Measuring microns trackside

The FIA Formula One World Championship – Formula One – is the highest class of single-seat auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). Its name refers to a set of rules that governs all participants’ cars. The season consists of a series of Grand Prix races held throughout the world, 20 races in 20 countries for the current 9-month season. The results of each race are evaluated using a points system to determine two annual World Championships – one for the drivers and one for the builders. The Austrian owned, U.K.-based Infiniti Red Bull Racing team is on the leading edge of this sport.

With a race, on average, every two weeks, designing a car built specifically for all of the nuances of each circuit is a grueling ordeal. The team starts designing the car approximately five months before the first race. Once the season is underway, the team does not slow down. From the first race to the last, Infiniti Red Bull Racing may implement roughly 30,000 design changes (the equivalent of 1,000 per week). To say that the nearly 300 designers, aerodynamicists, and machinists work hard during the Formula One season is an understatement.

Before each race, the team’s car needs to be set up quickly time. New parts may be sent directly to the circuit with the crew’s mechanics and engineers assembling them onsite. The team needs to know ahead of time that the parts will fit – there is no room for error.
 

From race to set up

Infiniti Red Bull Racing must inspect a variety of components. At their factory in Milton Keynes, U.K., the workflow is governed by time management. Their inspection department has to be accurate, flexible, and most importantly – fast. Since the race dates never change, the team must inspect parts quickly to hit fixed deadlines. Having the capability to push through thousands of design changes on a tight schedule is one of its challenges.

Since a new car is essentially created for each circuit, the team is continuously developing prototypes. The rapid development nature of Formula One depends heavily on the ability to gather 3D point data quickly and effectively. To achieve this within the required time constraints, the company uses three 2.4m Romer Absolute Arm portable coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) with an external CMS 108 laser scanner from Hexagon Metrology. The laser scanner provides 3D scanning technology and automatically adapts laser sensitivity to match the scanned surface. This capability ensures an operator does not need to waste time changing the equipment’s settings when various colors and materials are scanned.

Laser scanning is an ideal tool for inspection of the driver’s helmet since its non-contact nature does not deform sensitive, flexible parts such as the visor and padding. The arms are located within the team’s composite production area and are used continuously to check moldings and finished components, improving production flow by checking the parts to high accuracies. The team also uses the equipment for reverse engineering. In one instance, the driver’s feet were scanned to have shoes created from the scan data.

In addition to using the scanner for shape and form measurements, the portable articulating arms are used with point-to-point touch probes for feature-based inspection. Where required, the engineers combine scan and touch data to achieve higher levels of accuracy. The tolerances the team needs to meet vary greatly depending on the part, most of which are manufactured in-house.

Inspection of the car body depends on different metrology hardware to ensure its performance on the track. Major modifications to optimize aerodynamics have to be completed in the same hurried timeframe as the rest of the components. Those changes must also conform to strictly defined legality checks that are part of the routine before every Grand Prix.

Several critical points exist on the front and rear wings, the overall width of the vehicle, and even the position of the pedals. Everything must be perfect. Compliance with maximum and minimum tolerances is confirmed quickly with a portable Leica Absolute Tracker AT960 and a wireless Hexagon Metrology T-Probe.

The laser tracker is suited for data acquisition and inspection applications within a large measurement volume such as a car or aircraft. The Leica tracker combines the measurement principles of the absolute distance meter and an interferometer to ensure high accuracy throughout the measurement volume, reaching 98ft (30m) when used with a wireless T-Probe. The tracker’s measurement cycles for high point density are 3,000 points per second with accuracies as good as 0.0015" across a 20ft span.

During the 2015 race season, the team plans to travel with its laser tracker, which fits within a single flight case. Hard-to-reach points and features can be inspected since the T-probe enables high precision measurements without a direct line of sight to the laser tracker. This small handheld probe can be tracked through six degree of freedom, and has an acquisition rate of 1,000 points per second.

Aside from the laser trackers, portable arm CMMs, and laser scanners, the organization is a strategic partner with Hexagon Metrology for its high-end metrology inspection needs.

Al Peasland, head of technical partnerships for Infiniti Red Bull Racing, says, “The reason we partnered with Hexagon Metrology is because we want to work with the best in the business. We want the best technology because it is the only way we can be competitive. We also need partners that understand that it is not just about precision, it is also about performance and reliability.”
 

Microns equal milliseconds

In this sport, milliseconds can be the difference between finishing first or second. Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s team needs to be confident the parts it receives at the circuit are reliable and of the best quality. This certainty helps members eliminate at least one variable that may affect the outcome of the race. It gives them a higher-performance car, a more competitive vehicle, and shaves milliseconds off their time.

Though many associate a sense of glamour with Formula One, the team is cost-conscious and works under tight cost constraints. Any piece of equipment, including metrology, needs to work at all hours of the day, every day of the year. Along with a reliable car at the track, the team demands that every area of the business is reliable and dependable.

Chris Charnley, quality manager at Infiniti Red Bull Racing states, “The people at Hexagon Metrology make themselves available at all hours of the day and on the weekends. Their global network of engineering professionals are at our disposal for any race. That level of service is something we must have.”

Every small improvement to the car has the potential to contribute to the speed and ultimately more championship points. Time constraints in the past meant compromising which components were and were not measured, potentially leading to issues throughout the racing season. With their arsenal of metrology equipment, Infiniti Red Bull Racing has the time to concentrate on every last micron to ensure its car is kept ahead of the pack.

Infiniti Red Bull Racing
www.infiniti-redbullracing.com

Hexagon Metrology
www.hexagonmetrology.us