Infrared cameras in automotive racing. 2

[MMilelr]

I was reading a book on race car design and the autor talked about how he dosent know exactly what temeratures tires reach while corners. He guessed aound 700 but wasnt quite sure. I was thinking infrared cameras could be used to monitor tire temeratures while a car is in motion. Has this already been done? I know tire manufactuars use infrared to test tires and use it to check for warning signs of tire failure aswell. I figure it woud also show where the tire is gripping the most and help with suspension tuning. Any thoughts?

 

[MintJulep]

I suspect it has been played with.

However, infrared temperature measurement is notoriously inaccurate in real-world situations. For many materials -- and I bet rubber is one of them -- emissivity changes with temperature.

 

[Warpspeed]

Non contact infrared temperature measurement should certainly work, especially at the close range possible with a tyre. Even if the temperatures are not exact, the output from your data logger could still be quite useful.

It would probably need to be kept well away from the direct IR radiation exhaust pipes, brake rotors and other very hot objects.

I see no reason why a commercial tyre heater could not be used to test and verify the system on a stationary vehicle.

 

[magnograil]

I suspect all you need is a few IR transistors and amplifiers connected to your datalogger, not a camera unless you want a continuous sweep across the tread. You might need windows to limit the pickup to the area of interest. Remember you are only looking at the surface temperature and not the core.
Buy one of the remote IR temperature sensors that measure heating duct outlet temperature and take it apart.

 

[mloew]

They are most certainly used by Formula 1 teams during testing. The cameras are typically mounted ahead of the wheels. Thy do interfere with aerodynamic efficiency and add mass, so they may be restricted in their use to testing. I recall seeing pictures of several cars in testing guise sporting these devices. There were several sensors across the width.

Best regards,

Matthew Ian Loew


Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

 

[HDS]

how old is the book?

 

[ckenny]

I have used my infrared camera on my trucks. Along with alignment, it does a very good job of showing high or low tire pressures when looking at the treds.

 

[DaveKillens]

Racing tires work best at around 220 - 240 degrees F.
Reading the temperatures on the tire can give a wealth of information on suspension, geometry, a lot more. I think that some racing endurance cars have infra red sensors built into the car, and they are used primarily for safety reason, to detect the rapid heating of a tire, usually indicating a tire losing air pressure.

 

[plasgears]

IR would be invaluable in run-flat studies. In armored car work we used Patecell inserts inside the tire and mounted them to the rim. Patecells allowed get-away security even with flats. A good run flat would give confidence driving at night, in bad weather, in the wrong neighborhood, in heavy traffic situations.

(By the way, Patecell was a Pan-Am pilot who originally aimed his insert for airplanes.)

 

[bobqzzi04]

I recall reading an article in the 1980's about the instrumenting of Bill Elliot's Winston Cup car at Daytona. They didn't use a cameras but a non contact infared pyrometer (quite high-tech at the time). I don't recall the temperatures exactly other than that actual on track temperatures were much much higher than those measured in the pits. This was about the time Elliot was on his superspeedway tear.

 

[BrettL]

Myself and a couple of fellow car nuts are currently putting together a non contact tyre temp sensing system for the purposes of suspension setup. It involves three infared thermopiles across the face of each tyre and will log the temperatures realtime. The intention is to have it interface with the rest of your data logging so you can see how temps across the face of each tyre relate to everything else you're logging at any point around the track (eg throttle posn, brake pressure, steering wheel angle, long & lat g's, etc.) We're at the point where we've got proto circuit boards, wiring and bracketry made up, and are just in the process of doing the calibration of the thermopiles and fine tuning the algorithms behind it all. Once that's done, we'll get it on a car and see if it works in the real world! Let me know if anyone's interested, and I'll keep you up to date. Any suggestions would be most welcome too....

Cheers, Brett.