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A new product idea

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konerko14

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Hey konerko14,

I wasn't trying to dampen your spirits. I want you to come back at me with some ideas. Change the product concept or change the market target... something... :thumbsup:

It was freezing rain turning to snow in Michigan today, and I was thinking about your product, wishing it was possible...

Some of the best ideas come up with a few people sit in a room and try to make it workable...

Anyway, if I p***ed you off, I apologize.

Edited by KendallJ
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Kendall, in your defense, he needed some reality. When his responses degenerated into "well, my idea won't have that problem!" then things had gone too far. Someone needed to ask, "oh, is that so? And how will this be accomplished?" Invention isn't a process of make-believe.

konerko14, please bear in mind that Kendall was acting for your best interests, and trying to help. It's just that what you needed was sort of a smack upside the head, metaphorically.

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First of all, I wasnt offended at all. All you did was add your wisdom to the thread and thats exactly what I wanted people to do. I do want to say, however, that a lot of my comments were sarcasm.

I thought of a new idea last night as I was going to sleep. I thought it was so good, I jumped out of bed to write it down and make sure I didnt forget it. Its more practical than the solar powered heater, but its to solve the same problem: to clear snow and ice from the windows of cars.

The first part of the product is adding another windshield wiper to the car. It will be located on the side of the front and back windshields, and will move side to side, coming across the entire windshield. The wiper will look similar to a normal windshield wiper, except it will have an 8 inch blade sticking out of it pointing into the air, which will be used to push the snow off the windshield. The wiper will need a high powered engine because pushing that much snow can get heavy.

So thats the first part- the wiper gets the snow off the windshield. But a lot of times there will still be ice to scrape. Again, its a windshield wiper solution, but its with the regular wipers. Ive seen products at stores that are solutions that you spray on your windows to make the ice melt. ?So why not have this solution directly hooked up to the car, have it spray out of the windshield wipers. It will spray out of the front and back windshield wipers.

Thats my first product idea. I actually have another one. Youre probably saying "?how can you top that". I dont plan to. Im just planning to equal it with this one.

Anyways, this will be a very simple installation on all cars. It is a material that will be placed on the inside of all windows, and that material is a potent heat absorber. As you turn on the heat in your car, that material will absorb a great deal of it and cause the windows to reach a high temperature and melt the snow and ice on it. I would just have to figure out what the material would be made out of exactly. Once I do that, I'll have a million dollar idea.

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Okay, since you're in the mood to design snow-combatting products, how about the "Oh my god" snow remover? You use it when you get about a foot of snow every day for 4-5 days. It needs to be powerful enough to remove snow from around the doors of the car, so you can get in the car.

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You could also invent a car that runs on salt water and air. That would really solve a lot of problems - especially those related to our having to use oil controlled by less than wonderful people. And one could afford to leave the car running all the time and let the defroster take care of things.

I think it is great that you want to come up with new ideas - and I hope you find some that make you some money. It is ok to be imaginative and to think outside the box with a "nothing's impossible" sort of approach initially. But it is important to know at what point you need to become a hard core realist on any idea - otherwise all you have is an air castle. Air castles can be fun - but five dollars and an air castle will still only buy you a cup of expensive coffee at Starbucks.

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  • 4 weeks later...

"Anyways, this will be a very simple installation on all cars. It is a material that will be placed on the inside of all windows, and that material is a potent heat absorber. As you turn on the heat in your car, that material will absorb a great deal of it and cause the windows to reach a high temperature and melt the snow and ice on it. I would just have to figure out what the material would be made out of exactly. Once I do that, I'll have a million dollar idea."

Sorry to dissapoint you, but that has already been invented. Many cars have windshields that reflect heat - usually keeping some of the heat away from the coupe(not sure if it works both ways though).

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I should read more carefully...

Anyway, one problem is to get enough heat to begin with. It takes a while to get enough heat from the engine. Plus you aldready have fans to blow heat directly at the windshield.

I don´t think de-icing cars is a million dollar buisness. You already have some sollutions on the market, and it´s not that hard to just scrape the windows that people would be willing to spend much money on easier ways of doing it.

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Maybe someone could tell me this:

Why are there no solar-powered auto air conditioners? I know you can buy a window vent, but I think it should be (a) built in and (b.) actually cool the air, rather than circulate it.

I don´t see why you would want a solar-powered air conditioner? It would just be more expensive.

In most cars that I have seen the air goes in, passes the air conditioner, on through the radiator and then out in the coupe. That way you get fresh cool air(although a little dry).

But perhaps i´m misundestanding you... i´m not entierly sure how the air conditioner itself works(I threw the air conditioner from my car in the trash, to save weight :D ).

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I don´t think de-icing cars is a million dollar buisness. You already have some sollutions on the market, and it´s not that hard to just scrape the windows that people would be willing to spend much money on easier ways of doing it.

Not a million dollar idea, but an idea that may be worth looking into deals with those solutions already on the market. Instead of only having those de-icing fluids come in accessories external from the car itself, why couldnt car companies begin installing those fluids to the car, and have it spray onto the windshields. Of course, if the side windows were covered in ice then you would still need to scrape those.

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Here in Texas, a parked car in the sun can get up to 140 degrees in the summer. Most people leave their windows open, but it only does so much.

Ah, I see. The summer in Texas is obviously hotter than here in sweden. :thumbsup:

One problem with solar powered air conditioning though, could be generating enough power. Say you need 5-10kW. I think a solar panel, on avarage, can deliver around 19-56W per square meter, or .45-1.35kWh/m2/day. A sunny day in Texas is probably in the higher range. However, i´m not sure how accurate theese figures are(I just made a quick search). But anyway, it seems like you would need pretty big panels to generate enough power - which would probably be rather expensive.

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Here in Texas, a parked car in the sun can get up to 140 degrees in the summer. Most people leave their windows open, but it only does so much.

Now if someone could invent a cooling unit that is practical that would be encased in leather for a motorcycle trip when it's 110 degrees and 100% humidity here on the gulf coast. Mountain biking in the summer is a killer but at least when I'm on my bicycle I can wear thin and air wicking clothes and still be safe. Riding a motorcycle at speed in the summer is nice but it's way to hot to be wearing leathers. At least this time of the year I'm nice and warm in leather....

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Not a million dollar idea, but an idea that may be worth looking into deals with those solutions already on the market. Instead of only having those de-icing fluids come in accessories external from the car itself, why couldnt car companies begin installing those fluids to the car, and have it spray onto the windshields. Of course, if the side windows were covered in ice then you would still need to scrape those.

It´s not a bad idea to have it installed in the car. Only problem could be making space in really small cars, but thats probably easy to solve.

However, even if it´s a good idea, I doubt that it would be possible to make any money out of it. Car manufacturers would either just make it themselves, or they already have a manufacturer for this kind of stuff that can supply it for a really low price and in large quantities.

(Damn, why do I sound so negative? :thumbsup: )

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