Prop Propulsion...........

[TC]

After asking about Franklin in another thread and Beag's posting this pic of what Franklin is working on, I got to thinking........This is Franklin's design......



I was thinking that you could build a similar car but get rid of the HUGE prop assembly at the back of the car and do some Ducted Fan motors like in those R/C jets, and have them powered by a diesel generator.........

So what size electric motors would you need to lets say run 100mph??

And could you use some sort of gear reduction to spin the fan blades faster??

Here's what the Ducted motors for the R/C jets look like......



Now I have no clue in what it takes to make something move using prop power or how big of a ducted fan you'd need.......so what's your input, how would you make it work........

[TheSilverBuick]

Airplanes have been using prop power for over a century. It isn't hard getting a prop propulsion vehicle to move, and move quickly. There are a dozen ways to skin this cat. Franklin's design is over a decade old, has anything been done to actually make it happen?

[Beagle]

Geritol consumption probably. That drawing date is 2001 and he's probably still pissing on the SCTA so I doubt anything beyond "a concept"

Does anybody know Franklins middle name? I saw a couple of obits and wanted to know for sure. I don't like ragging on dead people who were simply eccentric. Dead A*Holes, okay, but if they were just goofballs, no.

[Barry Donovan]

seems extreme.
I was just writing I loved a clutch fan that works extra, on a boxer engine. everything knows what is coming at it, before it gets it..man and machine.

the props really need to get moving...and for daily stopping and going, it is just silly.

hence internal combustion with wobbly cranks and imperfect throttling tends to exist alot longer than what I demand too...just for drivability.

the prop of a regular engine is the air bleeds that don't stop.

that is just one hint of how constricted we really are.

[studemax]

Franklin is full of weird ideas, and is short on follow through.
You should see his ACTUAL proof of concept prototype racer - the damn thing is made of sheets of styrofoam and 2 by 4's.... it's laughable.
He also has no social skills to speak of, and has probably pissed off more people on the internet than any living person.
He posts on all kinds of forums and boards, and on every subject - not just land speed racers.

For laughs google up his name or "propster guy" sometime....

[Whelk]

It has been done, though I wouldn't call the cars all that successful.

Helicron Propeller Car


and



from http://jalopnik.com/helicron/

[JOES66FURY]

strasp some wheels to an air boat...same same


It cant be all that difficult with the right tools and some know how.

A ducted fan motor is a jet engine with a huge fan ("turbo fan"}..i.e the GE TF-34. The cost and technology needed to run a turbo fan would be way out of reach of mosts folks pocket books...now using a horizonatly opposed engine with a prop or a v8 with a prop would be doable for an average joe using junkard and ebay parts.