Motor Vehicle Tail Lamp Segmentation for Aerodynamic Drag Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing rear area designs for motor vehicles increase air resistance due to air ducting in rear lights, leading to higher drag coefficients and reduced loading capacity.
Innovation Solution
The rear light is divided into a main body and an additional body, with the main body being aerodynamically optimized and the additional body providing an offset lighting surface, reducing air resistance and allowing for a smaller main body width, thus minimizing the trailing area and maintaining loading capacity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If air ducting is implemented in the rear light, then air flow is channeled through the rear light, but air resistance of the motor vehicle increases
Solution Approach 1:
The rear light is divided into a main body and an additional body, with the additional body having a through-opening for air flow passage. This segmentation allows the air ducting function to be separated from the main lighting structure, enabling air to flow through a dedicated channel without increasing overall air resistance.
Solution Approach 2:
The additional body is designed with specific local characteristics including a rounded front end section for low air resistance, a sharp-edged rear end section for flow separation, and a comparatively small wall thickness. These localized quality adjustments optimize air flow through the rear light while minimizing impact on overall vehicle aerodynamics.
2Loss of energy
If the rear area is constricted to reduce air resistance, then trailing area is minimized, but loading width of the luggage compartment is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The additional body is arranged in the area of the side wall section of the rear area, extending in the vehicle longitudinal direction. This dimensional arrangement allows the additional lighting surface to be positioned laterally offset from the main body, effectively utilizing the side wall space to compensate for the reduced loading width caused by rear constriction.
Solution Approach 2:
The additional body serves multiple functions: it provides an additional lighting surface for rear illumination, acts as an air flow passage with optimized aerodynamic features, and compensates for the reduced loading width by extending into the side wall area. This multi-functionality allows a single component to address multiple design requirements simultaneously.
3Volume of moving object
If the main body of the rear light is downsized in the width direction, then loading width is improved, but aerodynamic optimization is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The rear light is segmented into a main body and an additional body, where the main body can be downsized in the width direction to improve loading width, while the additional body carries the aerodynamic optimization features including the through-opening for air flow and the optimized end sections for minimizing trailing area.
Solution Approach 2:
The aerodynamic optimization is concentrated in the additional body with its specific local characteristics: rounded front end, sharp rear end, and through-opening configuration. This allows the main body to be minimized in width while the additional body provides the necessary aerodynamic function locally.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design reduces air resistance, minimizes the trailing area, and compensates for reduced loading width by utilizing the additional body as a luminous surface, enhancing aerodynamic properties and maintaining luggage compartment volume.
Implementation Method 1
The additional body (22) has a rounded front end section (30) which offers low air resistance for the flow (8)
Implementation Method 2
The rear end section (32) is sharp-edged and thus represents a tear-off edge for the flow (8)
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
The tail region of a motor vehicle according to the invention comprises tail lamps, which are divided into a main body and an additional body. The tail region has an aerodynamically advantageous design in that, in addition to a "truncated tail" of the side wall section of the tail region, the outer contour of the main body of the tail lamp also follows said "truncated tail". While the motor vehicle is driving, this creates a comparatively small wake area of the flow at the tail region. By designing the additional body as an illuminated area, it is possible to keep the width of the main body of the tail lamp small such that the reductions of the luggage compartment volume and of the loading width of the luggage compartment resulting from the "truncated tail" are compensated for at least partially.