Precision bearings help student dragster win four prizes at National Finals

Precision, hybrid ceramic bearings with a bore diameter of less than 4mm, have helped a student racing car team pick up four prizes at the ‘F1 in Schools’ UK National Finals held at the NEC, Birmingham in January.

‘Pulse’, a group of 14-16 year-old students from Devonport High School in Plymouth, came away with four prizes, including ‘Fastest R-Type Car’, ‘Best in Age Group’, ‘Best Presentation’ and the ‘Innovative Thinking Award’. The team has since been invited to represent England at the International Finals in 2008.

The four bearings used on the car were custom-manufactured by Pulse sponsor The Barden Corporation. The bearings – similar to Barden’s range of turbine bearings for dentist drills and turbomolecular pumps – are miniature, hybrid ceramic bearings with a bore diameter of just 3.175mm and an outside diameter of 6.35mm.

Barden selected a bearing design that would help to optimise the performance of the racing car. A dry-lubricated bearing cage and 1mm diameter ceramic balls were therefore selected to reduce friction. Barden also supplied the axles on the racing car. In order to closely control the fit between the bearings and the axles, Barden decided to fit the bearings at its Plymouth factory. This meant that assembly could be closely controlled to a tolerance of less than 5 microns.

Trevor Morris, Product Engineering Manager at Barden comments: “The bearings supplied are part of Barden’s high precision miniature and instrument range, manufactured to a minimum standard of ISO P4. We offered to fit the bearings to the axles because they can be easily damaged and so we were able to closely control the tight tolerances between the bearing and axle, which undoubtedly helped the car reach its optimum speed on race day.”

The F1 in Schools Challenge is a competition open to all UK-based secondary schools, colleges and youth groups. The aim is to design and manufacture the fastest CO2-powered model racing cars (dragsters). Student teams compete against each other in a national championship to determine the fastest car and best-engineered car in the UK. The Challenge is run by F1 in Schools Limited, a not-for-profit organisation backed by sponsors and partners.

John Ware, Team Manager of Pulse comments: “At the Finals, we raced our car four times, beating our previous world record with a new time of 1.058 seconds and then smashed our previous world record with a time of 1.056 seconds... We also beat the Honda team, who had the fastest car of those manufactured by all of the car manufacturers. We also received some fantastic news after the event when we were invited to represent England at the International Finals 2008, which will be held in either Malaysia or the USA.”

The R-Type car (Education Class) is open to both the 14-16 and 16-18 years age group. The students were given a brief to design a model CO2 powered Formula One car of the future using CAD software. The finished design was then transferred into CNC language using CAM software, then manufactured on a CNC machine. The students then tested their designs before attending the south-west regional finals at Exeter University, in which the team won with an unofficial world record of 1.069 seconds. Teams also had to produce supporting evidence of their design in a folder including an orthographic projection of the car and a colour isometric drawing or 3D rendering of the final idea.
For more information on Pulse please go to www.pulsef1.co.uk

The Barden Corporation’s product range encompasses predominantly radial, single row, super precision angular contact and deep groove ball bearings, which meet and exceed ABEC-7 and ABEC-9 standards. Quality is of the utmost importance throughout the organisation and the plant is certified to ISO 9001 and AS 9100 standards. The Barden Corporation is recognised as an industry leader in this achievement.

A high percentage of Barden bearings are custom-made for specific applications. They are used in virtually every sector of industry where there is a need to meet critical tolerances, high speeds and performance under demanding operating conditions. These include machine tools, aerospace applications, specialty equipment such as vacuum pumps, textile machinery, food processing and robotics, Formula One race applications and medical equipment, including X-ray, CAT scanners, dental drills and medical centrifuges.