Mercedes-Benz bionic car at the MoMA,灵感来源于一只鱼

[chaoshi79]

The concept models of the 2005 Mercedes-Benz bionic car are appearing as part of the "Design and the Elastic Mind" exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), which showcases innovations in the fields of design and science.

One of the highlights of the exhibition is the Mercedes-Benz bionic car, which was first unveiled in June 2005 at the Innovation Symposium organized by Daimler AG in the US capital, Washington DC.

Engineers, designers and biologists at Mercedes-Benz worked hand in hand to develop the Mercedes-Benz bionic car. Its template was a sea dweller from tropical latitudes: Ostracion Cubicus – more commonly known as the boxfish.

Despite its unusual-looking shape, the fish is extremely aerodynamic and can therefore move using a minimal amount of energy. It is also able to withstand high pressures and, thanks to an outer skin consisting of hexagonal bone plates, can survive unscathed following collisions with corals or other sea dwellers.
[ 编辑 chaoshi79 在 08-03-02 07:20 ]

[chaoshi79]

[chaoshi79]

It was not the fast, sleek swimmers such as the shark or dolphin that came closest to the ideals of the research engineers, but a creature that looks anything but streamlined and agile at first sight: the boxfish.

It has its home in the coral reefs, lagoons and seaweed of the tropical seas, where it has a great deal in common with cars in many respects. It needs to conserve its strength and move with the least possible consumption of energy, which requires powerful muscles and a streamlined shape.

It must withstand high pressures and protect its body during collisions, which requires a rigid outer skin. And it needs to move in confined spaces in its search for food, which requires good manoeuvrability.

There is more to the boxfish than meets the eye: despite its angular body, it is an excellent swimmer whose cube-shaped structure is by no means a hindrance. On the contrary, the boxfish possesses unique characteristics and is a prime example of the ingenious inventions developed by nature over millions of years of evolution.

The basic principle of this evolution is that nothing is superfluous The outer skin of the boxfish consists of numerous bony, hexagonal plates which are interlinked to form a rigid suit of armour.

This bony, armour-plated structure gives the body of the fish great rigidity, protects it from injury and is also the secret of its outstanding manoeuvrability, as tiny vortices form along the edges on the upper and lower parts of the body to stabilise the fish in any position and ensure that it remains safely on course even in areas of great turbulence. It does not need to move its fins in the process, and can therefore conserve its strength.

[ 编辑 chaoshi79 在 08-03-02 07:14 ]
[ 编辑 chaoshi79 在 08-03-02 07:14 ]

[chaoshi79]

With an accurately constructed model of the boxfish the engineers in Stuttgart were able to achieve a wind drag coefficient of just 0.06 in the wind tunnel.

[ 编辑 chaoshi79 在 08-03-02 07:16 ]
[ 编辑 chaoshi79 在 08-03-02 07:19 ]

[chaoshi79]

[chaoshi79]

[chaoshi79]

[chaoshi79]

In free flow, its body has an outstandingly low cd value of 0.06. These characteristics are also ideal ingredients for a car designed to achieve the best possible levels of energy efficiency and passenger safety.



The result is a two-door vehicle with four comfortable, individual seats and a drop-shaped design that is 4.24 meters long, 1.82 meters wide and 1.59 meters high.



With a drag coefficient (cd figure) of 0.19, the Mercedes-Benz bionic car is one of the world’s most aerodynamic compact cars in its class. Today, this figure still stands as a benchmark for the aerodynamic optimization of car bodies.

The concept vehicle also played a pioneering role for Mercedes-Benz when it came to emission control. It was the first test car to be fitted with SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) technology.



As well as boasting near-perfect aerodynamics and a lightweight concept derived from nature, the car features a clean and economical high-tech diesel engine with BLUETEC technology: in the EU driving cycle, the Mercedes-Benz bionic car consumes just 4.3 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers – making it 20 percent more economical than a comparable production model. With an output of 140 hp, it delivers state-of-the-art, hallmark Mercedes-Benz performance.



If the US measuring system (FTP 75) is used, the figure comes in at around 70 miles per gallon (mpg, combined) – 30 percent better than a standard-production car. When driving at a constant speed of 90 km/h, the direct-injection model consumes a mere 2.8 liters of diesel per 100 kilometers – equivalent to 84 miles per gallon in the US test cycle.


[ 编辑 chaoshi79 在 08-03-02 07:09 ]

[chaoshi79]

[chaoshi79]

In consultation with bionics experts, a process was developed to transfer the growth principle used by nature to automobile engineering.



Based on the Soft Kill Option (SKO), computer simulation is used to configure body and suspension components in such a way that the material in areas subject to lower loads can be made thinner, and perhaps even be eliminated (“killed”), while highly stressed areas are specifically reinforced.



This process enables an optimal component geometry to be identified that meets the requirements of lightweight construction, safety and durability in equal measure.



The bone-plate skeleton of the boxfish demonstrates how nature is able to achieve maximum strength with a lightweight design.



In the case of a car door, for example, this honeycomb-design method increases stiffness by up to 40 percent, while the weight is reduced by around 30 percent, based on calculations using the SKO method.



The SKO method has since been used for producing components such as the engine support arms that are fitted on some rural-service buses.



Technical Data

Length/width/height

4243/1815/1594 mm



Wheelbase

2568 mm



Engine output

140 hp



Max. torque

300 Nm at 1600-3000 rpm



Fuel consumption (combined)

65.7 mpg; 70 mpg (US gallons)



Acceleration 0-62 mph

8.2 s



Max. speed

118 mph







[ 编辑 chaoshi79 在 08-03-02 07:25 ]
[ 编辑 chaoshi79 在 08-03-02 07:25 ]

[mc-pp]

覺得後燈的那3條很難看

[henry2126]

个人感觉不好看

[wahaha840110]

天呐

[Z-Y]

cool

[ONOWANG]

[likejames]

[linghan]

[benjaminyaong]

很丑～！

[vichalou]

那要是在大号时来灵感呢…

[fuchsiagarden]

开这车上街找抽挺好