Hello, I am one of the co-founders of Velosense, and I saw the posts here and thought I would jump in to answer some questions.
Do we have a consumer cycling device on the market:
Not yet! We are working very hard on this and we hope to provide more news later this year.
On the cycling probe, the Ventos, we are working closely with a few select partners at this time. This allows them to improve their aerodynamic performance while providing valuable testing in preparation for the consumer product release.
Why would someone run a probe in the wind tunnel:
The Velosense cycling probe (https://www.velosense.com/sensors-cycling) has software which can automatically calibrate itself during testing by measuring the effect of the presence of the bicycle and the rider. However, if a bicycle probe customer is also wind tunnel testing, it is a useful correlation exercise to verify this calibration in the wind tunnel. Just as it is extremely useful to verify wind tunnel results with actual road testing.
To be very clear, we plan to launch a consumer aero device in the near future, and users will be able to achieve very accurate and repeatable measurements without a wind tunnel. Our software ensures that the automatic road calibration is precise and robust in a variety of conditions from a flat road on a calm day, to an undulating stretch on a gusty day. So including our device in a wind tunnel test like the one pictured above provides useful correlation for us as well as ensuring trust in our measurements with our partners.
Why is yaw angle important:
The difference in drag between 0 degrees and high yaw (+10 degrees) can be as much as 5 to 10% in drag. The aerodynamic drag from most advanced TT Frames and Wheelsets will be within a few percent at 0 degrees wind angle, but at higher wind yaw angles, the drag differences can be as large as 20% between wheels.
Some rider positions, especially hand height are quite sensitive to yaw angle. With some configurations better in low angles, and others in higher yaw angles.
Trying to analyse data without knowing the yaw angle can become difficult, if not impossible.
If the yaw angle can be measured accurately, the effect on drag can be normalised and allow the CdA values to be presented in a simple and clear manner, whilst also allowing more data intensive users to examine more specific differences.
If there are further questions about our upcoming product or how our technology works, we will try and answer them.
John Buckley
https://streamlines.aero
Do we have a consumer cycling device on the market:
Not yet! We are working very hard on this and we hope to provide more news later this year.
On the cycling probe, the Ventos, we are working closely with a few select partners at this time. This allows them to improve their aerodynamic performance while providing valuable testing in preparation for the consumer product release.
Why would someone run a probe in the wind tunnel:
The Velosense cycling probe (https://www.velosense.com/sensors-cycling) has software which can automatically calibrate itself during testing by measuring the effect of the presence of the bicycle and the rider. However, if a bicycle probe customer is also wind tunnel testing, it is a useful correlation exercise to verify this calibration in the wind tunnel. Just as it is extremely useful to verify wind tunnel results with actual road testing.
To be very clear, we plan to launch a consumer aero device in the near future, and users will be able to achieve very accurate and repeatable measurements without a wind tunnel. Our software ensures that the automatic road calibration is precise and robust in a variety of conditions from a flat road on a calm day, to an undulating stretch on a gusty day. So including our device in a wind tunnel test like the one pictured above provides useful correlation for us as well as ensuring trust in our measurements with our partners.
Why is yaw angle important:
The difference in drag between 0 degrees and high yaw (+10 degrees) can be as much as 5 to 10% in drag. The aerodynamic drag from most advanced TT Frames and Wheelsets will be within a few percent at 0 degrees wind angle, but at higher wind yaw angles, the drag differences can be as large as 20% between wheels.
Some rider positions, especially hand height are quite sensitive to yaw angle. With some configurations better in low angles, and others in higher yaw angles.
Trying to analyse data without knowing the yaw angle can become difficult, if not impossible.
If the yaw angle can be measured accurately, the effect on drag can be normalised and allow the CdA values to be presented in a simple and clear manner, whilst also allowing more data intensive users to examine more specific differences.
If there are further questions about our upcoming product or how our technology works, we will try and answer them.
John Buckley
https://streamlines.aero