Turbo charged engines in F1 – explained

Renault Energy F1-2014

As we all have come to know, from the next season (2014), Formula 1 is going to adopt 1.6-litre V6 turbo charged engines in place of the current 2.4-litre normally-aspirated V8 engines. This change has the potential to change the landscape of Formula 1. Many Team Principles have admitted that they will have to start development of the 2014 car afresh from a clean slate.

So why are teams giving so much importance to this aspect? Let’s find out:

How does a Turbo charged engine function

What separates a Turbo charged engine from a normally aspirated engine is its greater efficiency and power. In a Turbo charged engine, “the air-fuel mixture is optimized by allowing more air into the engine’s chamber which, in turn, creates more power and torque when the piston is forced downward by the resulting explosion. This task is accomplished by condensing the air molecules, so that the air the engine draws in is denser”.

“A turbocharger is basically an air pump. It uses the exhaust flow from the engine to spin a turbine, which in turn spins an air pump. The turbine in the turbocharger spins at speeds of up to 150,000 rotations per minute (rpm), which is about 30 times faster than most car engines”. By using the exhaust flow from the engine, which otherwise would have been wasted energy, it is used to increase the mass of air, which makes it easier to ensure that all fuel is burned before being vented at the start of the exhaust stage.

Now, one must be wondering how is the air leaving the exhaust, which obviously would be very hot, cooled before it enters the combustion chamber? “This is done by Charge-air cooler or sometimes referred to as Heat Exchanger. The Charge-air cooler reduces the temperature of the compressed air so that it is denser when it enters the chamber; it also helps to keep the temperature down in the combustion chamber. The engine, Turbocharger and Charge-air cooler together form a “charge-air system”.

For a detailed explanation, please see the following video:

Part that ERS (Energy Recovery Systems) is going to play

ERS together with the turbo charged engine is going to form the powertrain or power unit. It is estimated that ERS will add upto 160bhp of additional power by increasing the effeciency of the power train by harvesting the energy dissipated as heat from the exhaust and brakes. The ERS will take over the function of KERS which is to harvest the kinetic energy generated during breaking.

Whom will it favour?

Well, the answer to this is easy. It will favour the manufacturing teams, namely, Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault. Traditionally, Formula 1 has had teams who are not in the automobile industry or do not have commercial operations in automobiles other than in Formula 1.

These teams essentially work on the aerodynamics of the car and rely on the manufacturing teams like Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault for engines, who have the necessary expertise and resources to execute such a complex set of technology.

Talk in the Formula 1 paddock is that Mercedes have the strongest engine package for the 2014 season. Also, Honda will be returning to Formula 1 in 2015 to re-forge their historic and triumphant partnership with Mclaren.

Advantages of the Turbocharged engine

• Turbocharged engine is highly fuel efficient, which will help to a great extent keeping in mind that the maximum fuel limit of the car is going to be 100kg per race.

• Turbocharged engine is smaller, lighter and easier to fit than a naturally aspirated engine and as an added bonus produces more power and torque than a naturally aspirated engine too.

• Due to the reduced overall size of the Turbocharged engine, the sound-radiating outer surface is smaller, it is therefore less noisy than a naturally aspirated engine with identical output.

Overall, it will very interesting to see how teams cope with this complex technology and who adapts to it quicker. It will certainly level the playing filed to an extent and the possibility of one team dominating the season is highly unlikely.

The reliability of the engine is also very important as 2014 engine rules limit each driver to just five engines per season, which is approximately 4 engines per race. So, the team which is able to balance all the aspects mentioned above will prevail.

P.S: Certain technical aspects borrowed from “HowStuffWorks” and “kadekticaret.com“.