Ferrari Power Unit Hardware & Software

[saviour stivala]

Indeed the rules seem to mention aluminum alloys only for the pistons. But what does it mean? What is the definition of an alloy in this context? That are the allowed alloyed components?

How much iron is allowed in an "aluminum alloy"? Just thinking loud here, maybe I am way off base.

There is a 300g minimum weight per piston (with piston-pin, piston-pin retainers and piston rings). That would be the limiting factor, surely?

Edit: For clarity: This

The crankcase and cylinder block of the engine must be made of cast or wrought aluminium alloys - the use of composite materials is not allowed. The crankshaft and camshafts must be made from an iron-based alloy, pistons from an aluminium alloy and valves from alloys based on iron, nickel, cobalt or titanium.

is stated, wrongly, here: https://www.formula1.com/en/championshi ... d_ERS.html
On second thoughts, this is not present in the 2017 technical regs. Was this present in former rulesets???

So indeed, there is NOTHING in the current regs (that I can find) that forbids steel nor mandates aluminum. Sorry!

This is what is in the current regs:

5.16 Materials and construction – General :
5.16.1 Unless explicitly permitted for a specific application, the following materials may not be used
anywhere on the power unit :
a) Magnesium based alloys.
b) Metal Matrix Composites (MMC’s).
c) Intermetallic materials.
d) Alloys containing more than 5% by weight of Platinum, Ruthenium, Iridium or Rhenium.
e) Copper based alloys containing more than 2.75% Beryllium.
f) Any other alloy class containing more than 0.25% Beryllium.
g) Tungsten base alloys.
h) Ceramics and ceramic matrix composites.
5.16.2 The restrictions in Article 5.16.1 do not apply to coatings provided the total coating thickness
does not exceed 25% of the section thickness of the underlying base material in all axes. In all
cases, other than under Article 5.16.3(b), the relevant coating must not exceed 0.8mm.
Where the coating is based on Gold, Platinum, Ruthenium, Iridium or Rhenium, the coating
thickness must not exceed 0.035mm.
5.16.3 The restrictions in Article 5.16.1(h) do not apply to the following applications :
a) Any component whose primary purpose is for electrical or thermal insulation.
b) Any coating whose primary purpose is for thermal insulation of the outside of the
exhaust system.
5.16.4 Magnesium based alloys, where permitted, must be available on a non-exclusive basis and
under normal commercial terms to all competitors. Only those alloys covered by ISO16220 or
ISO3116 and approved by the FIA may be used.
5.17 Materials and construction – Components :
5.17.1 Pistons must respect Article 5.16. Titanium alloys are not permitted.

“what does it mean?” “what is the definition of an alloy in this context?”.
An aluminium alloy which is either AL-Si, AL-Cu, AL-Mg or AL-Zn based.
Refer to link I posted.

[63l8qrrfy6]

There is nothing there stating steel cannot be used.
Titanium pistons should be fun!

It specifically says no titanium. Anything else goes (provided it respects 5.16 that is).

[Dr. Acula]

I'm not aware of a standard location for the microphones. My guess is that Ferrari has theirs mounted near the gearbox, other teams having theirs mounted near the radiators. Engine exhaust, turbocharger, and gearbox noise dominate the sounds we hear. Why would the electric motors, their controllers, and/or the ES be audible over these high-dB sources?

Since 2018 all cars are equipped with 2 onboard microphones, one in the regular old school position and one near the exhaust. Those 2 audio feeds are then broadcast sepparately to the left and right channel. They did this in order to improve the onboard sound and to allow easier differentiation between cars/engines.

ERS winding noises are very obvious on the ferrari, much more so than on other cars, i guess they positioned the second mic not near exhaust, but rather somewhere else in the car.

Winding in what sense? How would the electrical components be heard over gears, exhaust, turbcharger? Regardless of mic position.

Actually it's not the electric components itself which make this noise, it's the gears. That's the typical whine of straight cut gears. Could be from the gearbox or from the MGU-K to ICE gearing.

That's the Ferrari.


That's a Formula E. Similar sound but of course way more obvious because of the lack of the ICE.


That's a Porsche 911 GT3 from the Porsch Supercup. No electric component but you can hear the same sound much louder because the gearbox is bolted to the chassis and the chassis then acts as a resonance body

[CriXus]

Excellent article by Matthew Somerfield (@SomersF1) about ERS fundamentals and how Ferrari have made gains.

Energy Recovery System Fundamentals And Taking A Look At Ferrari’S Gains

[hurril]

Excellent article by Matt Somers (@SomersF1) about ERS fundamentals and how Ferrari have made gains.

Energy Recovery System Fundamentals And Taking A Look At Ferrari’S Gains

For all the posturing in the beginning of that article, I don't think this is in fact correct:

"It can spend 4MJ of energy that’s been stored in the ES per lap (this is where the 33.33 second misnomer came from) but can also draw an unlimited supply of energy from the MGUH through the MGU CONTROL UNIT. However, it can only recover and store 2MJ of energy per lap in the ES."

Please correct me if I'm wrong though because I'll gladly get it right in that case. But the MGU-k can, in fact, _spend_ more than 4MJ over the course of a single lap, drawn from the ES. I cannot, however, cause a deficit that is larger than 4MJ with respect to the lap before this current one. I.e:

SoC(lap N) - SoC(lap N + 1) <= 4MJ.

So, provided that I am the one in the right here, the MGU-k could theoretically spend 10MJ over the course of a single lap provided that it also recuperated 6-12MJ. (Contributions from the MGU-h notwithstanding.)

[godlameroso]

Keep it simple we don't need 5 pages of arguments.

4MJ per lap from ES to MGU-K
2MJ per lap from MGU-K to ES

Those are the only per lap restrictions. Energy can take other paths, as long as the energy isn't going from the ES directly to the MGU-K via control electronics, it does not count against the 4MJ pool.

You can partially drive the MGU-K via engine ancillaries, and the MGU-H. Since this extra energy is powering the K the ES does not have to provide it. Say the H, and your ancillaries are providing 30kw to the K. That means the ES only needs to supply 90KW for maximum power. This stretches out the ES supply that can be deployed per lap, because if you lower the power, the energy can be delivered for longer.

And now 5 pages of people telling me I'm wrong.

[hurril]

Keep it simple we don't need 5 pages of arguments.

4MJ per lap from ES to MGU-K
2MJ per lap from MGU-K to ES

Those are the only per lap restrictions. Energy can take other paths, as long as the energy isn't going from the ES directly to the MGU-K via control electronics, it does not count against the 4MJ pool.

You can partially drive the MGU-K via engine ancillaries, and the MGU-H. Since this extra energy is powering the K the ES does not have to provide it. Say the H, and your ancillaries are providing 30kw to the K. That means the ES only needs to supply 90KW for maximum power. This stretches out the ES supply that can be deployed per lap, because if you lower the power, the energy can be delivered for longer.

And now 5 pages of people telling me I'm wrong.

No need to be rude. Why do you think the rules mention SoC delta and not as simple as you put it?

[henry]

Excellent article by Matt Somers (@SomersF1) about ERS fundamentals and how Ferrari have made gains.

Energy Recovery System Fundamentals And Taking A Look At Ferrari’S Gains

For all the posturing in the beginning of that article, I don't think this is in fact correct:

"It can spend 4MJ of energy that’s been stored in the ES per lap (this is where the 33.33 second misnomer came from) but can also draw an unlimited supply of energy from the MGUH through the MGU CONTROL UNIT. However, it can only recover and store 2MJ of energy per lap in the ES."

Please correct me if I'm wrong though because I'll gladly get it right in that case. But the MGU-k can, in fact, _spend_ more than 4MJ over the course of a single lap, drawn from the ES. I cannot, however, cause a deficit that is larger than 4MJ with respect to the lap before this current one. I.e:

SoC(lap N) - SoC(lap N + 1) <= 4MJ.

So, provided that I am the one in the right here, the MGU-k could theoretically spend 10MJ over the course of a single lap provided that it also recuperated 6-12MJ. (Contributions from the MGU-h notwithstanding.)

SoC is not lap related. It’s instantaneous. “At any time the car is on the track” it can’t go over it’s max SOC, or under its min SOC.

[Red Rock Mutley]

Please correct me if I'm wrong though because I'll gladly get it right in that case. But the MGU-k can, in fact, _spend_ more than 4MJ over the course of a single lap, drawn from the ES. I cannot, however, cause a deficit that is larger than 4MJ with respect to the lap before this current one.

Things can get a litle confusing, because there is both a 4MJ effective capacity limit on the ES and a 4MJ per lap energy transfer limit between the ES and MGU-K

And then to really add to the confusion, the MGU-H is permitted to directly transfer as much energy as it can harvest to the MGU-K

That's why the 120KW for 33.33s doesn't work out, because it doesn't take the whole hybrid system as a whole. On full throttle, when the MGU-K is deploying 120KW, the MGU-H will be harvesting and that accounts for a big chunk of that 120KW energy demand, only the deficiency comes from the battery

So there's no hard limit on the amount of energy the MGU-K can deploy over the course of a lap, it's all down to how much can be harvested and how much can be time shifted in the ES for later deployment

It's become a mish-mash of different ways of explaining what's going on. Individual items are taken in isolation and tried to explain how those 2 components relate to each other, and put in the context of past explanations. But really the whole hybrid system operates as one. I find it best to simply refer to the energy from diagram from the F1 regs. It cuts through a lot of that past misconceptions

[ian_s]

You can partially drive the MGU-K via engine ancillaries, and the MGU-H. Since this extra energy is powering the K the ES does not have to provide it. Say the H, and your ancillaries are providing 30kw to the K. That means the ES only needs to supply 90KW for maximum power. This stretches out the ES supply that can be deployed per lap, because if you lower the power, the energy can be delivered for longer.

And now 5 pages of people telling me I'm wrong.

How can the ancillaries provide power to the mgu-K? I see nothing in the flow diagram that would allow any electrical energy to get back to the K. All I can see is the mechanical (I assume) link between the K and ancillaries, and the rules specifically prohibit the use of anything other than the ICE and MGU-K to provide power. plus this link falls under the 120kw rule.

[godlameroso]

You can partially drive the MGU-K via engine ancillaries, and the MGU-H. Since this extra energy is powering the K the ES does not have to provide it. Say the H, and your ancillaries are providing 30kw to the K. That means the ES only needs to supply 90KW for maximum power. This stretches out the ES supply that can be deployed per lap, because if you lower the power, the energy can be delivered for longer.

And now 5 pages of people telling me I'm wrong.

How can the ancillaries provide power to the mgu-K? I see nothing in the flow diagram that would allow any electrical energy to get back to the K. All I can see is the mechanical (I assume) link between the K and ancillaries, and the rules specifically prohibit the use of anything other than the ICE and MGU-K to provide power. plus this link falls under the 120kw rule.

The crankshaft provides energy for the K, as can engine ancillaries. Look at the flowchart carefully. Energy is energy whether it's electrical or mechanical is irrelevant.

[GrandAxe]

You can partially drive the MGU-K via engine ancillaries, and the MGU-H. Since this extra energy is powering the K the ES does not have to provide it. Say the H, and your ancillaries are providing 30kw to the K. That means the ES only needs to supply 90KW for maximum power. This stretches out the ES supply that can be deployed per lap, because if you lower the power, the energy can be delivered for longer.

And now 5 pages of people telling me I'm wrong.

How can the ancillaries provide power to the mgu-K? I see nothing in the flow diagram that would allow any electrical energy to get back to the K. All I can see is the mechanical (I assume) link between the K and ancillaries, and the rules specifically prohibit the use of anything other than the ICE and MGU-K to provide power. plus this link falls under the 120kw rule.

The arrow from the engine and ancillaries is split, but it is still the same single arrow governed by the exact same parameters. The return direction (arrowhead) for both is shown at the MGU-K.

[godlameroso]

Keep it simple we don't need 5 pages of arguments.

4MJ per lap from ES to MGU-K
2MJ per lap from MGU-K to ES

Those are the only per lap restrictions. Energy can take other paths, as long as the energy isn't going from the ES directly to the MGU-K via control electronics, it does not count against the 4MJ pool.

You can partially drive the MGU-K via engine ancillaries, and the MGU-H. Since this extra energy is powering the K the ES does not have to provide it. Say the H, and your ancillaries are providing 30kw to the K. That means the ES only needs to supply 90KW for maximum power. This stretches out the ES supply that can be deployed per lap, because if you lower the power, the energy can be delivered for longer.

And now 5 pages of people telling me I'm wrong.

No need to be rude. Why do you think the rules mention SoC delta and not as simple as you put it?

Sorry, I wasn't trying to be rude, a little self depricating more than anything.

As for your question, I'm still not sure, Henry says SoC is automatic and is any time the car is on track. The thing I don't quite get is if energizing the MGU-H via the ES counts against this SoC. If it does, so be it, however I'm not 100% sure this is the case.

[dren]

It looks like the SoC is simply that, the SoC. It doesn't matter what is adding to or taking from the ES.

[Brake Horse Power]

Small question, rumours went Ferrari had a sudden increase of ?40?hp some races ago, which I think started this discussion. Though it is a valid discussion how the energy system could potentially be used, it does not explain the sudden 40hp increase does it? I mean the mgu-k just isn't allowed to deliver more than 120kW, I assume all teams use this power, so the secret must be somewhere else?