wingin' it part ii

Eureka, I got it!

So, after trying all these programs, I am willing to declare that Javafoil is king, at least for my application. Profili comes second, losing out to Javafoil due to cost, and inability to rotate or flip an airfoil. The main disadvantage of Javafoil is the small number of foil families available. Profili offers clearly the best airfoil family browsing tool.

Javafoil is in my opinion the best tool for a visual (read not real or working) F1 car due to the ability to make quick precise changes of many different parameters. If you already know what the airfoil looks like and you want to make a scale copy drawing, use Javafoil. Did I mention free?

Special kudos to the Airfoil Investigation Database at http://www.worldofkrauss.com/

So, how did I do this?

After much deliberation searching though the airfoil database in Profili, I selected an airfoil. It wasn't the right one, but after a whole bunch of tinkering, I found the shape I was looking for. I went to Javafoil and created my airfoil by trial and error, know some basic parameters. I copied the point data into MS Excel. After some calculations relating to size and location, I imported these coordinates to my CAD program. I then created a spline connecting the points. Finally performed a "pad" on the spline and we have a front wing!

Tools:
Profili
Javafoil

Here is my hand drawn wing profile:


And the clearly superior Javafoil creation:


Total: 260h

Wingin' it

They say that the design of a formula one car starts at the front wing, because the leading edge of the front wing is the only part of the car that sometimes will get clean air. I'm starting with the front wing, as it seems so important the design of the rest of the car. It will determine how the nose interacts with the wing the monocoque, etc.

So here we have the first screen shots with my new setup:


Not bad


Somehow after staring at this for way too long, it just doesn't look like an exact match.


I got a bit frustrated by the difficulty modifying my design.

That got me thinking...how would a real F1 designer design a front wing?

Starting at the beginning, what is a wing? Technical term is an airfoil (aerofoil). Lots of research has been done on airfoils, and there are lots of shapes. One way to describe an airfoil is to use NACA airfoil terminology.

wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NACA_airfoil

Here is a very nice concise illustration: http://simul-x.com/reference/wing_element.html

So, to sum up quite a bit of research, I should be able to use a airfoil point generator to make a table of points in a plane, import that table to CAD software, project a spline through those points and have a front wing profile.

Here is a list of airfoil generators I'm going to try:

NVFoil: http://shareware.pcmag.com/free/Engineering/nvf101zip/28660.html
Profili2: http://www.profili2.com/eng/default.htm
Compufoil: http://www.compufoil.com/index.shtml
Javafoil: http://www.mh-aerotools.de/airfoils/jf_applet.htm
Winfoil: http://www.winfoil.com/default.htm
Wingmaster 4.0: http://www.upperspace.com/downloads/trial/
Foils 4.0: http://www.yoredale.uklinux.net/modelfly/foils.htm
Wing Designer Plus 6.5: http://users.skynet.be/znline/clement/wing.htm
Designfoil: http://www.dreesecode.com/


Hopefully I'll have a nice airfoil soon!

Time: 242h

I haven't forgotten

I know it's been a really long time since I've done any work on this project, but believe me I haven't forgotten.

When I left this aside last year I was having problems running my CAD program on my old Compaq V2404US notebook. The computer's performance was slowing me down to such an extent that it was getting very frustrating. So, I decided that I would need a new computer before I went much further. Of course these things take time and money, and now I've finally got my computer up and running with CAD performing with 100% detail and all options.

Here is what I built for myself:

Processor Intel Pentium Dual Core E6500 $138.47
CPU Cooler AVC Genghis Khan $29.66
92mm PWM Fan Revoltec $10.00
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-EP45T-UD3LR $107.86
2x USB header extension Generic $3.48
Thermal Paste Nexus Thermal Compound $6.07
Graphics Card Palit Nvidia GeForce 8800GT $84.18
Graphics Card Cooler Thermalright HR-03 Rev.A $40.47
Graphics Card RAM heatsinks Primecooler PC-RHS1 $6.37
Graphics Card Fan Controller AAB $2.86
RAM Micron DDR3 PC3-8500E-7-10-E0 ECC CL7 $62.21
Hard Drive Kingston SSDNow V Series SNV125-S2/40GB $84.99
3.5in Adapter for 2.5" disks Syba CL-MRA25006 $17.98
Power Supply Nexus Value 430 $114.46
Case Fever Shinobi FC-SH09A $43.88
Case Fans 3x Nexus 120mm Real Silent Case Fan $32.95
Case Fan Filters 3x AAB Cooling Filter 120mm $10.86
Case Fan Grill AAB $1.69
Rubber Case Fan Mounts AAB $3.38
Card Reader Equip USB 2.0 Multi-Frontpanel $31.39
Wireless Card Linksys WMP300N-RM $22.98
Small Wireless Card Antennas Generic $4.74
Firewire Card Generic $10.61
TV Card Leadtek WinFast PxPVR2200 $61.48
IR cable for TV Card Remote Generic $3.57
Monitor NEC MultiSync LCD10970NXp $120.41
Bluetooth Conceptronic Bluetooth 200M $18.44
Keyboard e5 Multimedia Keyboard KM080 PS/2 $10.98
Mousepad Fellowes Microban Mousepad $17.14

total $1,103.57

Everything laid out:


Mostly assembled.


Right now I've got my CPU slightly overclocked at 3.20 GHz FSB 1600 MHz and graphics card overclocked at 740 MHz/1040 MHz/1850 MHz. My CAD program is running fluidly with 100% and all display options available. I'm really satisfied! It's time to move from what I'm going to do, to what I'm doing...

Time: too much to count so we'll leave it at 230 h