Mercedes Power Unit Hardware & Software

[Dazed1]

Go on....

A difFErent material.

Once they iron out the problems they will steel a march in the others.

There will be PUNishment Ferrous if we keep this up.

[roon]

I'll forge ahead and cast my thoughts on the matter. Iron pistons, steel pistons, or something else?

Food for thought:

5.16.2 The restrictions in Article 5.16.1 (permitted materials list) 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.

So other than those last elements listed, a maximum 0.8mm coating of any material can be applied to the pistons.

The formula may point priorities away from reciprocating mass towards optimizing friction. Piston, pin, retainers, and rings, assembled, cannot weigh less 300g. Steel or iron could permit, as has been discussed, a thinner cap and a longer connecting rod, reducing side forces on the skirt.



Article on steel pistons: https://www.cycleworld.com/2016/01/14/s ... re#page-13

And one on iron pistons, from 1925 : http://archive.commercialmotor.com/arti ... or-pistons

[Big Tea]

A difFErent material.

Once they iron out the problems they will steel a march in the others.

There will be PUNishment Ferrous if we keep this up.

Piston from a great height

[Muniix]

Steel piston needs iron liner with the right surface gives the best friction reduction. Reduced top land crevice volume will burn early from turbulent jets. With the larger crevice it will mostly stay quenched, holding cool end gas during compression that enters main cylinder volume and contribute to hr50 cylinder pressure.

[J.A.W.]

History shows - there are 'ways & means' with cylinder liners..

See here: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/ ... 01220.html

That Napier piston aero engine from six & a 1/2 decades ago - has several interesting parallels with current F1..
not least being a high-efficiency turbo-compound, with both S.I. & C.I. features, but goes even further,
being a 2T, running on diesel, with Fe/Al oil-cooled pistons, & infinitely* variable ratio - compound gearing.

*Between two end points, of course.

[gruntguru]

History shows - there are 'ways & means' with cylinder liners..

See here: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/ ... 01220.html

That Napier piston aero engine from six & a 1/2 decades ago - has several interesting parallels with current F1..
not least being a high-efficiency turbo-compound, with both S.I. & C.I. features, but goes even further,
being a 2T, running on diesel, with Fe/Al oil-cooled pistons, & infinitely* variable ratio - compound gearing.

*Between two end points, of course.

OT but that Beier CVT looks interesting. Slip less than 1% is a good number - especially for 60 years ago.

[Sevach]

Anyone know if Mercedes will bring an updated power unit to Canada?

Not anymore apparently.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/qual ... e-1044884/

[F1NAC]

Sassi effect

[djones]

I actually like the fact they are not bringing an update. It means we have a known baseline to compare the new Ferrari, Honda and Renault to.

I suspect its still the most powerful though.

[MtthsMlw]

AMuS:

During the inspection of the new units, deviations of 0.2 millimetres were found on the crankcase. The problem could not be solved in the short time.

[PhillipM]

That's a hell of a lot for it to just be manufacturing error - someone misread the CAD model?

[dans79]

That's a hell of a lot for it to just be manufacturing error - someone misread the CAD model?

It would need to be a hell of a lot more than one person. Based on the size of the company and level of machining involved, it would not surprise me if a half dozen people where supposed to have inspected the part.

[hurril]

That's a hell of a lot for it to just be manufacturing error - someone misread the CAD model?

It does seem a lot to me too. But as someone that knows jack --- about tolerances, what would be acceptable? As in: what are the ranges in this context? Feeling a nerd chub coming on

[PhillipM]

Even for bow/runout you'd expect 5µm for an F1 crankshaft at 15krpm

[Big Tea]

In extreme circumstances you can have tolerance build up that all appears in 'one place' even through each individual component is theoretically within tolerance.

Don't know if this would be allowed to happen in a F1 engine, but in industry if it is not allowed an a very few cases out of a million the costs and time become horrendous.