KING KONG cybertruck wiper not very futuristic...here is how to produce the look this trucks deserves...

[electricAK]

Great thread, fun discussion.

The linear motor / vertical wiper blade is starting to make more sense to me. I'm still not too sure about execution in ice/snow, but it just might work. If Tesla can pull it off, I think it would have big advantages in aerodynamics, and would remove water/snow quite well. Plus it would be SO cool.

Also, I'm with Crissa. I'd rather the wiper store itself in a compartment than have to chip the ice off the wiper parts. Of course, the compartment door would need to be well designed and heated.

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[anionic1]

Elon calls every under the hood stow 'in the frunk'. It's not an engine bay, right?

-Crissa

You are right. I don’t know what all this firewall talk is about. I have never heard of a law requiring firewalls around a cab. There is a firewall separating an ICE engine compartment from the cab and in electric cars the batteries are usually isolated to prevent fires. I believe the model 3 uses an intumescent coating around the battery packs. The frunk will most certainly not have a firewall on an EV unless the batteries are stored there which isn’t common.

 

[JBee]

Great thread, fun discussion.

The linear motor / vertical wiper blade is starting to make more sense to me. I'm still not too sure about execution in ice/snow, but it just might work. If Tesla can pull it off, I think it would have big advantages in aerodynamics, and would remove water/snow quite well. Plus it would be SO cool.

Also, I'm with Crissa. I'd rather the wiper store itself in a compartment than have to chip the ice off the wiper parts. Of course, the compartment door would need to be well designed and heated.

For snow and ice I think the best solution would be a heated wiper assembly, or even easier, extra embbeded heating lines under the wiper stow position. Just like on most hatch rear wiper setups. You don't need to store it in something then at all.

To operate hit the defrost on the Tesla App 10-15min before leaving and it defrosts the front window and the wiper, creating a thin layer of water under the ice and snow which then can slowly be pushed off the side. You could do the winter wiper stow position in the middle of the windscreen, so it could push one half of the snow left and then come back to center and push the other half of snow right.
Hey presto one cleared and de-iced windscreen with no scrubbing or scraping!

Another thing you could do is pulse the wiper through the linear motor and use the percusion motion to clear the snow.

But the best thing I think is just to let the wiper run automatically during the time its snowing to always keep it clear. Will use less energy than running the windscreen defrost heat to melt it and you never have to prep the car before leaving. They could do that feature now on Teslas with a OTA software update.

For spray nozzles I'd either do 4 accross the bottom with enough range to reach the top, or do 3 left and 3 right and synchronise the spray to fit the wiper position. A hybrid of both would work too. I think with the BAW they have the nozzles on the wiper itself to get all the way up.

 

[electricAK]

Another thing you could do is pulse the wiper through the linear motor and use the percusion motion to clear the snow.

But the best thing I think is just to let the wiper run automatically during the time its snowing to always keep it clear. Will use less energy than running the windscreen defrost heat to melt it and you never have to prep the car before leaving. They could do that feature now on Teslas with a OTA software update.

I'm a fan of these ideas.

The first one would only work on a left-right sweeping wiper. Awesome.

Second idea: totally. Wipers would only need to cycle sporadically to keep the windshield clear and clean. If you're plugged in, it could be once per minute. Could get ice buildup in some situations, but I bet it would work a lot of the time.

 

[JBee]

I'm a fan of these ideas.

The first one would only work on a left-right sweeping wiper. Awesome.

Second idea: totally. Wipers would only need to cycle sporadically to keep the windshield clear and clean. If you're plugged in, it could be once per minute. Could get ice buildup in some situations, but I bet it would work a lot of the time.

Energy wise it shouldn't be to bad, based on a 15W consumption when operating and ten wipes a minute you'd end up with around 150Wh per hour. So about 4 miles of range overnight to keep the wipers running overnight. Not an issue if plugged in.

 

[Crissa]

You are right. I don’t know what all this firewall talk is about...

That said, Tesla is super-big on safety and does seal the survival capsule from the outside. It's like a firewall, but they do it on all sides.

Munro mentioned it in his tear-down that it's made of fewer and fewer parts each time he gets to examine a Tesla. And that it's made of many materials, whatever Tesla deems appropriate at the time.

-Crissa

 

[JBee]

That said, Tesla is super-big on safety and does seal the survival capsule from the outside. It's like a firewall, but they do it on all sides.

Munro mentioned it in his tear-down that it's made of fewer and fewer parts each time he gets to examine a Tesla. And that it's made of many materials, whatever Tesla deems appropriate at the time.

-Crissa

Thats just wrong Crissa. All Teslas have firewalls.

 

[jerhenderson]

Yes.

Not sure I'm getting your point.

my point being that a concealed wiper is an awful idea in areas that experience real winter.

 

[jerhenderson]

i

My solution to that would be to move somewhere warmer.

indeed.

 

[jerhenderson]

l

No… ?

lucky. it sucks.

 

[Crissa]

Thats just wrong Crissa. All Teslas have firewalls.

It's wrong that I said they have them on all sides, but it's not a single structure to the front?

Do you even read the posts before going 'nope'?

-Crissa

 

[JBee]

It's wrong that I said they have them on all sides, but it's not a single structure to the front?

Do you even read the posts before going 'nope'?

-Crissa

Software Firewalls!!

Thats what happens if words don't have definition, or if their definitions are changed beyond their meaning. I've read the comments a few times because I'm pretty bored atm.

I'm getting out of 2 weeks of hotel quarantine today, so maybe that's showing... ;-)

 

[Crissa]

It happens!

Inattentional blindness is a thing that happens to all of us. (Which is why FSD is so important, too.)

-Crissa

 

[Bill906]

my point being that a concealed wiper is an awful idea in areas that experience real winter.

My point was a concealed wiper will work just fine if it's engineered for it. Regardless of what temperature you've experienced or how long your ice scraper is, if designed correctly it can and will work.

Yes I've experienced "real" winter. I've lived in and gone to college in very cold and snowy places. My college town averaged 200-300 inches of snow a year, some years in the 400 inches range.
I remember a week where temperatures never got above -20°F. That was the week my car decided to overheat. I was a college student replacing the coolant pump on my '86 Buick Regal in the yard next to the house I was renting. I would take one bolt off, then come back in house to warm my hands up. Go back out and take out another bolt...

 

[jerhenderson]

My point was a concealed wiper will work just fine if it's engineered for it. Regardless of what temperature you've experienced or how long your ice scraper is, if designed correctly it can and will work.

Yes I've experienced "real" winter. I've lived in and gone to college in very cold and snowy places. My college town averaged 200-300 inches of snow a year, some years in the 400 inches range.
I remember a week where temperatures never got above -20°F. That was the week my car decided to overheat. I was a college student replacing the coolant pump on my '86 Buick Regal in the yard next to the house I was renting. I would take one bolt off, then come back in house to warm my hands up. Go back out and take out another bolt...

I'm curious as to your college town that recieves 10 meters of snow per year, as per your provided numbers.

my town receives on average about 5.5 feet of snow per year, where January and February won't get warmer than -25 degrees. I was -27 here this morning and we get snow 5.7 months out of the year.

Sure engineering can build something to counter my real winter, but I doubt seriously it'll be anything thought about from a car engineer in California.

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