Honda Power Unit Hardware & Software

All that has to do with the power train, gearbox, clutch, fuels and lubricants, etc. Generally the mechanical side of Formula One.
muzzytt
muzzytt
0
Joined: 04 Jan 2012, 06:26

Re: Honda Power Unit Hardware & Software

Post

When you build an engine you balance the rotating assembly.

So how does such bad vibrations exist?

I mean it could be the gearbox or the side mounted mgu but to not find this to this day is astonishing especially for a company like Honda

User avatar
Holm86
261
Joined: 10 Feb 2010, 03:37
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Re: Honda Power Unit Hardware & Software

Post

muzzytt wrote:
05 Mar 2026, 12:50
When you build an engine you balance the rotating assembly.

So how does such bad vibrations exist?

I mean it could be the gearbox or the side mounted mgu but to not find this to this day is astonishing especially for a company like Honda
I also don't understand, the engine architecture is the exact same as last time Honda was in F1, just with less power and no MGU-H. How can they get it so wrong

FNTC
FNTC
22
Joined: 03 Nov 2023, 21:27

Re: Honda Power Unit Hardware & Software

Post

The MGU-K is 3x the size this year, and also sits next to the battery. Might be part of the issue.

Farnborough
Farnborough
136
Joined: 18 Mar 2023, 14:15

Re: Honda Power Unit Hardware & Software

Post

There's enormous shift in regeneration passing through the crankshaft now, in comparison to previous generation of PU.

Also has to be used far more in each lap to very high degree than before.

Pistons driving a crankshaft will have a different effect to that of driving a "remote" MGU-K at front end of crankshaft by input from gearbox at the other end.
Significantly different demands to last rules.

The MGU-K will have it's own typical wave form input to crankshaft assembly when in maximum ouput too. Its more complicated than superficial views indicate, not just slapping on a bigger generation hardware to last years PU hardware.

Farnborough
Farnborough
136
Joined: 18 Mar 2023, 14:15

Re: Honda Power Unit Hardware & Software

Post

With LS statement "like being electrocuted in a chair " with UK power supply @ 50Hz, then that would be wave form harmonic from MGU-K (given it's rotation at peak load or near to it) and possibly causing resonance/echo in the crankshaft :D :D :D

Very much lower you'd get "whitefinger" :D from something like a British twin motorcycle in 360 degree crank arrangement.

Yes this is partly in jest, but the chassis doesn't effectively MAKE vibration as such ..... switch off the PU and no vibration is present.

Interesting that MV has commented on topic about their engine, and indicated that others are giving comments (not to press) too.

You can hear it (debated at length on SF26 thread) either high level cacophony during deceleration and regeneration phase, that which people thought, erroneously, a drone.

The "screaming" under max regeneration is only the part of vibration spectrum that becomes audible, to us humans, as is moves into range of our acoustic collection devices (ears) but will be there at "subsonic" levels and available for distribution within vehicle structure.

mzso
mzso
72
Joined: 05 Apr 2014, 14:52

Re: Honda Power Unit Hardware & Software

Post

diffuser wrote:
04 Mar 2026, 18:30
mzso wrote:
04 Mar 2026, 12:48
ispano6 wrote:
03 Mar 2026, 02:55
Nothing on the RA626H has been optimized yet. It doesn't experience the vibrations on the test-bench, so it needs to be mated to the full drivetrain and monocoque and even then it is not sufficient.

People here are talking about past decades and applying it to today are really just bringing back a grudge. Some people carelessly uttering things like AMR should drop the engine and go with a Mercedes. They don't understand that you don't get that design freedom from a customer engine. It's the reason why they chose a works partnership. Perhaps it didn't need to be exclusive.
How do you know it didn't vibrate? Maybe they just thought that it wouldn't be a problem.
On the other hand AM didn't deliver a chassis (and gearbox?) until very late. So they are at least partially to blame. If they could have tested everything together since early January, they could have fixed everything for testing, and everything could have went smoothly.

I'm not sure how many things I can keep going around correcting but I need to stop things from propagating.

- Nothing on the RA626H has been optimized yet.
It has, It's been running on a dyno for months.
- It doesn't experience the vibrations on the test-bench, so it needs to be mated to the full drivetrain and monocoque and even then it is not sufficient.
They are now testing with the full car Dyno and have taken the battery out to finish optimize the PU. So they have been able to replicate the issue. The vibrations aren't being caused by the ICE alone. It's a combination of interconnected devices. The result is kind of like rubbing your finger around the top of a Chrystal wine glass at just the right speed that it starts to ring (resonant vibration). In this case there isn't ringing but the battery start to shake apart. I presume that the higher the ICE RPM the louder the ringing was getting.
- note For now they're exploring fixes/workarounds that do not involve changing the PU/gearbox,etc. I don't know what they are doing but I would guess they're making changes to the dampers between all the devices including the battery and the chassis.
It feels like you should have quoted ispano6 directly. However, how do you know for a fact what causes it, when Honda is still investigating?
Also. As far as I understand resonance requires external vibration frequency matching the resonant frequency of an object. So how can resonance be an issue if the vibrations in a PU constantly and very quickly change. (apart from reaching top speed, without hitting the limiter)