Renault R31

[marcush.]

Renault has abandonned their philosophy of more upright radiator layout for 2011 and has adopted the RedBull approach....

[madly]

Zgred thanks, great photo!

Below HiRes version with brightened dark areas.



and HiRes link: http://sliwinski.priv.pl/f1/r31_fee_2011_03_24.jpg

EDIT: typo

[marcush.]

far left you can see the exhaust outlet..there is no directing over the floor it is all aimed to go below ..

[dren]

far left you can see the exhaust outlet..there is no directing over the floor it is all aimed to go below ..

Scarbs said it was confirmed from ex Renault employees that it all goes under the car. Some goes under and outside of the floor and then curves back in under the floor.

[nacho]

What is that aluminum "bottles" purpose?

[Francesc]

[Raptor22]

far left you can see the exhaust outlet..there is no directing over the floor it is all aimed to go below ..

Scarbs said it was confirmed from ex Renault employees that it all goes under the car. Some goes under and outside of the floor and then curves back in under the floor.

something SLC, marrek, raptor22 and possibly marc have been saying for what.....5-6 weeks now...

Now to bust the exhaust flow as a "jet" myth...

[bot6]

What is that aluminum "bottles" purpose?

I think those are expansion tanks for the radiators. When the cooling fluid heats up due to the heat given out by the engine, it expands. If it stays confined in the radiator, pressure inside builds up and it bursts. If the coolant has somewhere to go - an expansion tank - it will flow there and sit in the tank, and the pressure in the radiator will stay stable.

Once the engine cools down, the coolant contracts again and the excess coolant from before, sitting in the expansion tank, gets "sucked back" into the system.

[marekk]

What is that aluminum "bottles" purpose?

I think those are expansion tanks for the radiators. When the cooling fluid heats up due to the heat given out by the engine, it expands. If it stays confined in the radiator, pressure inside builds up and it bursts. If the coolant has somewhere to go - an expansion tank - it will flow there and sit in the tank, and the pressure in the radiator will stay stable.

Once the engine cools down, the coolant contracts again and the excess coolant from before, sitting in the expansion tank, gets "sucked back" into the system.

Expansion tanks are usually placed above other members of cooling system.
I think this bottle holds some inert gas at high pressure and is used to pressurize cooling system to increase boiling temp and efficiency.

[bot6]

marekk -> F1 cooling systems are pre-pressurized. They have to be at a pressure higher than ambiant, for the reasons you mentioned but also to avoid fluctuations in pressure due to the Gs caused by acceleration, braking and cornering. Therefore, gravity is not the limiting factor in the positioning of the expansion tank, as there are higher forces to counteract.

Usually, the way these systems are pressurized is by injecting an inert gas into the expansion tank at the desired pressure, with a membrane separating the two fluids.

So essentially, you're right, it is a pressurized tank, but it's also an expansion tank. I just didn't want to get into too much detail about pressurized cooling systems.

[manchild]

That bottle seams to be containing something very sensitive, it's welded stainless steel.

My wild guess would be liquid nitrogen whose release the driver can activate when exhaust overheats itself, radiators, floor or sidepod under safety car. A liquid nitrogen spray can with probably multiple muzzles.

If it is however in one sidepod only, than I'd say - a drink bottle in nice place to keep it cool, and reduce cog.

[marekk]

That bottle seams to be containing something very sensitive, it's welded stainless steel.

My wild guess would be liquid nitrogen whose release the driver can activate when exhaust overheats itself, radiators, floor or sidepod under safety car. A liquid nitrogen spray can with probably multiple muzzles.

If it is however in one sidepod only, than I'd say - a drink bottle in nice place to keep it cool, and reduce cog.

I think they'll need much bigger drink bottles, sitting essentially in the middle of 1 MW heater.

[gibells]

You can see some kind of insulating material surrounding the pipes. It is some kind of woven material. Anyone hazard a guess what it is?

[marekk]

marekk -> F1 cooling systems are pre-pressurized. They have to be at a pressure higher than ambiant, for the reasons you mentioned but also to avoid fluctuations in pressure due to the Gs caused by acceleration, braking and cornering. Therefore, gravity is not the limiting factor in the positioning of the expansion tank, as there are higher forces to counteract.

Usually, the way these systems are pressurized is by injecting an inert gas into the expansion tank at the desired pressure, with a membrane separating the two fluids.

So essentially, you're right, it is a pressurized tank, but it's also an expansion tank. I just didn't want to get into too much detail about pressurized cooling systems.

For me it looks more like 150-200 atm of pressure and reduction valve in front of the bottle.
A little to hot here for liquid nitrogen.

[Hangaku]

marekk -> F1 cooling systems are pre-pressurized. They have to be at a pressure higher than ambiant, for the reasons you mentioned but also to avoid fluctuations in pressure due to the Gs caused by acceleration, braking and cornering. Therefore, gravity is not the limiting factor in the positioning of the expansion tank, as there are higher forces to counteract.

Usually, the way these systems are pressurized is by injecting an inert gas into the expansion tank at the desired pressure, with a membrane separating the two fluids.

So essentially, you're right, it is a pressurized tank, but it's also an expansion tank. I just didn't want to get into too much detail about pressurized cooling systems.

For me it looks more like 150-200 atm of pressure and reduction valve in front of the bottle.
A little to hot here for liquid nitrogen.

The plug pulled just at the right time could help overtaking though! Now there's an idea! I'm off to email Bernie ...