Save fuel on every trip on Caravan/horse trailer
The money you are saving for caravaning should not burn with fuel but it should be well spent on yourself. Even though you have the most aerodynamic towing car does not mean it will give you the best fuel efficiency while towing a caravan. The aerodynamic of vehicles-trailer combination is complicated and strongly dependent on the turbulence in the region of the rear of a car, the front and rear face of a caravan. The flow separation at the front and rear face of the trailer leads to an unfavourable pressure gradient which causes high drag force (opposing force to the vehicle motion). At higher travelling speeds (e.g. 60mph), more than 50% of the power generated by the engine is consumed to overcome the drag force.
Being a researcher in the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics, we have researched several flow-modifying devices named AERO TREK. The performance of these devices has been tested in the wind-tunnel and Computational Fluid Dynamic software. The Aero Trek devices have the potential to reduce the fuel consumption of towing car by 10 to 15%. One of the concepts of these devices is shown in the figure below. The device guides the flow on top of the trailer and reduces the turbulence region in the gap between the car and caravan.
I would like to discuss with the caravan community, which value proposition would you like to add to the Aero Trek devices.
· An inexperienced person can easily attach and detach
· Very little effort is required
· Less than 10 minutes required to attach and detach
· Foldable and ease of storage
· Reduce chip damage
· Provide better fuel economy
· Quick return on investment
This post is not a marketing pitch but a part of a PhD research carried at the University of Huddersfield to survey the interest of caravan and horse trailer owners and users. The purpose of the post is to understand the pains and gains of caravan and horse trailer users and use your feedback in value addition and further research and development process. I am pleased to have your opinion on such devices which can reduce fuel consumption and contribute to the global Green Environment campaign. I am happy to share further information and discuss the performance of the Aero Trek devices in the comment area.