air intake placement

[Breeze]

Hey
Can anyone give me a good idea of where the best place to place the intake openin into the plenum for example above the drivers head or to the left or right of the driver to get the best airflow.

[Breeze]

Hey
Can anyone give me a good idea of where the best place to place the intake openin into the plenum for example above the drivers head or to the left or right of the driver to get the best airflow.

[Marshall Grice]

any would work. i have no idea what your car looks like nor what any of your packaging constraints are, so you tell me where the best place would be. vehicle speeds aren't all that high so any "ram air" effect is fairly minimal.

[Kamil S]

Marshall is right about the ram effect... you can even extend your restrictor venturi all the way to the back of the car (which a lot of teams do) to optimize the flow through the throat. Yet again it's all about packaging, and you would have to think of how you would send the throttle cable all the way to the back, etc...

[Breeze]

Would anyone know if positioning the inlet of the system forward with a bend in the system will induce losses in the flow of air?

[Marshall Grice]

i would say yes. someone probably knows.


i couldn't resist.

[Andycostin]

From info that I've recieved originally from an ex Lotus head engineer, and also basic engineering common sense, you should try not to bend intakes too much where flow velocity is large, and always try to keep runners in a single plane.
The reasoning is that it produces a restriction to the flow because the air is forced to change direction, thereby reducing the efficiency of the inlet.

But at the end of the day it may work in certain systems.

[Kamil S]

Figure out what your runner lengths are through acoustic modeling or any other technique you entail on; if your length is too large for a side or top entry you may want to consider either bending the runners or sending the plenum to the back.

Also determine how will a side entry affect the flow and pressure distribution in the plenum, etc...

Those are topics I'm investigating right now.

[Z]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Breeze:
... where the best place to place the intake openin ... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
NOT where it can swallow water or dirt thrown up by the tyres.

NOT where it is going to swallow hot air from the radiator or exhaust.

Since the air nearest the tarmac is usually hottest on hot days, and also pretty dusty, so...
NOT close to ground level.

I'd say above or either side of the driver's head.

Z