Solar panel wind deflector

[Bus'n it]

I have a friend that owns a speed tuning shop in Scottsdale. They started printing parts for their customers cars such as air dams and things. I asked if he could make me a couple of radius turnabouts where I could mount a piece of aluminum flat stock. I had the parts in my hands in two days. Basically I told him what I wanted, and they drew up a plan. Today I stopped to pick up the parts and went on to the steel supplier where I bought a section of 5052 1/8" x 79" aluminum plate. Got it home and started cutting it to fit the contour of my roof. Tomorrow hopefully I will install some stainless steel brackets and stainless hardware to secure it all. For now it is mocked up as it will go. I will seal it with Dicor and paint it to match the blue. This will ease any concerns I have about wind sucking under the panels although I already did a 3600 mile trip with no issues. At the very least this may help add some quietness to the drive. It's been so hot here I can only tinker with this when the sun goes down.

 

[Bus'n it]

Deflector is rough painted with base coat and will be sanded for a final base/clear. Installation turned out great and it looks fantastic from the front. The color was a close match but not perfect. The clear coat will help darken it slightly. No big deal.

 

[Ronnie-SKO]

Nice, that seems like a good idea not only for wind but for low tree branches. I have never liked the flying wing approach to solar panels.

 

[Bus'n it]

Thank you! I never even considered tree branches. You make a great point!

 

[fishe160]

Looks great!

 

[ShortyTC]

I have a friend that owns a speed tuning shop in Scottsdale. They started printing parts for their customers cars such as air dams and things. I asked if he could make me a couple of radius turnabouts where I could mount a piece of aluminum flat stock. I had the parts in my hands in two days. Basically I told him what I wanted, and they drew up a plan. Today I stopped to pick up the parts and went on to the steel supplier where I bought a section of 5052 1/8" x 79" aluminum plate. Got it home and started cutting it to fit the contour of my roof. Tomorrow hopefully I will install some stainless steel brackets and stainless hardware to secure it all. For now it is mocked up as it will go. I will seal it with Dicor and paint it to match the blue. This will ease any concerns I have about wind sucking under the panels although I already did a 3600 mile trip with no issues. At the very least this may help add some quietness to the drive. It's been so hot here I can only tinker with this when the sun goes down.

Nice project!!

I've found a friend of a friend that is willing to print a couple of these for me, if you're able to share the model file. If you could, please provide both a model for the left and right side. I don't have any software to mirror it myself, and will just forward these to my printing resource.

Thank you!!

 

[ShortyTC]

I have a friend that owns a speed tuning shop in Scottsdale. They started printing parts for their customers cars such as air dams and things. I asked if he could make me a couple of radius turnabouts where I could mount a piece of aluminum flat stock. I had the parts in my hands in two days. Basically I told him what I wanted, and they drew up a plan. Today I stopped to pick up the parts and went on to the steel supplier where I bought a section of 5052 1/8" x 79" aluminum plate. Got it home and started cutting it to fit the contour of my roof. Tomorrow hopefully I will install some stainless steel brackets and stainless hardware to secure it all. For now it is mocked up as it will go. I will seal it with Dicor and paint it to match the blue. This will ease any concerns I have about wind sucking under the panels although I already did a 3600 mile trip with no issues. At the very least this may help add some quietness to the drive. It's been so hot here I can only tinker with this when the sun goes down.

Also, how did you go about securing the metal to the corners? Did you have to bolt through the face of the panel?

 

[AlphaHare]

I have a couple long ish (72") Yakima bars I'm going to mount on the solar track. My first thought was tree branches and off road lights, but now I'm going to have to look at fairings.... so thanks for that! ;>)

PS - your fairing looks great!

 

[ShortyTC]

Keep in mind, off road lights have to be covered up when not in use. That's a little difficult to reach on a bus. Nothing can be above your headlights in most states.

 

[nikitis]

I dunno, the more I think about adding a wind guard, the less likely I think it's good for the panels or bus.

I would think you'd actually create more drag for 2 reasons.

1.) There's now extra surface tension, albeit, not that much but some against the new guard.

2.) Though you've deflected most of the wind initially up front, you've created more of a vacuum behind the guard that's gonna pull air into and under the panels from the sides. Air will potentially push up from under the panels putting more stress on them from the vacuum. Not to mention that suction may create more noise in the cab potentially.

Now I will admit I've not tested this in practice, but this is what I feel would occur. If there was no guard there's a tiny bit of resistance on the side of the first panel, but wind can flow under and through the panel system all the way to the back creating less resistance not more because the air can flow and there's far less vacuum.

In order for the guard to work you'd have to have it on the sides as well of the panels, and the back.

 

[ShortyTC]

I dunno, the more I think about adding a wind guard, the less likely I think it's good for the panels or bus.

I would think you'd actually create more drag for 2 reasons.

1.) There's now extra surface tension, albeit, not that much but some against the new guard.

2.) Though you've deflected most of the wind initially up front, you've created more of a vacuum behind the guard that's gonna pull air into and under the panels from the sides. Air will potentially push up from under the panels putting more stress on them from the vacuum. Not to mention that suction may create more noise in the cab potentially.

Now I will admit I've not tested this in practice, but this is what I feel would occur. If there was no guard there's a tiny bit of resistance on the side of the first panel, but wind can flow under and through the panel system all the way to the back creating less resistance not more because the air can flow and there's far less vacuum.

In order for the guard to work you'd have to have it on the sides as well of the panels, and the back.

Yeah, I've considered all that. Couple things I think to consider here:

- you can put some kind of baffle alone the sides. I plan to. The reason being that yes, buffeting of the panels is possible from the air along the sides. You do want airflow, because the panels need to be cooled, so if I do this I was going to put some slots in my baffles. Most installation instructions state at least 1" of clear, open space under a panel.

- the front panels are exposed to the worst of it. If you look at the airflow over a bus, that front edge has extreme upward airflow, which is far worse than what panels would be exposed to if they were stationary and exposed to moving wind. If you use large panels, and they're mounted near the front edge of your bus roof, safety is a concern for motorcycle riders, bystanders, and even others in cars. If the panel were to break, or come loose entirely, you're going to really wish you'd done something to guard them.

 

[AlphaHare]

I dunno, the more I think about adding a wind guard, the less likely I think it's good for the panels or bus.

I would think you'd actually create more drag for 2 reasons.

1.) There's now extra surface tension, albeit, not that much but some against the new guard.

2.) Though you've deflected most of the wind initially up front, you've created more of a vacuum behind the guard that's gonna pull air into and under the panels from the sides. Air will potentially push up from under the panels putting more stress on them from the vacuum. Not to mention that suction may create more noise in the cab potentially.

Air dams and air deflectors exist to reduce the turbulent flow under cars, over roof racks, around trailers. Turbulent flow is drag and you can see dams and deflectors on cars and trucks everywhere because engineers in aerodynamics designed them that way. Side skirts will help, again to reduce turbulent flow under the vehicle as you see on some tractor trailers, and all NASCAR cars.

Surface tension is a property of liquids.

 

[nikitis]

So when you cover all sides though, it creates an enclosed compartment of air that travels with the car thus creating less drag. If there is a big hole in that, you create an entrance for drag. i.e. No deflectors on the sides or rear.

Think like a parachute against the wind. it slows you down as you fall. If you closed up that parachute, you'd fall faster. Same properties apply to vehicles.You push air away with the deflector you are creating, but also creating a vacuum inside. Anytime an exposed vacuum is created you've created drag. So unless you create walls around the whole solar panel system to create that enclosed compartment of air it's not gonna work as efficiently as you think.