Y Cold Fuel F1 ?

[cm712]

Hay guys why do the Formula one teams cool the fuel down before it goes into the cars ?

And i was reading that fuel pump is cooled by the fuel passing throught it so would it warm up the fuel ?

Wont this do the opposite to what the formula 1 teams try to do i assume that they cool the fuel down because it makes more power some how which you guys will hopefully

be able to help me with.

The fuel pump warms the fuel up so it makes all the cars less efficent if the fuel is warmer ?

I assume that it makes the the air intake temps lower as it is sprayed into the piston is that what cold fuel dose ?

[blind_elk]

It could be a safety thing - colder fuel is less volatile, so not as much vapour around to ignite on hot exhausts / brakes / etc.

But colder fuel is denser, so they can fit a few extra litres in the tank.

[910trx]

But colder fuel is denser, so they can fit a few extra litres in the tank.

yep yep

fuel at a colder temp is smaller in volume than at lets say ambient or warm

therefore they can chuck in more fuel in a standard specified tank.

also a controlled temperature allows them to calculate fuel stops and reduce a variable to make calcs on future stops more accurate.

[R32_fiend]

Yeah I remember that last point about cutting down variables being a big part of it, didn't help Massa a few weeks back though, thought he was running out of gas when he wasn't...

[JPCN]

910trx is spot on.

[meet07]

maybe the cold fuel spraying into the combustion chamber would lower the cylinder wall temps....maybe a lil.

[Sydneykid]

I would add that unused fuel eg; when the throttle is closed, is returned to the tank. Which in our case means the fuel has been around the hot engine bay and picked up heat on its travels. When the car has a huge fueling system to cope with its demands at full power, the fuel can do several laps of the engine bay just idling at a set of traffic lights. This is why Skylines standard have ECU controlled voltages to the fuel pump, when the engine demands are low the ECU limits the voltage eg; 9 volts instead of 12 volts, which means the pump pumps less fuel.

This is particularly important for E85 users as ethanol has a lower vaporisation temperature than petrol. This is what causes the more frequent stalling and acceleration hesitation during and after pit stops for the V8Supercars.

Cheers

Gary

[djr81]

Hay guys why do the Formula one teams cool the fuel down before it goes into the cars ?

There are a number of reasons

1. Cold fuel is more dense.

2. Hot fuel will vaporize.

3. The cars dump a massive amount of heat into everything.

Historically cooling the fuel was at its most important when the cars were limited to 150 litres for a grandprix. This was in 1988 for the turbo cars from memory. The extra few % of fuel gained was invaluable.

Presently you are only allowed to cool the fuel so many degrees below ambient. This is what BMW got in trouble about at the Brazillian GP a couple of years ago.

And i was reading that fuel pump is cooled by the fuel passing throught it so would it warm up the fuel ?

All pumps are affected by the temperatures of the fluid passing through them. All pumps heat up the fluid they are pumping - the most pronounced example of that being your turbo.

As an aside if you think of the 20000+rpm the F1 motors used to run at then you can get an idea of the tiny period of time the injector has available to deliver fuel to the motor. To help in this regard the pressures run in the fueling system in the F1 cars are, by comparisiion to road cars, massive.

Wont this do the opposite to what the formula 1 teams try to do i assume that they cool the fuel down because it makes more power some how

Yes but there is nothing much you can do about it other than increase the efficiency of the fuel pump or lower the rail pressure.

The fuel pump warms the fuel up so it makes all the cars less efficent if the fuel is warmer ?

I assume that it makes the the air intake temps lower as it is sprayed into the piston is that what cold fuel dose ?

Broadly - the hotter the fuel the more prone you are to having pumping issues & vapourisation issues. Also a cooling inlet temp can allow more ignition advance giving more powah.

Some fuels have a marked cooling effect on the inlet system. Alchohol based fuels particularly. The old turbocharged indy cars did not need to run intercoolers simply because of the fuel they used.

[JET200]

Not many poeple run fuel coolers in time attack/drift cars etc but Ive got one for my S14. Three Bosch fuel pumps circulating fuel through a surge tank gets very warm.