about the dents caused by trees. And small children.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Similar systems were announced in the 1980s in various popular tech rags. damn, live long enough and things just go in cycles.
http://www.google.com/patents/US4768256
This works on fighters because 1) in flight, they're always going really fast by automotive standards, and 2) their canopies are angled far into the windstream. If water can be broken free of surface tension, it will be blown away. For a car stopped in heavy rain in traffic, it probably won't do much.
Repel the deer? No. However, the splattered innards and guts of the deer you just hit will smoothly slide right off your windshield.
Genocide Man -- Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass murder can be hilarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9Ze_g9y2Es
The US airforce bans low altitude training these days.
The interplanetary medium can carry sound waves. Of course, it is moving faster than the local speed of sound outward from the sun (the solar wind). So if you shouted really loud from the ISS, someone in the asteroid belt might be able to hear you. But not the other way around.
SIGSEGV caught, terminating
wait... not that kind of sig.
Wonder if McLaren considered putting this technology on Formula1 racing helmets to replace the tearoff strips, and to keep debris and rain off the onboard video cameras.
Not even with Russian sandpaper grade industrial toilet paper.
Especially when it's been hit by an ice insect from outer space...
Is 1563649 a prime number?
If pilots are doing 500+kts at altitudes reachable by grasshoppers, I'd be worried about the dents caused by trees. And small children.
You may have heard of locusts before. All a locust is is a grasshopper in its migratory phase. Many species of grasshopper can fly quite well.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Will animals be able to hear it? Because I think we have more than enough noise pollution in the ocean be a shame to increase it on land too.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
/. -- The only place where the lack of comma gets more attention than the technology in the article.
Good thing this guy is already dead.
This would just be adding insult to injury. His whole life, the industry rapes his idea. Now they just toss it aside, obsolete.
Chuuch. Preach. Tabernacle.
You could encounter a grasshopper flying at more than 700 m so this is not that strange. Stranger is that it only leaves a dent in the leading edge, I'd have expected more damage...
--frank[at]unternet.org
My dentist uses a pick and a spinny brush to clean my plaque. Should I change?
We need to combine it with some sort of forward-firing sonic ram, then! Just imagine if you could turn that fucking deer into a fine bloody mist just prior to impact! And then the winshield jets take over :D
Unity? Screw that: XFCE. Slashdot Beta? Screw that: SoylentNews. Australis? Screw that: Pale Moon. UX developers DIAF
I've seen dents in the leading edges of the wings just from hitting grasshoppers...
If pilots are doing 500+kts at altitudes reachable by grasshoppers, I'd be worried about the dents caused by trees. And small children.
Wow, 3000 foot tall trees? Would like to see those. Plus, there aren't a whole lot of trees and children on the test range, for good reason.
Generaly Maclarens don't have trouble with vehicles coming the other way, and if its raining that heavily, you'd better box, and put on full wets (Of course Maclaren only take a couple of seconds to actually change the tires)
The windscreen wiper has been around since 1903, and its basic design hasn’t changed much since. Coming up with the idea was inventor Mary Anderson, who saw the need for a ‘window cleaning device’ after she saw drivers sticking their heads out of the car to see where they were going during heavy rain.
I wonder if she got rich filing lawsuits against car companies?
Good invention though, because in my personal experience sticking your head out of the window during a heavy rain doesn't significantly improve visibility.
"create a force field across a car's windshield to repel water, ice insects and other debris."
I wasn't aware of 'ice insects' until now. We have the occasional insect who I see in the winter on our snow but no 'ice insects'. Have they reported this new species to the scientific community or are they just going to repel it instead?
I'm saying that it isn't space if there's something there. It might be in space, but it is not space.
Have gnu, will travel.
Oh really? are the sound waves in space? no? well then ti worked.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Comments from random people. on the internet! well that settles it.
Superior is based n a series of parameters.
For longevity, consistence, and shareability, mp3(Digital media) is superior.
If you want something that's not consistent, and want to talk like a hipster douche, then analog is better for those parameters.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
IT depends on the parameter you are judging. Often they are objective.
Also, throwing you garbage out the window doesn't make you superior.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Grasshoppers can be swept up in updrafts, you know.
Trees and children aren't.
Depends on the updraft.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
This was mentioned in the opening chapters of A Ghost from Grand Banks. Smart guy that Clarke dude.
http://www.22balmoralroad.net/ http://www.tinynetworks.co.uk/
Insects depend on high-frequency sound to attract mates.
I'd hate to find my windshield suddenly covered with horny (or angry) bugs while driving, in the rain, on a dark road, on my way to the ditch, picking up a few unwanted, unexpected pedestrians, who were waiting for a bus...
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.