Fairing Panels
(Green) |
Made of rigid fiberglass and foam sandwich construction, these panel pieces provide much of the shape and support of the whole fairing. In total there are four curved panels: for each half there is one big and one little piece that are hinged together in the image by a tall green cylinder. The top and bottom corners of the smaller fairing panel are connected to the top and bottom curve pipes. The big fairing panels are attached to the hinge frame. | |
Hinge Frame
(Red) |
Made of extruded aluminum and steel, the hinge frame is the structural component that connects the fairing to the trailer. It serves to cinch the whole apparatus down onto the truck and hold the hinges into which the fairing panels are mounted. In this image, the hinge frame is already in its deployed state shaped like an inverted "U" which sits atop the trailer a few inches from the rear of the trailer. The protrusions at the bottom of the hinge frame on the left and right are the foot plates that help align and affix the hinge frame to the trailer. | |
Curve frame
(Blue) |
Made of copper conduit bent in all three dimensions, the hinge frame supports the top and bottom coverings which create taut top and bottom surfaces when fully extended. The two pairs of curve frames hold the connectors that lock in place keep the two halves of the fairing together and therefore help to maintain the fully extended shape of the fairing. The right and left pairs of curve frames overlap each other to eliminate gaps in the top and bottom surfaces that would reduce the aerodynamic efficiency provided by the fairing. |