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| Aug.18.2000 50% Wind Tunnel Construction - On Schedule Part 2 | |||
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Construction of the wind tunnel itself which started on the 10th of July is going along smoothly, and on the 5th of August the rolling road has successfully been placed in position. If you compare its size with the crane in the photograph, you will get a grasp of how large it actually is. According to the current construction schedule, completion of the wind tunnel will be at the beginning of September, and completion of the roof is to be around the end of September. ■Rolling Road Placed in Position This is the seventh rolling road that Dome has made and it includes improvements on the rolling roads we made for the Railway Technical Research Institute and the National Aerospace Laboratory. With it you can control yaw angles and the belt can withstand the high degree of negative pressure generated by the underbody of a racing car. The Height of the Rolling Road is 3750mm (Measured from the concrete ground) ■Construction of the Main Fan Diffuser This enormous diffuser for the wind tunnel fan is composed of a sandwich of carbon composite and aluminium honeycomb. This composition is similar to what you would find in the monocoque of a racing car. This is another case where we were able to use our know-how in racing car technology. Length(Height) 3050mm Diameter 2100mm ■Main Fan Vane Strength Test If we were to follow current practice, the vanes on the fan would be made using steel. Here we have made the vanes using carbon composites using the technology we have accumulated making racing cars. This enabled us to make the weight of the eight vanes 75% lighter than the traditional vanes. We hope this will enable us to shorten the time required to accelerate the fan and also reduce the amount of electricity we will have to use. The photographs show a prototype vane being tested. |
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