Adaptive fairing company Aero 18 filed for it’s 3rd patent. It’s technology controls airflow over a vehicle, while dynamically allowing air needed to cool engine components into the engine compartment – selectively to specific components – as needed. Originally designed for 18 wheelers, the company expanded its patents to cover an application that could be used on cars as well.
The company had two patents issued in 2014 and 2015, one for trucks and the other for cars. The newest patent application covers some improvements to features that would go into cars that work with the ECM (electronic control module) of the vehicle to monitor conditions in the engine as well as other components that may be in the engine compartment: air conditioner, transmission oil cooler, and turbo cooler. Especially with trucks, drag accounts for as much as 2/3 of the fuel cost.
“By reshaping the drag we hope to save 60 pounds of drag on a truck,” Aero 18 founder Mark Rode told the 4thEst8. “We estimate we’ll save $2,000 to $3000 per year, per truck, according to our computer simulations.”
Rode has been in discussion with car and truck companies, but no word on the outcome. He says his tech is twice as effective on cars as active grill shutters, which are an industry standard.
The company is pursuing funding to put together a prototype. Aero 18 has two part time engineers, Rode is one of them. The company is bootstrapped, and nobody is getting paid. The company was founded in St. Louis in 2012. It doesn’t have a website, but can be found on LinkedIn.
