McLaren wants to do away with old-school windshield wipers for good


Recommended Posts

It might clear beads of rain, but it won't clear dirt or everything else that isn't clear.

 

The only solution I can think of that would obsolete wipers would be to coat the windshield with something similar to Never Wet (http://www.neverwet.com/).

 

Stupid product that is essentially spray on rubber and peels off just like dried elmers glue

 

Like Rain X?

 

While i think its a **** product, initially it is amazingly hydrophobic and blows Rain X away, to bad you couldn't see through it before crashed your car lol

 

personally, I think the only real solutions are a star trek force feild or a nano-polished frictionless sheet of crystal, either one gonna happen soon.......no :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ummm why?

 

I would assume he would mean because the vibrations in the screen could cause a chip to turn into a crack.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Materials scientists have developed ways to make materials so slippery that even motor oil and honey just runs right off as if it were water. Water can't even bead up on it.

 

While the McLaren system is really good, a specialized material would negate any necessity for even an electronic system to replace wiper blades. It would also help to keep the windshield free of dirt and grime for longer. And, if applied to the body, would make washing the car a much less frequent necessity and preserve the paint job.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Materials scientists have developed ways to make materials so slippery that even motor oil and honey just runs right off as if it were water. Water can't even bead up on it.

 

While the McLaren system is really good, a specialized material would negate any necessity for even an electronic system to replace wiper blades. It would also help to keep the windshield free of dirt and grime for longer. And, if applied to the body, would make washing the car a much less frequent necessity and preserve the paint job.

But are said materials capable of being as see throw as glass? I know people have mentioned things like neverwet etc but again, I don't know much about them but I believe its more of a coating than a material itself. Is it a one time application kinda thing or would it "wear off" over time so you need to keep applying it?

To all the people saying this won't work, I think given that this is McLaren, a world leader in motorsport I don't think they are going to invest time, money and effort into something that will doesn't stand a chance. I would imagine that these vibrations may be able to lift dirt by literally shakint it off the windscreen, or at least that would be their plan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But are said materials capable of being as see throw as glass? I know people have mentioned things like neverwet etc but again, I don't know much about them but I believe its more of a coating than a material itself. Is it a one time application kinda thing or would it "wear off" over time so you need to keep applying it?

To all the people saying this won't work, I think given that this is McLaren, a world leader in motorsport I don't think they are going to invest time, money and effort into something that will doesn't stand a chance. I would imagine that these vibrations may be able to lift dirt by literally shakint it off the windscreen, or at least that would be their plan.

These materials are nothing short of amazing...

 

I think that if the McLaren system is good enough for fighter jets, it's certainly good enough for our cars :) These new materials will be what both fighter jets and cars use within the next decade or so.

 

Inspired by the carnivorous pitcher plant, we have invented a completely different conceptual approach to surface design that avoids the inherent limits of the current strategies. Based on this fundamental advance, we have created surfaces that show almost perfect slipperiness toward practically everything ? polar and organic liquids, complex liquids like blood and oil, highly viscous substances like ketchup, even solid materials like ice, dust, and insects all slide off instantly and effortlessly. What?s more, the surfaces function under extreme conditions, self-heal, and are easily constructed from low-cost materials.

We infuse a porous substrate with a lubricating fluid such that the overlying film, rather than air or solid, serves as the slippery interface.

http://aizenberglab.seas.harvard.edu/index.php?show=research_topic&top=9&wh=1536x807x1536x864

Making it transparent...

 

When we blink, the dynamic liquid film covering our eyes flushes out contaminants, integrates new tears and keeps our eyes moist, all the while maintaining an uninterrupted field of vision. Researchers have taken a hint from nature and designed a bio-inspired, eye-like material composed of tiny pores infused and coated in a continuous liquid film. Unlike eyes, however, this material is elastic. Because the outer surface is fluid, researchers can smoothly tune the material?s shape, transparency and behavior.

?This truly takes us to a new level in how we can design and program dynamic materials,? says Joanna Aizenberg, the Amy Smith Berylson professor of materials science at Harvard University?s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. ?Since just about every property of a surface?its color, liquid repellency, stickiness to bacteria?depends on its detailed topography, this opens up a whole range of possibilities for designing multifunctional adaptive materials.?

The new material allows Aizenberg and her colleagues to control the motion of liquid droplets in novel, previously unimagined ways. For example, by stretching and relaxing the material, a drop of water or oil sliding down the surface can be stopped and restarted on its downward journey. The team can differentially tune the stimulus sensitivity for different liquids, too, and use the same material for highly precise optical fine-tuning.

Several years ago, Aizenberg and hear colleagues announced SLIPS, a flat, perfectly smooth surface that repels just about anything, including blood, grease, bacteria, liquids and insects. This new material builds upon that previous creation and includes those same properties, but now the team can selectively introduce surface features back?and tune them out again?at will. ?This gives a kind of ?bottom-up? control over everything that happens on the surface,? Aizenberg says. ?The difference is just the material we use for the underlying substrate.?

In the real world, this may translate into a self-adapting tent that blocks out light on bright sunny days but becomes transparent and water-repellent during overcast, stormy conditions. Pipes or medical tubing could responsively adjust the flow of liquids upon detecting certain conditions, such as pressure or chemical impurities. Or optical lenses for glasses, contacts or sensors could be outfitted with precise self-tuning and self-cleaning abilities.

http://www.materials360online.com/newsDetails/39160

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello,

I dont see the problems everyone is pointing out.

If it vibrates at the level McLaren states, it should remove all type of debri, from dried bird poop to thick ice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stupid product that is essentially spray on rubber and peels off just like dried elmers glue

 

 

While i think its a **** product, initially it is amazingly hydrophobic and blows Rain X away, to bad you couldn't see through it before crashed your car lol

 

personally, I think the only real solutions are a star trek force feild or a nano-polished frictionless sheet of crystal, either one gonna happen soon.......no :(

Yeah, I heard they are apparently working on a new version that's more transparent, though I still am not a fan of most of the chemicals involved and trying to use them on a car. I would suggest against it. Someone was asking one time about using it on a convertible top.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

These materials are nothing short of amazing...

 

I think that if the McLaren system is good enough for fighter jets, it's certainly good enough for our cars :) These new materials will be what both fighter jets and cars use within the next decade or so.

Not necessarily.  The conditions up in the air are far far cleaner than down on the roads.  You're not going to run into mud, salt, hoards of bugs, bird crap, etc up in high altitudes.  The worst you'll see is rain, ice, or condensation, which is simple to deal with.  Hell, if you put car wax on your windshield, you may not even need to use your wipers in a rain storm.  It simply beads right off with the wind.  The dirt is the challenge.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not necessarily.  The conditions up in the air are far far cleaner than down on the roads.  You're not going to run into mud, salt, hoards of bugs, bird crap, etc up in high altitudes.  The worst you'll see is rain, ice, or condensation, which is simple to deal with.  Hell, if you put car wax on your windshield, you may not even need to use your wipers in a rain storm.  It simply beads right off with the wind.  The dirt is the challenge.

You're citing the differences between the conditions of jets and cars, but I don't think you understand how the ultra sonic technique works. It basically creates a force field that doesn't allow most small debris, like dirt or insects or bird crap, to even come into contact with the windshield. Anything that is on the windshield, like snow, ice, or dirt is shaken loose and repelled.

 

The guys at McLaren aren't idiots. If you can think of it, they've probably already thought of it too, and still see this as being viable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Soldiers33, on 17 Dec 2013 - 13:37, said:

so it will save fuel from wiping yet somehow using super sonic sound waves would be cheaper :s

lol I thought the same thing

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As per the above video you can get a spray application for the likes of boots and other cloth material that makes it near impossible for anything to stick to them so a similar application to glass would enable the vibration to move water and particulate matter quite easily.The surface application lasts for a round 6 months so Ive read.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chief McLaren designer Frank Stephenson talking about new technologies and materials that are being integrated in automobile designs.
 
He talks about color changing materials, luminous materials, high performance materials, and shape changing memory materials.
 
He briefly describes ultrasonic windscreens and their capabilities at about 15:20.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.