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electromagnetic car-bumper | |||||||||||||||||
Introduction The "airbag in front of the car" idea has several disadvantages like only being able to release once and presumably when a collision is 100% certain. My suggestion is based on the old play of magnets I think most people have tried pushing two magnets of same polarity against each others feeling the resistance and "pillow" effect of the magnetic forces trying to avoid closeness with each other. The idea The idea is to install inductive cables into the front or the bumper of the car capable of emitting a very strong electromagnetic force field with a set polarity directed several meter outwards for a short period of say 10 seconds. Two cars on a front-collision course would then when each driver panic-brake emit strong polarized fields "virtually" extending the cars deformation-zone by the repelling forces of its identical magnetic fields. While this might not completely avoid all collisions, it might reduce impact-forces significantly and/or avoid the cars to meet head-on. Practical variations Field-mecanism not active below 50km/h, only activated by panic-breaking (full force breaking), opposite polarity of the field in front of the car could extend backward to avoid collisions from behind, field-mechanism could be supplemented with large electrolytes storing "flash"-energy tapped from engine when driving normally, when field is active clutch should be active and car-engine spun to maximum to give enough energy.. Advantages If a driver makes a 100% brake on a normal road-trip activating the field by accident, no mecanics have to be reset, no visual view of the active field is showing, the driver can continue the road-trip as normal after the field is switched off.
staalorm, Apr 20 2004
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I've thought of this myself, but I've always thought that it wouldn't work because of the amount of steel in each car, and in objects around the road.
For instance, wouldn't the electromagnetic field attract the newspaper boxes, mailboxes, etc? I could be wrong, but that is why I thought it would never work.
With respect to the front/rear bumper having opposing fields, that would only protect the cars in rear-end collisions. My research years ago told me that the most common/dangerous collisions are corner-to-corner with oncoming traffic. However, with the direction that networked cars will likely take in the near future, it may be possible to have the cars decide to implement the charge in the event that certain factors which indicate a collision. The cars should be able to know if they are on a collision course, and if so, they should be able to decide for themselves which polarity they will take.
Though I like the idea, I didn't vote for it yet because of the question of 'why doesn't all the steel get magnetized'? If you can answer that question for me, I'll give you the vote.
Why not have front bumpers that extend 2-4 feet forward while you're moving at high speeds? As you slow down they could retract. The system could use linear acceleration/deceleration to absorb any impact. Heck, you could even charge the battery when you run into something. Talk about regenerative breaking. :)
That way you wouldn't have the problem of requiring basically all vehicles to be outfitted with this feature in order for it to be useful.
Hi Pete.Since this field would be used only in high-speed emergencies (i.e. highways), I am not too worried about attracting flying mailboxes. For cars colliding corner to corner the field would preferably extend outwards in a "ballon-shape", therefore being especially useful to nudge cars some centimeters away from each others as this would demand much less force than a head-on crash. I myself don't belive much in networked/intelligent cars for a long time, as driving realities are just too complex. The more practical approach is to let the driver be in charge by brake-applying. Even if a driver manages to react and break in only say 60% of cases that would be a huge reduction. I am not sure about the metal in the car, but I think it normally behaves stable grounded through its function as the car's electrical system minus-pole (ground). A field-system would I think work fine both isolated or integrated into the car-circuits.Tim has a good practical point, all cars would have to be fitted with the system for it to work, pretty useless without..
An alternative to using magnetism could be perhaps to use high-pressure air that blows outwards in a similar "balloon" fashion. That way even if only one car is installed with such an "air-bumper" it will still have a good effect on impact-forces?!
if Graham Parker reads this then WAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! this is cinda like your ideal!!!
Several good ideas have come up over the years, but the car buffs and the designers don't like the way they look on the car. Consider that some cars have been designed with no bumper at all.