Mercedes won, Redbull was second And McLaren was third.
Many cars dropped out with engine trouble as the new turbo V6's
are very complicated indeed. They don't call it turbo compound
but "energy recovery". That is because a large percentage of time
a road racing car is under braking and one want's to recover
that energy as well as waste exhaust energy.
That braking energy recovery does not help at all on the freeway
or autobahn.
It just adds a lot of unnecessary weight.
The exhaust energy is recovered by a shaft coming out the turbo charger
compressor driving a generator. This charges a battery. Similar
to the attached 3D.
This is not an efficient way of doing it in a passenger car.
Say the generator is 90% efficient and the motor is 90%
efficient over all energy recovery is then only 81%.
Again the battery is just more dead weight. Typically the electronc
controller could also be 90% efficient so over all recovery
efficiency could
drop to 73%. All this waste heat heats up the engine compartment.
There is no beating a gear box between the exhaust turbine
and the crankshaft. That would be 95% efficient or higher.
The battery is also charged from the retarding force on the rear
wheels under
braking in a road racing car. These generators also serve as motors
that provide
extra torque under acceleration and in the case the turbo charger
generator it is
also used in electric motor mode to accelerate the compressor. This
reduces
the notorious turbo charger throttle lag.
One can imagine this is a programmers worse nightmare.
Not only is the competition among the drivers and engineers but
now programmers are competing to see who can write the
best control program. I wonder what chip they are using?
I would not be a bit surprised if it was an ARM variation of some sort.
That is like using your cell phone to control 800 HP :)
The generator connected to the compressor shaft is interesting
as it must be geared down as the turbo is turning at 125,000 RPM.
An electric motor would probably blow up due to centrifugal loads
on the copper windings if it were to run at 125,000 RPM.
http://www.rotaryeng.net/Oxford-640-4802.wmv
<http://www.rotaryeng.net/Oxford-640-4802.wmv>
Paul Lamar
Hi Paul,
The way I read it the MCU or "power unit" controller is
"controlled" and supplied by McLaren Applied Technologies (MAT) of
Woking, UK for all teams.
"The identical electronic control units in F1 cars are made under
FIA rules by McLaren Applied Technologies (MAT) of Woking, UK – a
company kept strictly separate from the firm's McLaren F1 racing team,
for the sake of fairness. The control units choreograph everything from
throttle control down to changing the gears. Their software has been
completely rewritten for the new energy-recovering turbos, says MAT
vice-president Peter van Manen."
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129604.400-7-tricks-to-keep-f1-cars-fast-and-fuelefficient.html#.UyVwEPmSx8E
I suspect that Vettle may have had a dodgy one of these as he had
"software" problems thru qualifying too.
Phill Hinds
George Town TAS
Where is the fun in that? :)
That cuts my interest. Without software competition no possible advances in
the technology. That destroys innovation.
That is the main problem with Indy, Nascar and Rolex. They are all boring.
Did you take the vomit comet over to the race? :)
As I recall there was a hovercraft as well. I think Robin
and I rode it 10 or so years ago. Maybe that was in England Southsea to
Isle of Wight. It is all a blur :) I also took the really BIG Hovercraft
across the channel
way back in the early 80's.
Paul Lamar
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