Crimson Racing Wiki

Water to Air Duct

Subteam: AerodynamicsSubsystem: Cooling, AerodynamicsAssembly: Cooling SystemCars: CR25, CR26I

Purpose

Seals the sidepod inlet to the water radiator core so all the air captured by the inlet passes through the core.

Function

A carbon fiber duct forming the diverging section of the diverging-converging cooling path. It hooks to the sidepod through a lip on the duct that catches the sidepod lip, and is mounted to the radiator with high-strength Velcro and zip ties.

Design Process

Geometry comes out of the CFD cooling model, which targets mass flow rate through the core as the performance metric. CR26I achieved 0.343 kg/s against a 0.265 kg/s target.

Design Constraints

Must fit between the sidepod inlet and the leaned radiator without pinching the flow. Must allow the radiator to be serviced without removing the undertray.

Manufacturing Process

Wet layup on a 3D printed mold.

Full Material List

CFRP. Velcro and zip tie mounting, foil tape sealing.

Reoccuring issues

On earlier cars the duct was blown off the radiator by pressure. Fixed with stronger metal fastening and by attaching the sidepod to hold the duct in place.

Still to document

Nothing in CrimsonStorage covers these yet.