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Nissan Develops a Self-Cleaning Car
Hugh Pickens DOT Com (2995471) writes "Nicole Arce reports at Tech Times that engineers at Nissan are using a 'super-hydrophobic' and 'oleophobic' paint finish called Ultra-Ever Dry on the new Nissan Note supermini that can repel water and oils, as well as dirt, dust, mud and grit. The paint uses nanotechnology to create a thin air shield above the surface of the car that makes rain, road spray, frost, sleet and standing water roll off the car without tainting its surface at all. 'By creating a protective layer of air between the paint and environment, it effectively stops standing water and road spray from creating dirty marks on the car's surface,' says Nissan's press release. Nissan says it has no plans of making the special paint job a standard on factory models but it will consider offering the self-cleaning paint as an aftermarket option. Nissan is now attempting to determine if the material is durable for long-term use on vehicles — and if it will hold up in different weather conditions around the globe. The Japanese automaker plans to test its custom technology this summer in Europe, with researchers based in its England technical facility using a Versa Note for testing."
...for the first 10,000 miles or so. Damage will accumulate and after a while it'll work as well as an old nonstick frying pan.
Self-cleaning sounds a whole lot cooler and is a better marketing term, but it's not really self-cleaning, it just repels things. Not really the same thing.
So can it handle bird poop? As an owner of Inifiti/Nissan's self healing, scratch-shield paint - I'm not too impressed with their advanced paint tech so far.
Insofar as the dirt isn't harmful to my car (salty grime in the winter for instance), I keep my car dirty on purpose. Nothing better than a really dirty car to prevent it from being broken into or stolen when I leave it parked downtown. I just clean the door handles and the license plates.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
It probably wears out in a year or two and/or requires $100/month in exotic maintenance supplies, and if you ever put wax on the car it will destroy its self-cleaning properties, etc.
G.
I find that the exterior of my car more or less takes care of itself. Sure, it could be better, but it rains and the worst of the crud is washed off. And then the mud kicked up puts more crud on; even if I did put effort into washing it, it would be nearly as dirty within weeks. I practically never wash my car, and they last well over a decade. It's not the limiting factor in the car's life span.
What I'd really like it something that made the *interior* cleaner. Of course it's not going to neaten up my tool boxes and spare clothes and fast-food wrappers, but if it could somehow at least deal better with stains and dripped mud, that would make me happy.
I gave strong consideration to the Honda Element for just that reason; it's designed to be hosed out. I ended up going with the Fit for the mileage. And it could really use some detailing. I get my car cleaned every so often not for the outside, but because they also do the inside.
I'm visualizing a car with sparkling clean paint and an opaque coating of dirt on all the windows...
[nt]
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
I am not so sure this solves that...
I am not Remy Mouton, unfortunately: http://remy.mouton.free.fr/art/
Really? I was thinking that periodically a bunch of cats would emerge from the trunk and lick the car clean, then return to the trunk to be fed.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Either float or sink even faster. Not quite sure how that'd work out.
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Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
Hey, hey you can’t! See? It’s totally frictionless. Oh this must be one mother of a mover!
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Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
What's the point? Have they not heard of rain at Nissan? I find that rain does a really good job of cleaning my car.
A material that does this has been sold in the US since 2013. The consumer version is Rust-Oleum Never-Wet. When new, the surface really will not retain water or mud. But the Rust-Oleum product doesn't provide a tough surface, and the effect doesn't last if the surface is touched or rubbed much.
It might make sense for cars. For this to work, you need a surface that you want clean, gets dirty, but isn't a working surface. That's a car body.
I wax my car several times a year, both to protect the paint with a sacrificial barrier and to make it really shine (Klasse + Pinnacle for anyone who cares). I use a clay bar once a year as well.
I'm guessing at best the wax will defeat the repellant qualities of the paint, and at worst the paint may repel the wax.
I can see this as being good for for people who can't be bothered with keeping their car clean. Probably not so much for people who care.
Will the normally abraded nano particle dust and fragments just pass through normal mammals, or will they aggregate iron and other stuff in the blood and organs - starting with eyes, lungs, and digestive system - ripping them away from water and oil. Cell membranes are ... ? Will keeping everything moist help? Like, in a pool. And cycling the pool water through a nanodust catching filter?
It the paint works as advertised (lots of companies are working to develop similar products) it will have a significant effect on the automotive, transport, flight, rail and other industries that move things and people around:
This coating prevents the build up of corrosive materials and as a result slows the corrosion process, extending the life of vehicles, trains, planes etc. Getting road salt off of a car in the winter is a big thing because road salt eats cars alive. If a coating can prevent it from sticking to the car in the first place vehicles are going to last a lot longer.
I can see the plane industry leaping at this the moment it is commercially viable: A coating that prevents wings from icing up? Yup, put that on every plane that comes out of the factory and retrofit it onto every plane in the fleet.
The moment a coating like this can be made crystal clear automotive manufacturers will put it on windshields and bug strikes sticking to the windshield will be a thing of the past.
Architectural plans are like computer source code with a couple of differences: You only compile once.
"Maybe the car will repel the dirt and float."
Who cares about the outside, I want a car that cleans itself on the inside.
it would sink even faster. All the water would slide off of it, and the car would drop to the bottom of the lake like it's in a freefall!
Let's see how well the paint job stands up to and repels the remains.
More aerodynamic cars stay cleaner. Lot of the dirt never reaches the surface of such a car.
Maybe this paint is neat, but it's a fancy, high tech solution to a problem that already has a low cost, money saving, low tech solution. A solution that, thus far, manufacturers and the public are ignorant of or prejudiced against. Never ceases to amaze me how people can declare aerodynamic shapes "ugly" and use that as the excuse to refuse to have anything to do with it. One rabid Mustang fan I know is even prejudiced against things like vortex generators on the trailing edges of truck trailers, because they're "ugly". As if a rectangular corrugated grey box isn't already butt ugly, and anyone cares about the looks of them anyway.
Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
The Pontiac Aztek was pretty repellent. Or maybe repulsive.
The Aztek doesn't look all that out of place compared to all the little "crossover" SUV's rolling around now. If you want to see repulsive check out the Juke. http://commons.wikimedia.org/w...
I have to return some videotapes...
I'm visualizing a car with sparkling clean paint and an opaque coating of dirt on all the windows...
Actually, when they said "self-cleaning", I had envisioned some way that it got rid of all the old McD's french-fry bags and other trash all over the backseat flooor.
If you live in the southern US states, you don't have to deal with snow and ice often, and as a result also don't have to deal with brine and de-icing agents on road as much. Those things will cause good damage to cars when the cars are exposed to them on a regular basis, and in southern states its good to wash your car after a period of having them on the roads.
There's a reason when you go to Philly or Detroit that most the cars look asstastic, and its not because of standard of living or income. Classic car enthusiasts look to buy from the southern states for the same reason.
Now THAT would be truly useful. I'd choose that over dirt repellant paint any day!