A linear high pressure air outlet running along the bottom of the windshield would create a curtain of air that would blow raindrops away from the glass before they even had a chance to land.
Regular wipers would be available for mud and such.
I'm thinking watching the rain change direction and fly away from the windshield as if hitting a force field would be a neat effect. Great for keeping bugs from hitting the windshield too, better than wipers that just smear the mess around.-- doctorremulac3, Jun 08 2012 Mazda Baked http://www.goauto.c...9C0CA25760A000139D8 [PainOCommonSense, Jun 12 2012] McMerc SLR Baked http://www.topgear....3-03-2009?imageNo=6 [PainOCommonSense, Jun 12 2012] Lamborghini Baked http://www.dailymai...car-windscreen.html [PainOCommonSense, Jun 12 2012] Not my idea http://www.emercede...cipede_Of_1894.html [doctorremulac3, Jun 12 2012] Bunya Nuts http://en.wikipedia..._bidwillii_cone.jpgUp to 12kg each. Serious impediment to survival if one hits your car while you're driving. [UnaBubba, Jun 13 2012] NASA studied it for aircraft http://ntrs.nasa.go...8716_1981068716.pdf"Preliminary data on rain deflection from aircraft windshields by means of high-velocity jet-air blast" [cajunfj40, Jun 27 2012] Did I say 5 fighters for the price of one? http://en.wikipedia..._aircraft_1950–1959Try more than 20. [doctorremulac3, Jun 27 2012] Then you don't need the windshield. Just use the air stream. Half-Baked in a brilliant anno to: Ultrasonic Windshield "Wiper." [acurafan07]-- sqeaketh the wheel, Jun 08 2012 Or design the car the other way up, so that the windscreen is shielded from the rain.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 08 2012 This would be loads of fun to watch in a snow storm! [+]-- Grogster, Jun 09 2012 [squeaketh] I'm pretty sure it was agreed upon that you would still need the windshield (solid objects that would penetrate the airstream and, subsequently, the occupants).
Cool idea nonetheless [+]-- acurafan07, Jun 09 2012 [acurafan07], We discussed. You agreed. Still, because [doctorremulac3]'s version combines the best of both worlds, [+].-- sqeaketh the wheel, Jun 09 2012 ..with the addition of a 30 kv coil, one piece of thin wire (bottom of the windscreen), one wooden pole covered in foil (top of the windscreen, you should be able to make an ion wind and finally use some of that lifter technology for something useful.-- not_morrison_rm, Jun 10 2012 Just got back from a 8 hour long round-trip drive to visit some relatives over the weekend and the windshield is covered with bugs. To say the windshield wipers smear them around would be an exaggeration. They just turn all these little dots on the windshields into commas. This would have been nice to have.
Although the car would have to be designed from the ground up to accommodate it, a system that enveloped the entire car would be pretty snazzy. Driving through the rain with a completely dry car that looked like it had a force field around it could be really cool.-- doctorremulac3, Jun 10 2012 // a completely dry car that looked like it had a force field around it //
We can help you ... join us ... don't be afraid ...-- 8th of 7, Jun 10 2012 Came here to post whole car windshield wiper. Saw this post. Then saw the above comment. Halfbakery is a remarkably grounding force in my life.-- fishboner, Jun 11 2012 Its good to be grounded in your life, what with all those 30 kv ions flying around.-- sqeaketh the wheel, Jun 11 2012 // To say the windshield wipers smear them around would be an exaggeration. They just turn all these little dots on the windshields into commas.//
You've obviously never driven through a swarm of mayflies, locusts, or lovebugs.-- Freefall, Jun 11 2012 Or junebugs. They don't gather in groups very often, but when they do it's like a hailstorm with tapioca filling.-- Alterother, Jun 11 2012 Admittedly they are not exactly as described, but Windscreenless cars have been around a while.-- PainOCommonSense, Jun 12 2012 I'm not seeing anything about wiper-less dry windshields in the links. These are cars without windshields as opposed to cars with windshields and a sheet of air blowing over them to push rain and bugs away. So pretty much the polar opposite of my idea, these are cars that blast insects and rain directly into your face at 150 miles an hour. Am I missing something?-- doctorremulac3, Jun 12 2012 I once drove a Lotus Elise on the motorway during a snowfall and none of it hit the windscreen. It was very cool but also a bit disorienting.-- marklar, Jun 12 2012 Was it just from the "shockwave" of the car? I guess maybe you can get the general effect of this idea if you're driving fast enough with the right car design.
But never had the pleasure of driving a Lotus Elise in a snow storm sad to say.-- doctorremulac3, Jun 12 2012 //Am I missing something?//
Nope, seems PainOCommonSense may be though.-- acurafan07, Jun 12 2012 I understood perfectly that this was about cars with windshields. It's in the first sentence of the post.
On cars w/o windshields: I sometimes drive my M35 with the roof off and the windshield folded down, usually when I'm carrying something like a steel I-beam that's too long to fit in the bed. These occasions make me wonder about the HB posts involving windscreen-less cars. Ski goggles and a bandanna covering my nose and mouth help, but I still get hit with all kinds of crap.
Same with riding a motorcycle; even if it weren't a personal choice for the safety factor, I'd still wear a full- visor helmet because of all the little pebbles and other detritus tossed up by the tires of other vehicles. A laminar air-sheet might deflect rain, snow, and smaller bugs, but unless you've ever ridden a motorcycle, you might be surprised how much heavier shit is flying through the air when you're in traffic. And that's not even accounting for the potentially deadly things that could hit you in the face, like chunks of re-tread, stuff falling off of trucks, or forgotten coffee mugs. Last year a motorcyclist in New Hampshire was killed by a hard-bound college textbook that was left on the roof of a car. The book flew off when the car got onto the interstate, hitting the helmetless biker in the head at 60 mph.
So why, indeed, are we talking about cars with no windshields?-- Alterother, Jun 12 2012 Beats me. A car without a windshield would be a horrible thing. Among other reasons, if you had this compressed air curtain blowing in front of you without a very well soundproofed glass and insulated steel compartment wrapped around you it would sound like you're standing behind a turbojet engine torking up.
For bystanders, you'd sound like a jet going by which could add to the effect I suppose.-- doctorremulac3, Jun 12 2012 [doctorremulac3] The Elise has large vents in the bonnet to expel the air that goes through the radiator. I'd assumed that was widely known so I didn't explicitly point out that it's very similar to this idea but for a completely different reason.-- marklar, Jun 13 2012 Does it keep rain off the windshield, even when the car is stopped at an intersection?-- doctorremulac3, Jun 13 2012 No, but an Elise is very small. You can keep one dry just by tossing a hat over it.-- UnaBubba, Jun 13 2012 Like the old Esprits better myself. Smooth lines, James Bond drove one with machine guns that went under water. Just a cooler car.
But I'd gladly take an Elise if offered one.-- doctorremulac3, Jun 13 2012 // unless you've ever ridden a motorcycle, you might be surprised how much heavier shit is flying through the air when you're in traffic. //
Horse chestnuts. Big as a walnut shell, hard and heavy. One of those hitting a helmet at 50km/h is damned loud… one in the face at 100 km/h without a visor and you're looking at sight loss.
Autumn can be a bad time for two-wheeled travel- drifts of damp leaves, patches of fog, and an erratic bombardment of acorns and other such arboreal projectiles.-- 8th of 7, Jun 13 2012 Bunya nuts. <link>-- UnaBubba, Jun 13 2012 //Bunya nuts// And bun yours too.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 13 2012 Thanks for that link, UnaBunya! :) [Sorry, couldn't help myself]-- goldbb, Jun 14 2012 Thanks for that link, UnaBunya! :) [Sorry, couldn't help myself]-- goldbb, Jun 14 2012 See linky. NASA (or, more properly, one of their progenitors NACA) studied it for jet fighters at 135/175mph. "The results indicate that rain deflection by jet blast appears feasible ..."
More over at the later idea "Air-barrier Convertible Roof" by acurafan07-- cajunfj40, Jun 27 2012 Wow, thank you for the cool link Caj.
I'm blown away by how clearly this thing is written and explained. No bs, no pedantry, no charts and graphs where they aren't needed, just explains the situation clearly with the minimum verbiage necessary. I think that's the way people did things in the 1950s, they just got the job done. That's why for the cost to design and produce one supersonic fighter plane now, back then we'd get 5 with a couple of bombers thrown in.
Wasn't around but wish I had been. The 1950s gave us supersonic fighters, spaceflight and rock and roll. Though minorities were mistreated, it was also the era of the birth of the civil rights movement in America. Everybody had a house, a car and a TV with dumb shows that all had positive messages. I was born 20 years too late. Damn shame.-- doctorremulac3, Jun 27 2012 random, halfbakery