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Heatsinks maybe?
Posted: 20 Apr 2009, 16:10
by wesley123
I was thinking about the cooling of the f1 cars and how it can be better, then i came up with the use of heatsinks. You use a gold or copper bar and let it go away from the aprt connected to, for example the KERS part, then you take it to a larger block where it can lose the heat. By this you can enhance the cooling and make smaller sidepods, because less air is needed to cool. This technique is already in use for a long time on computers on part like the CPU, so why not use it in racing cars?
Do you guys think it will work as im completely unknown to mechanical things like cooling etc.?
Re: Heatsinks maybe?
Posted: 20 Apr 2009, 16:20
by CarsonAu
without being too mean, this is just about the most idiotic post i've seen on f1technical.
Have a think about the role of radiators in an f1 sidepod!

Re: Heatsinks maybe?
Posted: 20 Apr 2009, 16:21
by Scotracer
Leave him be
Radiators (i.e. heat exchangers) are much more effective than directly connected heat sinks.
Re: Heatsinks maybe?
Posted: 20 Apr 2009, 16:23
by Giblet
A radiator with fluid in it is far more efficient to cool something hot, and the rad plumbing can be routed to any parts in the car.
The heat sinks would be redundant, and silly.
heat sinks work by having a lot of exposed surface area with all their vanes, which would require them to protrude, or use illegal shark gills.
PS- An 'idiotic' post would have contained none of the modesty and genuine questioning that was put forward. An answer will always be more helpful then a jab.
Re: Heatsinks maybe?
Posted: 20 Apr 2009, 16:26
by Sawtooth-spike
I think that there are FAR more stupid posts on F1 technical!, so you could be a little harsh there.
To add to Scot & Gibs point, Think about the weight you would be adding, A Bar of gold is massivly heavy and your gonna have to put it in a place that going mess up your Center of Gravity.
Re: Heatsinks maybe?
Posted: 20 Apr 2009, 16:28
by Scotracer
Giblet wrote:A radiator with fluid in it is far more efficient to cool something hot, and the rad plumbing can be routed to any parts in the car.
The heat sinks would be redundant, and silly.
heat sinks work by having a lot of exposed surface area with all their vanes, which would require them to protrude, or use illegal shark gills.
PS- An 'idiotic' post would have contained none of the modesty and genuine questioning that was put forward. An answer will always be more helpful then a jab.
Don't say 'efficient' as all heat exchangers are 100% efficient - you mean
Effective 
Re: Heatsinks maybe?
Posted: 20 Apr 2009, 16:31
by wesley123
My idea was that for parts that are hrd to keep cool you can connect tubes to them and let them go to a heatsink wich gets cooling air from the radiators.
CarsonAu wrote:without being too mean, this is just about the most idiotic post i've seen on f1technical.
Have a think about the role of radiators in an f1 sidepod!

why shoudl it be stupid? Im jsut posting my idea, you can also show some respect, is that just so hard?
Re: Heatsinks maybe?
Posted: 20 Apr 2009, 16:34
by ISLAMATRON
The liquid in the cooling systems are pretty much moving heatsinks.
What I have allways thought about is why dont they put the coolant in a thin wall around the inside surface of the side pods(outside would work too!) instead of introducing the radiator into the airsteam which creates drag.
Sorta like a cool suit for the car.... it would be a revolution in cooling, but I'm not sure if it would be efficient enough, or light enough... especially with the durability needed.
Re: Heatsinks maybe?
Posted: 20 Apr 2009, 16:36
by Scotracer
wesley123 wrote:My idea was that for parts that are hrd to keep cool you can connect tubes to them and let them go to a heatsink wich gets cooling air from the radiators.
CarsonAu wrote:without being too mean, this is just about the most idiotic post i've seen on f1technical.
Have a think about the role of radiators in an f1 sidepod!

why shoudl it be stupid? Im jsut posting my idea, you can also show some respect, is that just so hard?
The radiators expel hot air

Re: Heatsinks maybe?
Posted: 20 Apr 2009, 16:39
by Giblet
OK I just googled the difference between efficiency and effectiveness.
I feel 1% smarter now
http://digg.com/d1p7KZ
This is for you Wesley..
ROFL Copter....
on a whole....
another....
level.
Re: Heatsinks maybe?
Posted: 20 Apr 2009, 16:45
by Giblet
ISLAMATRON wrote:The liquid in the cooling systems are pretty much moving heatsinks.
What I have allways thought about is why dont they put the coolant in a thin wall around the inside surface of the side pods(outside would work too!) instead of introducing the radiator into the airsteam which creates drag.
Sorta like a cool suit for the car.... it would be a revolution in cooling, but I'm not sure if it would be efficient enough, or light enough... especially with the durability needed.
Hmm... so a way to make the car's entire outer shell heavier, moving the center of gravity upwards.
But on the same concept, why not use the floor, with tubes running in it, like a poolhouse solar heater, but in reverse. This puts all the coolant weight extremely low, doesn't require the bubble/skin idea (which would be pretty useless for flowing of the coolant), and lots of air rushes past the floor, and could get rid of the rads altogether?
Re: Heatsinks maybe?
Posted: 20 Apr 2009, 16:51
by Scotracer
Giblet wrote:ISLAMATRON wrote:The liquid in the cooling systems are pretty much moving heatsinks.
What I have allways thought about is why dont they put the coolant in a thin wall around the inside surface of the side pods(outside would work too!) instead of introducing the radiator into the airsteam which creates drag.
Sorta like a cool suit for the car.... it would be a revolution in cooling, but I'm not sure if it would be efficient enough, or light enough... especially with the durability needed.
Hmm... so a way to make the car's entire outer shell heavier, moving the center of gravity upwards.
But on the same concept, why not use the floor, with tubes running in it, like a poolhouse solar heater, but in reverse. This puts all the coolant weight extremely low, doesn't require the bubble/skin idea (which would be pretty useless for flowing of the coolant), and lots of air rushes past the floor, and could get rid of the rads altogether?
That's an interesting idea but I don't know the regulations well enough to know if such a thing is possible (the shape of the floor and its construction is very particular). Also, having a flat floor you are severally limiting the surface area (and as air has a low heat transfer coefficient) it wont work as well as a convoluted radiator.
Re: Heatsinks maybe?
Posted: 20 Apr 2009, 17:02
by DaveKillens
Nothing wrong with the question wesley123, at least it proves you're thinking. The problem is removing heat from a hot object and carrying it away. Yes, a heat sink is a solution, but just not a very good one in this scenario. There's a lot of heat to be removed, and a heat sink just isn't good enough for the job.
But what do enthusiasts do with high performance computers when there's a lot of heat? Yup, you see radiators. Just like in Formula One, and the principles are exactly the same.
But on the same concept, why not use the floor, with tubes running in it, like a poolhouse solar heater, but in reverse. This puts all the coolant weight extremely low, doesn't require the bubble/skin idea (which would be pretty useless for flowing of the coolant), and lots of air rushes past the floor, and could get rid of the rads altogether?
This type of radiator is known as a surface radiator. These had a following many years ago, but they have drawbacks. Problem is, they require a large surface area, and size equates to weight. So compared to the type of radiator we see, a surface radiator would have to be much larger in area, and thus it would be huge. Additionally, mounting a surface radiator on the bottom would leave it too exposed to anything coming off the road surface. Just one pebble, or worse, a driver missing his apex and driving flat out over a curb would have just one result. Yesterday Kubica tried to turn his car into a rocket and launch over Trulli. Imagine if his whole floor had been a surface radiator? Is there a possibility Trulli could have been blasted by a stream of boiling water if the BMW had a surface radiator? Impractical, and also potentially dangerous.
Re: Heatsinks maybe?
Posted: 20 Apr 2009, 17:23
by Giblet
The chimneys that were banned for 2009 were essentially heat sinks made out of air.
So your idea is perfectly sound after all, within last years regs.
@Dave Killens
I was thinking more of the double floor idea with the surface radiator contained within, receiving air from the front and having it exit at the rear diffuser.
This would be no more dangerous then a car with the radiator in the side getting t-boned. And what Kubica did we shouldn't really expect to happen all that much, now that Coulthard's gone (OH SNAP) and the plank would still be there, offering sturdy old school wooden protection for the internal floor based radiator.
Re: Heatsinks maybe?
Posted: 20 Apr 2009, 17:42
by ISLAMATRON
Giblet wrote:ISLAMATRON wrote:The liquid in the cooling systems are pretty much moving heatsinks.
What I have allways thought about is why dont they put the coolant in a thin wall around the inside surface of the side pods(outside would work too!) instead of introducing the radiator into the airsteam which creates drag.
Sorta like a cool suit for the car.... it would be a revolution in cooling, but I'm not sure if it would be efficient enough, or light enough... especially with the durability needed.
Hmm... so a way to make the car's entire outer shell heavier, moving the center of gravity upwards.
But on the same concept, why not use the floor, with tubes running in it, like a poolhouse solar heater, but in reverse. This puts all the coolant weight extremely low, doesn't require the bubble/skin idea (which would be pretty useless for flowing of the coolant), and lots of air rushes past the floor, and could get rid of the rads altogether?
I didnt mention it but I did think about using the floor as well.. problem is carbon fiber is a poor heat conductor, and it would be very susceptible to damage... but the sidepods would till be needed to chanel air to cool the transmission and other things back there. The sidepods also create alot of downforce, but it is the radiators inside them that create the drag... so i was proposing using the inside surfaces of the sidepod as cooling surfaces instead of the radiator but I'm not sure it would have enough heat dissipating capacity to replace the radiators.
I'm just wondering if it has been attempted before in F1.
The chimneys were not heatsinks.