Windscreen wipers are a blessing but at times they become an obstacle in driving. During cold weather, these wipers get stuck onto the windshield and pose a problem for the driver. Keeping this in mind, McLaren has decided to come up with an innovation for their sports cars that would help the windshield remain clear without the use of wipers. The key idea is to employ the technology which military uses for its fighter jets, supposedly sound waves with a very high frequency.
The Formula One firm based in Surrey is busy in coming up with a system for their new super car that helps them get rid of the windscreen wipers. This model is supposed to be manufactured in 2015. However the firm is very secretive about how they’re going to achieve this milestone, the reason being the fact that their idea might be stolen by their competitors. However, experts of the relevant field have speculated that use of ultrasound waves is inevitable to achieve the said milestone and these ultrasound waves will help generate vibrations on the screen that will keep the rain, dust and insects away from the screen. Since there will be no wipers, visibility will be improved automatically.
Chief designer for the Woking-based firm, Frank Stephenson, said; ‘It took a lot of effort to get this out of a source in the military. I asked why you don’t see wipers on some aircraft on when they are coming in at very low levels for landing. ‘I was told that it’s not a coating on the surface but a high frequency electronic system that never fails and is constantly active. Nothing will attach to the windscreen.’
For the time being, this system will be made available for the sports cars that range between £170,000 and £870,000, but if the idea takes off then this system can very well be manufactured for general market where it will be available for £10. Professor from Bristol University’s faculty of engineering, Paul Wilcox, said; ‘Obvious way of doing it is to have an ultrasonic transducer in the corner of the windscreen that would excite waves at around 30kHz to bounce across the windscreen.’
Although McLaren isn’t telling us much at the moment but let’s be patient and see how this all pans out. We hope they are successful!
