Given: the problem with current automotive wiring is that the factory wiring harness is an immensely confusing octopus of wires. Any owner add-ons only complicate things with different colored wires leading to aftermarket powerpoints and inline fuses, and a separate smaller octopus of wires.
Given: the frontier of mechanical / electrical / nanotech development and progress will come from emulating the human body. That is, by creating machines using ideas from the human body, our machines will become progressively more efficient and effective.
My idea is this: design auto electronics based on the communication used in human neural and endocrine transmissions. Our endocrine system uses specific chemicals to turn organs on and off. For example, adrenaline is secreted by the adrenal gland, and although this adrenaline travels the entire body, it only activates certain parts of the body that have a receptor for adrenaline. Our new car electronics would be designed this way; we would have a central 'pool' of electrolytic fluid where all switches and motors and relays and everything we need were plugged into. Our window down switch, when pressed, would emit an electronic frequency or signal into this pool, where only the window motor would understand this signal and operate accordingly.
The advantages to this model would be many. If someone wanted to add, let's say, fog lights to a car, all he would have to do is plug the lights into the pool, anywhere that's convenient, and plug the switch into the pool, again anywhere that's convenient. He wouldn't have to run wires from the lights to the relay to the switch. Running wires through firewalls and around engine parts gets tedious and even dangerous at times, and it is now eliminated with this 'pool'. And this system could handle engine diagnostics, all lights on the vehicle, all accessories, pretty much everything needed. I think it might even be able to handle stereos as well; so you would only have to hook your speakers into the pool without running speaker wire all around the whole car, under the carpets, etc. I believe that a bit of standardization would prevent overlap of signals (i.e. your factory wiper switch activating your aftermarket stereo because they use the same signal.)
Only problems I see with this: actually conducting the 12 volts to the unit that requires the voltage. Switches and sending units don't require 12 volts to operate, but motors do. I envisioned two pools, the above pool and a parallel 'pool' providing the actual 12 volts current necessary.
Comments?-- natewill, Mar 11 2005 In-car serial networks http://support.inte...papers/autolxbk.htmFrom the Intel oven. [Basepair, Mar 11 2005] " I'm sorry, officer. I tried to signal, but my car is feeling depressed this week " http://neuro.psychi...t/abstract/16/4/446 [normzone, Mar 11 2005] I see a bladder like they use in the racecar gas tanks. A leak where all fluid leaked out would render components inoperable, but is unlikely if the pool were built and placed appropriately. Maybe a 6 inch diameter tube running half the length of the car, made out of the high-pro bladder material. A bad alternator is gonna do the same thing, but I wouldn't fishbone an alternator because it might fail. I think this system, when developed to its full potential, is far superior and safer than the current octopus system.-- natewill, Mar 11 2005 How about instead of an electrolytic fluid, use an electrolytic gel, that wouldn't leak out as fast in case of an accident, and wouldn't slosh around as much in tight cornering and maneuvering.-- natewill, Mar 11 2005 I think this is baked - I remember reading about a sort of serial-bus for controlling car electronics, for precisely this reason. In effect, there was just one control loop that anything could tap into, as long as each device was set to send/respond to specific codes. I'm not sure if the control signals were carried on the power lines or not.
If I can find a link I'll post it.-- Basepair, Mar 11 2005 See link. This isn't the system I was thinking of, but is along the same lines.
I don't understand why you want to use an electrolyte to carry power and signals? Surely it is simpler to have one cable (carrying power and the few wires comprising a serial bus) running around the car, with devices tapping into it wherever necessary? This would still be a lot simpler and more flexible than a cnventional wiring loom. If you had insulation-piercing connectors and used a ribbon-style cable, you could just clamp a new device onto the bus wherever you wanted to.-- Basepair, Mar 11 2005 Well Basepair, I used a fluid-based system purely for emulation of the human body. There may be some hidden advantages that I haven't thought of by using a gel instead of a copper wire system.
Maybe upgrades would be available if a user decided to add a solution to the gel. We could call it turbo-electro-juice.-- natewill, Mar 11 2005 We could indeed. However, I still reckon you'd be better off with wires, just fewer of them. Wiring's easier than plumbing, and I have a well-illuminated leaky tap to prove it.-- Basepair, Mar 11 2005 The problem with eletrical wiring is scalability, and this idea solves that the organic way.
Find a way to contain the fluid in an organic casing (nanotechnology can provide this) that regenerates if damaged, and this would be awesome. Pastry!-- ed, Mar 22 2006 this is a really good idea, but the problem is that the human brain relays information to parts of the body through electro-CHEMICAL chain reactions. there are many types of chemicals, so signals don't get "crossed" because they are all on seperate "information lines". also, an electro chemical chain reaction in the human body moves very fast, but it certainly can't hold a candle to the speed electrons travel. ECUs in cars need to recieve real time information coming in from sensors at all times. (or at least a LOT of the time). your talk about the chemical pool would work well possibly in other systems...like maybe "wireing" a house, but i wouldent trust it to keep my EJ20 safe. bun for thinking ouside the box on this one though.
what about blue tooth sensors? i don't know much about blue tooth.. that might be a terrible idea.-- auricom_mech, Aug 03 2006 "There's another one of those jokers with no turn signals - cut me off, will you ?"
"HEY BUDDY, GET SOME POTASSIUM OR GET OFF THE ROAD!"-- normzone, Aug 03 2006 random, halfbakery