trans-a.info – Page 2 – Sports Car Club of America

With cars you know that the normal headlights just don?t work. They are very effective in using as little electricity as possible, however, in most cases they are not actually bright enough to see the road and avoid possible hazards like hitting an animal. It is because they are so inefficient that people generally buy HID conversion kits to replace them.

HID stands for high intensity discharge. Using the HID headlights can put out more than 5 times the amount of light than you would get from your average halogen headlights. This means that you see more and can find it easier to avoid any problems.

HID is not your usual light bulb. With most light bulbs there is a filament surrounded by inert gases like argon that work to keep it from catching fire. The filament is attached to two long metal rods. As electricity pulses through them heat is produced, and eventually there is enough heat to cause enough visible light for a person to use. The halogen light bulb usually used in car is a little more advanced. It uses the same filament but encases it in quartz. It also fills envelope with halogen gases. The halogen gases work buy re-depositing atoms on the filament when the temperature is high enough and the halogen gases combine with tungsten vapors from the filament. This allows the light bulbs to burn at a higher temperature and they actually last longer as well.

There are lights that are more efficient than halogen lights though. HID lights are both brighter and take up less energy. Instead of using the usually filaments HID lights use gases to produce the light we use. HID headlights that you get with the HID conversion kits use the same high pressure technology that we often see used with street lamps. The gases used are often Mercury and is very close in design to a mercury vapor lamp. There is one little problem that scientist ha to work out though. Like with florescent light bulbs, these would take a long time to warm up and actually become bright. To help fix this there is xenon and a special controller that is used.

Back in the day HID headlights and HID kits were only offered as an option for those high end luxury cars. Today however, though they are still a little expensive, they are becoming more and more available as they are produced in greater quantity. They are becoming more popular because of the light benefits that people get out of them at night. To give you an idea as to just how beneficial the HID kits can be to your car, there are airplanes that use HID lights because of how bright they are.

Anybody who owns a car can benefit from HID conversion kits. This is especially true for people who generally have a hard time with seeing at night, which makes it harder to react in dangerous situations, including the elderly. If you chose a good quality HID light then you will improve your nighttime visibility and help to get you and your family where you need to be with less risk.

The Chevrolet Impala SS has made its debut at the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. And of course with its launching is the unveiling of the GM Racing?s all-new R07 small-block V-8 racing engine which provides a glimpse to the new direction in technology that America?s most popular racing series is heading.

One of the most powerful element in GM Racing?s toolbox is what the automaker calls as the CFD or the Computational Fluid Dynamics which is a mathematical simulation of the airflow around a vehicle. This new CFD technology is influencing the design of both racing and production automobiles. CFD also played an important role in GM Racing?s analysis and development of a racing version of the Impala SS which is considered as the new generation NASCAR race car that will make its debut in a competition that will be held in Bristol, Tennessee scheduled on March 25, 2007.

According to Kevin Bayless, GM Racing oval track chassis/aero program manager, ?The best way to describe CFD is a wind tunnel in a computer. CFD is a simulation that predicts the aerodynamic forces acting on a vehicle using computational methods rather than physical measurements. CFD allows engineers and racing teams to evaluate the effects of aerodynamic changes quickly on a computer screen rather than in a conventional wind tunnel.?

The CFD technology was first developed for aerospace and defense usage however it migrated to the civilian sector as supercomputers which became available to manipulate complex programs. ?The CFD software requires a supercomputer because the number of calculations is immense. Foe example, our aerodynamic models typically have more than 10 million discrete data points that are used to calculate the force. It really is rocket science,? explained Bayless.

"The computing time required to run CFD programs is a limitation even with a supercomputer," Bayless noted. "A team can run through more tests in a day in a wind tunnel than can be done with CFD. At this point in its development, CFD supplements the testing that's done in wind tunnels and on race tracks. We share the information that GM Racing obtains through CFD with the Chevy teams. Given the level of competition in NASCAR today, it's vital for every team.?

Although the price that is involved in this type of technology is high but the benefits of CFD are worth it. The highly advanced software makes it possible to see the invisible movement of air over the vehicle?s body.

Bayless said, "CFD allows us to visualize the flow to understand what the air is doing and where the aerodynamic forces are being generated. That's simply not possible with a model or a full-size vehicle in a wind tunnel. CFD also allows us to test aerodynamics without a physical model, which can be helpful in the early stages of a design. We can analyze and compare various alternatives before actually building a prototype vehicle."

Aside from the Impala SS becoming the new NASCAR race car of today it will be Chevrolet?s high-profile entry in Nextel Cup competition. The CFD played an important role boosting the identity of Chevy?s new on-track representative.

"Although the Car of Tomorrow is highly regulated, it's not a spec race car. As a manufacturer, Chevrolet was able to define many of the details that separate the Impala SS from our competitors' cars. The headlights, grille, portions of the hood, and the tail were areas where GM Racing was able to incorporate Impala SS styling cues and brand identity. These areas are now fixed as part of the NASCAR Impala SS package," added Bayless.

The Impala SS is entirely different from the Monte Carlo SS in terms of aerodynamics but also similar in some ways like both are equipped with quality GM auto parts like the high quality GM spark plug wires which are responsible for converting fuel into energy that powers the vehicle. For the Impala SS GM engineers have employed CFD to better understand the effects of the new body shape, front splitter, and adjustable rear wing on aerodynamic performance. "NASCAR specifications require the Impala SS to be wider and taller than the Monte Carlo SS that it is replacing, so its frontal area is larger and its aerodynamic drag is approximately 10 percent greater. Initially the Impala SS will have about 15 percent less downforce than the Monte Carlo SS, which has been highly refined over the years. The change from a spoiler to an adjustable rear wing appears to reduce turbulence in the wake of the car, so when two cars are running nose-to-tail, the less turbulent air behind the first car should alleviate some of the aerodynamic push experienced by the trailing car," explained further by Bayless.

It is also important to note that although the CFD is a powerful engineering tool it is not designed to replace the conventional wind tunnels and track testing.

Why Buy Hid Conversion Kits?

Chevrolet Impala Ss To Debut In Bristol