AEROLARRI RimWings TM
AEROLARRI RimWings are wings (arranged like fan blades) attached to the lug nuts of a car to force air out of the parachute-like wheel wells. Forcing air out of the wheel wells as the wheels turn causes a reduction in air pressure. A reduction in air pressure that forms inside the wheel wells decreases the amount of drag caused by the wheel wells. This thesis increases fuel efficiency, acceleration, top speed and downforce. Really? Yes; If one drops a parachute in a vacuum (less air = less air pressure) the parachute’s aerodynamic drag will not slow the rate of fall. RimWings reduce the air pressure build up by forcing air outside the wheel wells. As the car moves faster, the wheels along with the RimWings spin faster and force more air out. It’s very simple- all car manufacturers have used wheel well venting with body louvers and ducts so far. Also, they look amazing, being built with real carbon fiber. They also cool the brakes with the increased airflow and a few other cool things.
How RimWings Work:
RimWings maintain an angle-of-attack like a fan and cause the evacuation of air from a wheel well to reduce body lift and total drag.
- RimWings reduce wheel well air pressure by forcing air out before pancaking occurs against the parachute-like inner wall.
- Not only do RimWings force air out, but also upwards (distance "V" in the picture above). Like a rear spoiler moves air up, this causes downforce. Thanks Newton and Bernoulli.
- This downforce effect is increased by the RimWings at the top of the rotation having *nearly* twice the forward speed than the car. Thus, air is drawn to the top, causing more downforce.
- Not only do RimWings force air out, but also upwards (distance "V" in the picture above). Like a rear spoiler moves air up, this causes downforce. Thanks Newton and Bernoulli.
- This downforce effect is increased by the RimWings at the top of the rotation having *nearly* twice the forward speed than the car. Thus, air is drawn to the top, causing more downforce.
Benefits of RimWings (Thesis):
- Increased fuel efficiency - (by reduced wheel well parachute drag)
- Faster acceleration. - (Due to less drag)
- Faster top speed. - (Due to less drag)
- More horsepower *available for use* - (Due to less drag)
- Less drag by vortex generation behind the car (think golf ball dimples)
- More downforce by evacuating underbody lift.
- Easy to install- One is bolted to each lug nut.
- Brake cooling
- RimWings PAY FOR THEMSELVES over time by reducing fuel costs. Thus, RimWings are also great for all commuters, ride-sharing, public transportation, and the trucking industries.
- It's not necessary to take the wheels off to install the RimWings. - Just replace one lug nut at a time.
- Fits ALL cars with 5 lug nuts. Using a combination of widely-available extended and open-ended lug nuts, washers, beveled washers, and lug bolts, the RimWings can attach to ANY 5-lug rim.
- Updates the look of wheels without buying a new set.
- Change up the look in around 15 minutes- Change to a spiral, concave, convex, and/or flat arrangement just by loosening and tightening the bolts. And they work just the same. Make a different look between front and rear wheels? Of course!! A different look for each wheel- whatever you want, buddy...
- Increased fuel efficiency - (by reduced wheel well parachute drag)
- Faster acceleration. - (Due to less drag)
- Faster top speed. - (Due to less drag)
- More horsepower *available for use* - (Due to less drag)
- Less drag by vortex generation behind the car (think golf ball dimples)
- More downforce by evacuating underbody lift.
- Easy to install- One is bolted to each lug nut.
- Brake cooling
- RimWings PAY FOR THEMSELVES over time by reducing fuel costs. Thus, RimWings are also great for all commuters, ride-sharing, public transportation, and the trucking industries.
- It's not necessary to take the wheels off to install the RimWings. - Just replace one lug nut at a time.
- Fits ALL cars with 5 lug nuts. Using a combination of widely-available extended and open-ended lug nuts, washers, beveled washers, and lug bolts, the RimWings can attach to ANY 5-lug rim.
- Updates the look of wheels without buying a new set.
- Change up the look in around 15 minutes- Change to a spiral, concave, convex, and/or flat arrangement just by loosening and tightening the bolts. And they work just the same. Make a different look between front and rear wheels? Of course!! A different look for each wheel- whatever you want, buddy...
Email [email protected] for more info on getting RimWings
Visit RimWing Fitment Guide Here for Installation
Visit RimWing Fitment Guide Here for Installation
The problem is well known by all the car companies. The wheel wells of every car cause drag. The supercar industry addresses this problem by venting the wheel wells. The more venting, the better the aerodynamics get for acceleration, top speed, downforce, fuel efficiency and more. The rear side of wheel wells are shaped and act like parachutes. How would reduce the amount of air in the wheel wells to create the drag? Force it out with RimWings.
Here are some examples of the standard solution:
Here are some examples of the standard solution:
Thanks to G.H. for the raw pictures!
Here is the new solution. AEROLARRI RimWings
- It's very cool, and a guaranteed conversation starter.
- RimWings are thinner than wheel spokes and angled just right so they produce and extremely small amount of drag themselves.
- Concave, convex and flat arrangements are easily made by rotating the beveled washers. This allows RimWings to fit rims which have a concave, flat or convex shape. Also, regardless of whether the rim is flat, concave or convex, the user can make the RimWings concave, flat, or convex to suite their taste, with one turn of a wrench, a tilt of a beveled washer, and a final turn of a wrench to tighten it in place.
- While a regular fan arrangement which relies on an “angle of attack” does work, also having the fan-like blades made of an airfoil shape adds to the force and efficiency of the RimWings.
- For rims which are impossible to attach with an extended lug nut, RimWings may also be adhered directly to the rim spokes with beveled spacer blocks and an Intermediary Protective Bonding Layer (another patent application filed by Chet Baigh on 12/17/2018 - which allows any car part to be adhered to any surface, and be removed with little effort and no damage)
- Using RimWings helps the environment by reducing fuel consumption and emissions.
- Less wheel well lift, and so more downforce.
- Since the top of the wheel moves forward much faster than the bottom, the RimWings at the top of their rotation cause the most air to be forced out. Much of that air is from the bottom of the wheel well cavity. This forcing of air upwards actually causes downforce. It’s a similar effect of a propeller, or helicopter in reverse! (Note: the edge of a wheel is still relative to the road it touches when it is at the point of contact with the road. At the top, the same edge is going much faster than the car, itself).
- The most air pressure and drag builds up near the *top* of the oncoming wall of wheel well since a great portion flows to escape underneath the body. RimWings specifically evacuate the most air from the top, since that's where the RimWings move the fastest. Most fender flares and vents can only evacuate from the lower portion- which is relatively insignificant and causes lift (the opposite of downforce). Only the most rare, extreme and expensive supercars / hypercars have top-facing vents. Yet, even they can highly benefit from RimWings additional drag reduction and downforce. The extra downforce comes from decreasing lift in this case.
- The now-higher pressure on top of the car adds to the total downforce of the car. The partial vacuum created by the lower pressure in the wheel wells and under the whole car creates a pressure imbalance between the top and bottom of the whole car. This isthe same theory as having less pressure under an airplane wing.
- Drag is further reduced by removing air pressure from underneath the car that would normally be hitting the non-aerodynamic structures in greater concentration. These underbody structures, such as exhaust pipes and the frame cause extreme amounts of drag. This is why race cars typically have flat bottoms. Yet RimWings still work with flat bottom cars by extending that drag reduction and lowering underbody pressure to create a vacuum and undoing lift generated by a car's general airfoil shape.
- RimWings can also be arranged so they can have a spiral simply by tightening them at any angle other than one straight out from the center (radius).
- RimWings can help cool electric motors with the increased airflow.
- The addition of an airfoil cross section to a fan-like blade allows for extra force applied to the air while maintaining a lesser angle of attack and thus less drag caused by a larger face hitting oncoming air. This lesser angle of attack also reduces boundary flow separation of laminar airflow- which causes less drag from vortices, turbulence, low pressure vacuum zones.
- Additional arrangements onto the wheel rims include, but is not limited to, a circular, offset, having no angle of attack, having no airfoil, overlapping, fashions and/or having a plurality of angles of concavity.
- Increase battery range and longevity (for electric cars).
- Lower brake components’ temperature.
- Increased brake components’ lifespan.
- Increased braking systems’ performance.
- RimWings have an airfoil shape which is the same as airplane wings. The airfoil system creates outward-lift and forces air from the inside of the wheel well to the outside while causing minimal drag from the RimWings. Each RimWing comprises a flatter outward-facing surface than the in-ward facing surface to allow for a pressure differential between the two sides. Other rims which may have a fan-like shape are deceiving! They are NOT the same. Because all regular rims are far more easily manufactured with a flat inward-facing surface (unseen side), they would have the opposite effect as RimWings- should they have any airfoil properties at all. They don't have any airfoil properties. This is partly because the loads each spoke needs to safely endure require them to be very thick. No airfoils are thick. Regardless, AEROLARRI filed patent applications for full rims with spokes which have true airfoil properties, should the manufacturing technology ever become available. Also note, that the angle of attack is *extremely important* so that the airfoils do not cause extreme drag themselves. For example, at stall-inducing angels of attack, airfoils would only cause more drag (+/- 20 degrees for stall, and 14 degrees for boundary layer separation- a.k.a. tons of drag). RimWings are set to a 12 degree angle of attack for the maximum effect and efficiency.
- Centrifugal forces from high speed rotation act to stabilize the RimWings, thereby counteracting lateral forces from pushing air outward. This is the same tensile effect of pulling a string taught. The string gets far more strength than if left loose to flop around.
- The peak of the substantially more curved surface of the airfoil may have many locations moving front to back along the cross section of the RimWings, but a symmetrical airfoil cross section would make initial molding easier to eliminate left and right-hand versions.
- People like carbon fiber rims, but they are virtually non-existent except for elite car brands and are extremely expensive. RimWings bridge that gap by introducing wheel components made of real carbon fiber.
- Buyers do not need to buy new rims and tires to change the look and performance of their wheels and car.
- Buyers may maintain some visible areas of the rims they bought and love in between the RimWings.
- RimWings may be affixed to the rim using a combination of the lug nut method and the adhesive method.
- RimWings may also be altered to fit areas behind the lug nut hole(s), and towards the center of the hub which may have a “CoreCut” cut away to conform to risen areas of the center hub which would otherwise block advantageous positioning. If no substantial center risen area exists on the rim, then the standard elongated TaperBack RimWing surface may be extended to several lengths and shapes towards the center of the hub. RimWings may also be placed higher using 2 extended lug nuts connected with a wheel stud converter to clear high hub centers. One can also cut out appropriate areas for 6-lug wheels.
- Replaceable hardened leading edge protective cover may be affixed to the RimWings leading edge by adhesion and/or fasteners to protect the RimWings from rock chips and other potential aversive occurrences. Additional embodiments of leading-edge covering may also be made from a flexible material like paint protective film, and/or other materials. The covering may also be of greater surface area to prevent curb scrapes when parking.
- Longer coasting distance and speed.
- Cools engine more by causing more airflow around engine bay and radiator.
- Integrated degree angle / clock dial for consistent positioning of beveled washer tilt and/or RimWing angle.
- A number of washers may be placed under the RimWing to clear certain rim features.
- Washers may be bade of aluminum, carbon fiber, and/or stainless steel.
- AEROLARRI’s floating logo (patent pending) may be made of precious metals like real 24K gold, or be made of a variety of metal colors.
- Why spend $48,000 on full carbon fiber rims when you can have AEROLARRI RimWings for much less?
- Downforce may be created by using RimWings with cambered wheel setups. If the RimWings are tilted along with a negative camber, air will be forced up, and thus the wheel downwards (which creates downforce).
- While RimWings have a very popular modern shape for rim spokes, it's form actually follows function. It’s design just happens to match, but it is based on the distribution of forces made from a wider blade at more central locations (lesser speeds from less circular sweep distances) versus areas further away from the center which have faster speeds because they cover more distance per RPM. Thus, having a RimWing which tapers so it is thinner near the tips equally distributes the load over the entire surface.
- RimWings are up to 50 TIMES (50X) more effective because they are separated from the rim surface, based on the Bernoulli Principal. Because they create an air-pressure differential, far more air follows the ejected air from all around the wheel area. The Bernoulli Principal is also the same reason why airfoils work and airplanes fly. Watch this demonstration video which can easily be done at home:
Here you can see how the underbody airflow gets into the wheel wells. It is first drawn into the front wheel well where there is low pressure. But when it meets the almost motionless packed air region, in the parachute-like rear section, it is forced out to the side. The actual video is at the end of this page.
Here are some wind tunnel tests showing how wheel well airflow interacts. Also note that most wheel well airflow comes from under the car, but still exists no matter how large a front splitter may be.
RimWings' Wingtip Vortices Reduce Total Drag - Thesis
A golf ball with vortex-generating dimples will fly almost twice as far as one without. This is due to less drag caused by the low pressure wake behind the object (allows "Drafting" behind cars).
Credit: Arizona State University / LiveScience: https://youtu.be/LvVuuaqCC7A
Kirsten Lynn: https://youtu.be/jvhEEB5gcK8
Kirsten Lynn: https://youtu.be/jvhEEB5gcK8
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FA-18C_vapor_LEX_and_wingtip_1.jpg
Wingtip vorticies (AKA Contrails) always extend a long distance behind the wing which created them.
Thus, even the front wheels (let alone the rear) of a car with RimWings might benefit the aerodynamics of the rear.
Wingtip vorticies are soo powerful for airplanes that it is the reason why they wait to take off after the previous plane.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tip_vortex_rollup.png
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VFW_614_ATTAS_Wingtip_vortices_at_start.jpg
Will it work? Ask the MythBusters guys. They achieved a 29.65 mpg over 25 mpg by adding dimples to a car.
Cars are Airfoils.
It is easy to see. Cars have a flat bottom and a curved top, just like an airfoil. An airfoil is simply an airplane wing in its most common form. Airplane wings cause lift due to the fundamental shape (curved top, and a flat bottom). As dictated by Bernoulli's Principal, slower airspeed means that area has a higher air pressure, and vise versa. A curved top requires air to travel slightly farther to get around an object. Needing to travel farther for the same amount of time increases its speed. Since increased speed lowers the air pressure for that area, an imbalance occurs between the top and bottom. More air pressure on bottom and less on top creates lift. It is the same exact lift which airplanes use to stay aloft.
So, reducing the air pressure under a car reduces its natural lift. That allows for the top-side downforce (air pressure zone) to increase, relatively. RimWings lower the air pressure under a car by 1) vacuuming a quantity of air out, and 2) by increasing its speed by vectoring it laterally from all areas underneath.
To date, this principal is most often addressed by race cars using a low front splitter to block some air from entering. A very low front splitter is impractical for most driving. Still, RimWings can be used to have synergistic effect with a front splitter.
Also, most air entering the wheel wells comes from underneath the car. Thus, maximizing its evacuation from under the body aids to total downforce in a natural path.
It is easy to see. Cars have a flat bottom and a curved top, just like an airfoil. An airfoil is simply an airplane wing in its most common form. Airplane wings cause lift due to the fundamental shape (curved top, and a flat bottom). As dictated by Bernoulli's Principal, slower airspeed means that area has a higher air pressure, and vise versa. A curved top requires air to travel slightly farther to get around an object. Needing to travel farther for the same amount of time increases its speed. Since increased speed lowers the air pressure for that area, an imbalance occurs between the top and bottom. More air pressure on bottom and less on top creates lift. It is the same exact lift which airplanes use to stay aloft.
So, reducing the air pressure under a car reduces its natural lift. That allows for the top-side downforce (air pressure zone) to increase, relatively. RimWings lower the air pressure under a car by 1) vacuuming a quantity of air out, and 2) by increasing its speed by vectoring it laterally from all areas underneath.
To date, this principal is most often addressed by race cars using a low front splitter to block some air from entering. A very low front splitter is impractical for most driving. Still, RimWings can be used to have synergistic effect with a front splitter.
Also, most air entering the wheel wells comes from underneath the car. Thus, maximizing its evacuation from under the body aids to total downforce in a natural path.
Angle of Attack using Beveled Washers Research Basis
- Why AEROLARRI RimWings are usually set to 12 degrees of angle of attack (pitch angle)
- Why AEROLARRI RimWings are usually set to 12 degrees of angle of attack (pitch angle)
The ideal 12 degree RimWing angle of attack. Real wind tunnel example (generic)
A non-ideal 22 degree RimWing angle of attack. Real wind tunnel example (generic)
N.A.C.A. vintage examples of potential RimWing angles of attack
Wheel Well Aero Video
