Fuel cooling

All that has to do with the power train, gearbox, clutch, fuels and lubricants, etc. Generally the mechanical side of Formula One.
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Scuderia_Russ
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Joined: 17 Jan 2004, 22:24
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Fuel cooling

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Patrick Head stated recently in Autosport that Ferrari use a device that extracts the fuel from the car when on the grid,cools it and then retuns it to the fuel cell prior to a race.Wether the same amount goes back in (a question posed to Charlie Whiting by Head) and cost implications aside,just how does this benefit combustion exactly?
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Racer-X
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003, 14:29
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It is reported that each 10 degC represents 0.5% in power.
By the regulations the teams are allowed to cool the fuel up to 10degC below the ambient temperature.
For 2004 only the fuel in the pitstop tanks can be cooled and not the car tank anymore.
The big discussion in Ferrari's cooling on the grid was if there was some fuel inside the cooler before connecting it to the car.
The FIA probably found something wrong. Now it is forbiden!!!!
Italians!!!!!!

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Could anyone explain the cooling effects in more detail? I know that colder air is more dense, thus contains more oxygen so it can burn more.. with fuel, what does it do? I would imagine that if the fuel is colder then it will cool the air around it, thus doing the same thing? Anything else? Do the properties of the fuel change as well?

rodlamas
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Joined: 14 Jan 2004, 13:03

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As the fuel becomes colder, it gets more dense, the same thing that happens with air. So if with a more denser air, the engines gets better power, it´s expected that with more desinty, the fuel would burn more efficiently and consequently will generate more power.
"I only race to finisht first, because the second is the first looser" Ayrton Senna

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Steven
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exactly, the same amount of particles takes less volume, which finally leads to more particles to burn at a time in the cylinder ;)

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NickT
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Joined: 24 Sep 2003, 12:47
Location: Edinburgh, UK

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Also cooler fuel has a greater capacity to absorb heat from the inlet charge so increasing the amount of air heading for the cylinder.
NickT

wowf1
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Joined: 05 Jan 2004, 13:53
Location: Brunel University, England

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Yes that's about the gist of it. To back this up i carried out an experiment for my own enjoyment as much as anything else: I race radio controlled cars, and as part of a power increase program i was doing :D on a 0.15cu engine, I put the Nitromethane fuel in the fridge until it was just above 0 degrees C. When i tested the engine on the dyno, here are the relative performance figures:

[u]RTemperature fuel[/u] [u]Cold Fuel[/u]

Max. BHP : 1.16 1.29
Max. RPM : 33, 760 35, 115
Evolve time : 0.92s 0.86s

Quite conclusive proof i think you would agree (nb. room temperature was constant at 24 degrees C) and other conditions were as fair as possible.

rob

Beostar
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Joined: 30 Aug 2003, 19:08
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nice one :)
Always nice to see some flashy numbers :) and theory put into practice :)
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rudo7
rudo7
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cool fuel

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are you talking about cooling fuel to temperatures just above 0, or could it also be cooled below 0???

just wondering... :roll:

Beostar
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Joined: 30 Aug 2003, 19:08
Location: Belgium

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Aslong as its fluid you can use it.
"The track is mine you may have it when I'm done"
"First law of computer programming : The user is a complete idiot"
"Don't confuse luck with skill."

SuperZ
SuperZ
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Fuel COoling

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If you look in this edition of FOrza the Imola 360 uses a fuel cooling system that works off of the air conditioning unit. Does anyone know who the supplier of this unit is?

rollo
rollo
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fuel cooling

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once knew someone who ran his fuel line along the cold a/c pipe which returned the gas back to the a/c compressor from the evaporator and wrapped it up with insulation. he experienced some improvement in engine power although not much.

Hannah06
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Joined: 20 May 2009, 07:19

Re:

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Racer-X wrote:It is reported that each 10 degC represents 0.5% in power.
By the regulations the teams are allowed to cool the fuel up to 10degC below the ambient temperature.
For 2004 only the fuel in the pitstop tanks can be cooled and not the car tank anymore.
The big discussion in Ferrari's cooling on the grid was if there was some fuel inside the cooler before connecting it to the car.
The FIA probably found something wrong. Now it is forbiden!!!!
Italians!!!!!!
Really? Each 10 degC represents 0.5% in power? Where did you hear this news?
By the way, I just want to say thank you for the information that you have been shared. Godspeed+




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archebald23
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Joined: 09 Dec 2009, 09:59

Re: Fuel cooling

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rollo wrote:once knew someone who ran his fuel line along the cold a/c pipe which returned the gas back to the A/C Compressor from the evaporator and wrapped it up with insulation. he experienced some improvement in engine power although not much.
fuel becomes more dense after cooling thus giving more fuel to enter combustion chamber, computer reconizes this and adjusts fuel trims, back to programmed trims, what was accomplished?

Edis
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Joined: 31 Jan 2010, 16:58

Re: Fuel cooling

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archebald23 wrote:
rollo wrote:once knew someone who ran his fuel line along the cold a/c pipe which returned the gas back to the A/C Compressor from the evaporator and wrapped it up with insulation. he experienced some improvement in engine power although not much.
fuel becomes more dense after cooling thus giving more fuel to enter combustion chamber, computer reconizes this and adjusts fuel trims, back to programmed trims, what was accomplished?
The fuel circulate from the tank, through several fuel pumps, to the engine and most of it then back to the tank again. This can heat the fuel quite significantly, especially if a small amount of fuel is used or if no refueling is allowed. When the fuel gets warm, the cooling effect on the incoming charge decrease and there is a small loss in power. Not a big loss, a half to one percent probably if we go from say 80 degC to 40 degC but then again, there is probably also a small gain in fuel efficiency.