Renault R31

[747heavy]

as far as the bottle goes, I would say it´s the pressure reservoir for the pneumatic valves in the engine.

IMHO it looks a little bit "too high pressure" for just being a expansion or prepressue reservoir for the radiators/cooling system.

with the radiator pressure caped to ~3.5 bar an aluminium reservoir would still to the job - IMHO.

[Francesc]

Looks at this front wheels, the inner part has a big opening, that why the apparent brake duct is so small.

[Callum]

The cylinder could very well be a fire extinguisher...

[manchild]

You can see some kind of insulating material surrounding the pipes. It is some kind of woven material. Anyone hazard a guess what it is?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_proximity_suit

BTW, few weeks back, when I wrote that I find it strange that they've placed ECU in front of chassis, I got reply that Scarbs said somewhere that it is data acquisition unit used just for testing. Since it is still there, and this has no testing , I guess that it is the new position for ECU after all.



viewtopic.php?f=12&t=9187&p=226650&#p226650

[Owen.C93]

Yeah they use the gap between the wheels to duct air. Not a bad idea, the gap should be pretty constant for the most part.



(Credit, http://www.forumula1techandart.wordpress.com

[bot6]

I'll stick to my guns here and say that canister is a prepressurized expansion tank for the radiators.

The pneumatic valves in the engine would probably be using a system that keeps feeding constant pressure, so pump, settlement tank and valve. So it would have a tube coming in at one end and coming out at the other. That's not the case here. And the settlement tank would be much smaller than this.

I don't see why there would be a pressurized tank on the car for something else. It can't be part of the car hydraulics, as it would be further rearwards, closer to the gearbox surely.

Also, the weld seems to suggest that this tank is made of a thin wall of stainless steel. So I doubt this could hold more than 10atm, let alone 200.

As for the drinking bottle theory, the shape might look like a Perrier bottle but apart from that...

And if it was an extinguisher, it would be positioned closer to the center of the car, in a more protected place, so it could still be used in the case if a sideways crash. And it would have a valve at the tip, not a simple fastening like the one visible here.

[Holm86]

You can see some kind of insulating material surrounding the pipes. It is some kind of woven material. Anyone hazard a guess what it is?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_proximity_suit

BTW, few weeks back, when I wrote that I find it strange that they've placed ECU in front of chassis, I got reply that Scarbs said somewhere that it is data acquisition unit used just for testing. Since it is still there, and this has no testing , I guess that it is the new position for ECU after all.



viewtopic.php?f=12&t=9187&p=226650&#p226650

I believe it is the ECU aswell ... It has the McLaren badge on it. Why would any test equipment have that?

[manchild]

Well, my primary theory is the liquid nitrogen bottle.

Drink bottle could make sense, because having it pressurized, reduces the need for electric pump that have failed several times alredy. The only thing they need would be an electric valve.


Holm86, I was told back than that Mclaren makes testing electronics too, but I didn't believe it.

[marcush.]

It is a logger ,I posted the link from TAG website back then.

[747heavy]

anything is possible, after all, but why is it "impossible" that Renault runs the test equipment in Friday FP sessions?.

[marekk]

Looking more at this bottle, there must be something inside.

They'll can have alu or carbon-fibre bottle of this size for mere $100 and up to 300-400 atm.
Why they'll bother to weld it from 2 stainless steel parts ?

[forty-two]

That bottle seams to be containing something very sensitive, it's welded stainless steel.

My wild guess would be liquid nitrogen whose release the driver can activate when exhaust overheats itself, radiators, floor or sidepod under safety car. A liquid nitrogen spray can with probably multiple muzzles.

If it is however in one sidepod only, than I'd say - a drink bottle in nice place to keep it cool, and reduce cog.

Surely the regulations would not allow Liquid Nitrogen or any super duper coolant?

[bot6]

Well, my primary theory is the liquid nitrogen bottle.
Drink bottle could make sense, because having it pressurized, reduces the need for electric pump that have failed several times alredy. The only thing they need would be an electric valve.

If it was liquid nitrogen, it would have some kind of insulation around it... And it would be much thicker.

As for the drink bottle, I doubt they would go through all this trouble just for that, when a bladder inside the survival cell is so much easier to place and reduces the amount of tubing, weight and complexity.

[PlatinumZealot]

Looks like an ecu to me.. I'm no ECU expert but that looks like it has canbus cables and all.. Edit..

From the diagrams looks like an LVDT interface unit. The LVDT measures linear motion. So must be connected to sensors that measure movement of somthing.. the suspension, the DRS?

[marcush.]

http://www.mclarenelectronics.com/mes_p ... SL-500.pdf

so maybe it is that device.