We saw many times engine overheats and then explodes during a race weekend, this may be caused from a leakage in the radiator then cause the engine to overheat. In the article below I explain how an F1 radiator works and how it is made. Enjoy F1 Technical Fans.When the heat’s on, it’s up to F1’s radiators to cap the soaring temperatures of the cooling water and the engine oil.
Never mind ‘keep cool and take it easy’: a F1 radiator has a mighty tough job to do, rejecting as it must about 200 kilowatts of heat. That’s the equivalent of 270 horsepower.
‘The internal combustion engine is only 35 % efficient, so we have to manage the heat rejection to keep the engine cool enough to deliver its power’.
Made of aluminium and replaced after every race, an F1 radiator actually consists of three separate radiators stacked horizontally, with a pipe leading from the cylinder head into the top radiator. The top and bottom radiators function as a loop, with a pipe exiting from the top radiator to feed the water to the bottom one, and a further pipe leaving the end of that to return the cooled water to the engine.
The middle radiator is separate, because its job is to cool not the water but the engine oil. Its central location affords the oil radiator better protection from any debris which might block it. ‘This is important, at the start of the race, you need to have the best possible water cooling, but in the race itself, oil cooling becomes more important. You want the oil radiator to go on working effectively even when the car picks up dirt and debris during the race’.
Manufactured by an aluminium braising process, the core or ‘matrix’ of each radiator is what makes it effective, with its mass of fins providing the maximum possible surface area for the dissipation of heat as the oil or water travels through the radiator’s tubes. The construction of the radiator takes matter further, because the fins on the water radiators are louvered , helping to cool the water by approximately 7 degrees Celsius while heating the ambient air by 60 degrees Celsius.
To help it handle higher back pressures, the oil radiator is not tubular but is made using a plate-and-bar construction. This also helps achieve an even greater reduction in heat, with the oil temperature dropping 35 degrees Celsius on its passage through the unit.
Its when the car is stationary on the grid that the radiator has to cope with the toughest conditions, because here there is no air being forced over its fins by the forward motion of the car. This is why each radiator is connected to a carbon reservoir or expansion chamber. The reservoir acts as a soft spring in the system, allowing for the expansion of water and containing it. As the water temperature rises to near boiling, it expands and overflows into the reservoir, but it cannot escape, and once the car is under way it can be used again.
‘The FIA stipulates the maximum water pressure at which we are allowed to operate. Its 3.75 bar and at that level water boils at 150 degrees Celsius instead of 100 degrees Celsius . Most teams run close to the limit, because running at high pressure ensures that you don’t boil over on the grid, especially if you are starting from the front and thus having to wait longer at a standstill. Once the car is on the move, temperatures fall rapidly and we have to ensure that we have enough pressure at the new running temperature to keep the water from boiling’.
Talk about keeping cool under pressure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
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