<VV> RE new fan technology

[Arjay Morgan]

For those who are convinced that the design of the Corvair fan could be improved there is now new information. An article in this Sunday's New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/technology/08stream.html
tells about a man and a company who has re-studied how air or any other fluid moves naturally.

"Jay Harman, an Australian naturalist who believes that he’s found a
way to use fundamental properties of physics and biology to improve the
design of everything from simple fans and pumps to hydroelectric dams
and aircraft.Almost every piece of machinery in the physical
world has efficiency limits related to the flow of liquids and gases:
pumps consume energy to move liquids; the amount of fuel used by
airplanes and cars is based on their aerodynamic efficiency; and fans
and wind turbines both consume and generate energy based on the
efficiency of the shape of their rotating blades.As a young boy,
Mr. Harman saw that objects in nature seemed to abhor traveling in a
straight line. Fluids and gases flow in languid spirals, and although
he was not trained as a scientist, it struck him as obvious that there
was a profound lesson in that motion.Ultimately, he turned the
source of his childhood fascination into something he believed would be
practical. He surmised that he could exploit his observations about
fluids to change the shape of propellers, fans and virtually anything
that needs to move in a fluid or gas environment.After
informally studying vortexes for several decades, he went to his
bathtub and, with a bit of cleverness, was able to create a cast from
the vortex generated by water flowing down the drain"

For more on this fascinating development just follow the link posted above for the complete story.

I really feel guilty in bringing the old "we can make a better Corvair fan" thread back to life, but I would be remiss if I didn't make the latest research available to those who care.

Arjay Morgan
64 Monza convert