ariel aims for sustainability by reinventing the 1970's fan car

ariel have created their latest iteration of the controversial fan car. this is not a car powered by a heap of fans attached to the back, this is the ariel ‘aero-p atom’ which makes use of fans to suck the car to the ground. it’s an old technique borrowed from the banned brabham f1 car from the 1970’s. rather than using an inverted wing to pull the car down onto the ground, the car has two fans stuck under its floor that do exactly the same job. the difference being that a traditional wing generates a lot of drag and only works at higher speed, but the fans generate no drag and even work from a standstill.

fans are installed to reduce the drag force acting on the vehicle

the aims of ‘aero-p’ were to minimize aerodynamic drag with innovative aero concepts, in order to reduce comparative CO2 emissions, while at the same time improving vehicle stability and safety. using both passive and active aerodynamic solutions the project also looks at cooling and airflow management requirements on electric and hybrid vehicles, with the aim of maximizing vehicle efficiency and performance.  although much of the project is still in development and remains confidential, an interesting demonstrable model is the ariel ‘atom’ test car and it can create downforce at any speed.

powered by two small, lightweight, high speed fans the atom test car has an additional moulding and rubber skirts added to the bottom of the tub, as well as ducting and a standalone battery pack. the ability to spin up the fans very quickly allows the system to be turned on and off when required, whether under acceleration, cornering or braking, either manually or automatically. fans are therefore only running when there is a need and for brief amounts of time, for instance from start, when cornering or under braking. when not required at cruise and high speed conditions the system remains in stand-by, improving vehicle range and reducing CO2 emissions.

they are able to switch on and off when the car requires

the ‘atom aero-p’ demonstrator is just an initial mule test bed and doesn’t represent the production possibilities of the system which will be the result of further testing and development. the scope of the project also takes in wider passive aerodynamic design and the particular requirements of new technology power trains, not yet released and still under development.