Red Bull Advanced Technologies announced plans to partner with Oreca on the development of a next-generation hydrogen-powered racing car concept. If all goes well, the new car will be ready to contest the 24-hour race of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the most famous endurance race in the world.
Oreca07 LMP shown courtesy of Oreca.
Red Bull is best known for two things I think. First, it’s an energy drink. Second, it’s a Formula 1 team that won the world championship and has established itself as a lead engineer in previous collaborations with Renault, Honda and Aston Martin. However, Red Bull didn’t bid for the LeMans 24 Hours manufacturer, so it makes sense to be worth a proven winner like Oreca. As for the car itself, almost nothing is known as of yet, other than the fact that it loosely follows the rules of the LMP class and is primarily powered by a hydrogen fuel cell as part of LeMans’ mission H24 to “clean up” 24-24 becomes. Endurance events like the one at the La Sarthe race track in LeMans.
Mission H24 prototype in 2018 courtesy of ACO.
The ACO – the organizational association behind the LeMans race – has been using hydrogen as a sensible and cleaner alternative to combustion since at least 2018, when an LMP prototype was driven for the first time in Spa (above). The ACO used this Mission H24 language to describe the goal of developing a hydrogen-powered (“H”) car that can compete against ICE cars over a 24-hour period. That means fast refills / low charge times and they seem to believe that hydrogen (not BEVs) is the way forward.
Of course I am not entirely convinced. But if anyone out there can make a convincing argument in favor of a hydrogen racing series, then it is probably Red Bull. “I am very pleased that Red Bull Advanced Technologies was selected by the ACO together with our partners ORECA to develop the concept of a hydrogen-powered endurance racing car for Le Mans ”, says Christian, CEO and Formula 1 Team Principal of Red Bull Advanced Technologies. Mr. Ginger spice “Horner. “(We) are well equipped to take on the ACO’s challenge. You will have access to many of the tools used to design and develop the Red Bull Racing F1 car, as well as extensive experience with other cutting-edge vehicle programs.”
So all very good marketing and PR speaking. But what can we learn about the car? The best way to get a feel for what’s coming is probably the basic LMPH (LeMans Prototype, Hydrogen) racing car as envisaged by the ACO itself for Mission H24. So take a look at the ACO’s official class goals and basic “schema” for the car below, and let us know what you think about a hydrogen powered endurance racing class in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
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Electric motors: Four electric motors on the rear wheels (two each) provide the drive.
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Three hydrogen reservoirs: The dihydrogen (H2) is stored in three pressurized (700 bar) carbon filament tanks with which the cell is operated. The first two are on either side of the cockpit and the third is directly behind the driver.
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Hydrogen fuel cell: Consists of four stacks, in the core of which dihydrogen molecules (H2, stored in the tanks) and oxygen atoms combine to form water molecules (H2O). This reaction creates heat and electricity that powers the car’s electric motor.
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The stack: A stack of layers made up of 230 cells, bipolar plates and porous hydrogen membranes.
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Air Inlet: The ambient air used to create the reaction within the stacks enters through this vent. It is filtered, sent to the compressor, and then to the humidifier before entering the stacks.
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Backup batteries: Excess electricity generated by the hydrogen fuel cell and the KERS system (when braking) is fed into high-performance cells. The driver can thus double the acceleration potential of the vehicle (250-480 kW, which corresponds to around 650 hp).
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Gearbox: A special, clutchless input gearbox manages the rear wheels independently of each other and reduces dragging.
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Compressor: Compresses and accelerates the air entering via the vent (up to 300 g per second). It works at up to 100,000 revolutions per minute. The modulation of the air flow injected into the stacks changes the response and therefore determines the amount of electrical energy generated.
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Humidifier: Humidified air improves the interaction between oxygen atoms and dihydrogen molecules. The humidifier ensures that the humidity of the air injected into the stacks remains constant.
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Radiator and cooling system.
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Exhaust: The only emission generated by the GreenGT LMPH2G is water (H2O). Steam escapes through four vents (one per stack) to the rear of the vehicle in the center of the aerodynamic diffuser.
Source | images: ACO through Red Bull Advanced Technologies.
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The post Red Bull wants to enter the racer in the hydrogen class LeMans around 2024 first appeared on monter-une-startup.
