Ford's new system takes wind tunnel testing on tour - https://t.co/K020WdSF5i pic.twitter.com/zvVNKaiyqD
— Gizmag (@gizmag) May 9, 2016
You might be wondering, what's the big deal about Ford building a portable wind tunnel? A wind tunnel, at face value, is just a couple of powerful fans -- how could this be the first time someone has built one small enough to transport?
It turns out, wind tunnels used for testing vehicle aerodynamics and cabin noise have some very specific requirements. In fact, Ford's full-sized aerodynamics labs cost around $50 million each, and are the size of a building.
In order to replicate highway driving conditions, the airflow has to be controlled and evenly distributed. On top of that, the fans themselves must be perfectly silent, so as not to interfere with in-cabin wind noise measurements. Noise engineers want to evaluate sounds caused by air resistance, not the noise of loud motors.
Ford's mobile aeroacoustic wind tunnel is made with two 53-foot shipping crates, and a third crate which acts as the control center. The tunnels use two 6-foot diameter fans, each run by a 250-horsepower electric motor, to generate sustained 80mph winds. The entire system is only as loud as a vacuum cleaner, and takes only a few hours to disassemble and reassemble.
"This project was born from a desire to be the best when it comes to controlling and limiting the cabin noise customers are so sensitive to, and our new mobile wind tunnel saves our engineers time and increases productivity," said Bill Gulker, wind noise supervisor at Ford Motor Company. "It's a fine example of the innovation mindset we're trying to incorporate into everything we do."
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