Ferrari Power Unit Hardware & Software

[Fer.Fan]

Supposed Ferrari engine problems:

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 00337.html

Summary:
- Ferrari are slowed down by a turbocharger issue, which they hope to fix until Spain
- GPS data shows that Ferrari stop accelerating in the second half of the straight
- both Vettel and Räikkönen get new control electronics in only the second race of the season
- the new engine is hugely improved, but the turbocharger causes issues
- new turbo can run with a higher boost, but then the MGU-H cannot recover enough energy to charge the batteries
- engine goes into charging mode in the second half of the straight, which costs power
-spinning the turbine too high can cause failures; Räikkönen's turbocharger overheated in Melbourne, which caused the fire in the airbox
- problem emerged during testing and Ferrari, unsuccessfully, tried to fix it with new software
- Ferrari car is quick in the corners and good on its tyres, but they lose time on the straights in Bahrain
- in conjunction with Honeywell a new turbocharger has been developed, but lead time in turbocharger development are up to 12 weeks
- Ferrari hope to have the fix ready until the first European races
- restricted power costs 0,5sec/lap so if the fix works they would make a big step towards Mercedes
- turbocharger experts warn that in this area weaknesses might not be cured in the first attempt

Personally I think here was some obvious power cutting in australia but this is blown out of proportions and is waaaay too generalized. What kind of straight? What engine modes?
Today grosjean reached 314 kmh on the back straight on his super soft run which was faster than rosberg (310) and hamilton (314) on their SS runs.

I am still not sure where the problem is when Haas can run it without a problem. Maybe they are trying different PU settings? I cannot believe they wouldn't test all race tracks inhouse...

"GPS data shows that Ferrari stop accelerating in the second half of the straight"
This is strange claim, this is same issue Honda had last season. Ferrari have no problem with top speed as Honda had in 2015. I think Ferrari PU is far of showing its full potential jet but story of " stop accelerating in the second half of the straight" can`t be true. Just look att lap times, Ferrari have quite good car.

[armyk]

https://twitter.com/Gianludale27/status ... 8580519936 Just wait for race... and pace in P3 was also very nice

[PlatinumZealot]

If they have turbo issues and still are beating Mercedes in P3 at the moment, I don't want to know when their turbos are fixed!

Rubbish from "journalists" as usual.

[erikejw]

About that the Ferraris stop accelerating at the end of long straights.

If that is so it does not have to be a problem. Maybe it is a new MGU-K mapping.

The reasoning would go like. In the end of long straights they harvest energy with the MGU-K instead of deploying it.

That would make sense if it is hard to harvest enough at that specific circuit.

You have least use of ES at the end of straights. Why not take it a step further and harvest during max power to fill up the storage.

Then they will deploy it early in acceleration phases when they benefit the most(long straights).

It might also be a combination of that and that they need more ES for the turbo compared to earlier years.

This is pure speculation

Edit: Can this theory of ES and MGU-K use be part of the Mercs superior qualy mode?

In qualy there is no need to care about top speed so to harvest at the end of the straights might be a good tradeoff and deploy energy in a completely different way and more often, early on long straights and after low speed corners.

They don 't need to defend at end of straights in qualy. It mights also be tough on the MGU-K ti use that way and too much so only on qualy laps and iblaps and outlaps during race.

[Sevach]

Pardon my ignorance but, HCCI what is that?

[kebab]

Pardon my ignorance but, HCCI what is that?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homogeneo ... n_ignition

[Juzh]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CfWSkvFW8AAXkNT.jpg:large

Pardon my ignorance but, HCCI what is that?

Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) formed the basis of the Mercedes Power Unit upgrade seen at the Italian Grand Prix in 2015. The impact of this system for Mercedes bought performance in line with V10 power units of old. HCCI s a form of internal combustion in which well-mixed fuel and oxidizer (typically air) are compressed to the point of auto-ignition. As in other forms of combustion, this exothermic reaction releases chemical energy into a sensible form that can be transformed in an engine into work and heat.

http://jwgrandprix.com/2016/04/01/formu ... in-canada/

[Sevach]

Many thanks guys =D>

[hurril]

I was under the impression that an HCCI mode, is not primarily about power but about efficiency on partial throttle application. (To clarify: with a less-than-maximal torque demand, is what I mean.)

[toraabe]

A HCCI engine is able to control the combustion better. When Ferrari says they are able to boost up the engine, it simply means that you have got the knocking under control. Renault will implement this in Canada.

[Tommy Cookers]

A HCCI engine is able to control the combustion better ......

isn't (by definition) HCCI unable to control the combustion ?
because a mixture is already present in non-self-ignition conditions that then become self-ignition conditions as the piston moves upward

unless as Honda 2 stroke HCCI Paris-Dakar motorcycle, modulating an internal EGR effect to induce self-ignition by raising charge temperature
in F1 we could in this way (at relatively low overall AFR/mep of course) have CI, making use of our DI to control combustion rate ?

or there could be self-ignition post-spark ?
do we have any evidence of systematic/non-incidental HCCI or CI with any F1 car ?
wouldn't this show in acoustic (and/or electromagnetic) analysis ?

[iichel]

How do you see auto ignition post spark? Partial flame front and anything that was not reached in the flame front will self-combust? What is the point of the spark in that case?

[ME4ME]

Perfect storm led to Vettel's engine failure
http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/perfe ... re-685224/

Although initial suspicion had revolved around broken fuel injectors, detailed analysis at Maranello this week has confirmed it was something totally different.

The part that failed was an exhaust valve, but interestingly Ferrari technicians believe that this was the end result of the problem rather than the cause.

They believe that a problem with the engine parameters, linked to electronics management, while it was running at low speed triggered a set of circumstances that pushed the valve beyond its normal operating parameters, and caused the failure.

Ferrari's belief that an electronics issue was to blame would explain why the technicians had not discovered any problem with the power unit before the race.

[gruntguru]

How do you see auto ignition post spark? Partial flame front and anything that was not reached in the flame front will self-combust? What is the point of the spark in that case?

Most likely the spark will be redundant (perhaps a backup ignition source) when in HCCI mode. The plugs would still fire but only after HCC Ignition has already occurred.

[Tommy Cookers]

How do you see auto ignition post spark? Partial flame front and anything that was not reached in the flame front will self-combust? What is the point of the spark in that case?

traditionally ignition/combustion was a big grey area .....
carburettor engines quite often ran on auto ignition post spark (visibly continuing idling after ignition cutoff, and invisibly at high power)
this is not pressingly detrimental to the engine
compared to pure SI, combustion will be completed earlier and so efficiency and power will be greater
notionally this is an engine configuration that will neither auto ignite without initial SI nor pre-ignite with SI
in principle, with the omnicapable DI etc, we can now put the engine in this region and keep it there

HCCI is about combusting at high AFRs unuseable via SI alone (ie AFRs also limiting peak combustion pressures to mechanically safe levels)
as our F1 engines cannot prepare the charge as HCCI does, they may be emulating HCCI mode with CI, not true HCCI

and in principle there will still be a region of conditions between HCCI/CI and SI without any auto ignition ?