Bloodhound LSR Thread As Requested...
Discussion
Here's a piece on why Thrust SSC used offset rear wheel steering from the horse's mouth.
http://www.thrustssc.com/thrustssc/Engineering/rea...
http://www.thrustssc.com/thrustssc/Engineering/rea...
Great to see the ThrustSSC website preserved so well, there really is value in paying the couple of hundred pounds a year it takes to keep such sites live.
I recall showing it to the owner of our company at the time to try and persuade him to sponsor SSC as we had 'mach' in the company name, unsuccessfully as it turned out.
Different times for sure!
I recall showing it to the owner of our company at the time to try and persuade him to sponsor SSC as we had 'mach' in the company name, unsuccessfully as it turned out.
Different times for sure!
This week has seen most of my efforts working on the jet fuel tank, another one of the jobs I've picked up due to the design team being much smaller than before.
It's a large carbon box with a lid, inside which is a two part bladder, separated by an aluminium honeycomb bulkhead. More details will be posted as the build of the tank progresses, we aim to be in Newquay, doing refueling tests & fuel system tests hopefully 3rd week in December.
The small bore tube you see is a tell tail drain, if we detect a leak in the bag, we can plug into the dry break fitting that will be on the end of the tube & apply a vacuum pump, if we see fuel in the tube, the tank is coming out.
This is the bulkhead work in progress, you can see the leak detection wire running in it's PTFE tube, the PTFE tube is going to be perforated at the lower section. If we get a false detection on the leak detection wire having it in the PTFE tube means it's really easy to replace, just slide the old one out & slide the new one in.
The exposed honeycomb edges will all be cleaned up & edge filled to seal.
It's a large carbon box with a lid, inside which is a two part bladder, separated by an aluminium honeycomb bulkhead. More details will be posted as the build of the tank progresses, we aim to be in Newquay, doing refueling tests & fuel system tests hopefully 3rd week in December.
The small bore tube you see is a tell tail drain, if we detect a leak in the bag, we can plug into the dry break fitting that will be on the end of the tube & apply a vacuum pump, if we see fuel in the tube, the tank is coming out.
This is the bulkhead work in progress, you can see the leak detection wire running in it's PTFE tube, the PTFE tube is going to be perforated at the lower section. If we get a false detection on the leak detection wire having it in the PTFE tube means it's really easy to replace, just slide the old one out & slide the new one in.
The exposed honeycomb edges will all be cleaned up & edge filled to seal.
Evanivitch said:
Is there a risk of Geely engineers getting a little too close to the EF2000 engine?
That's actually a very good question, I'm sure the Chinese government would love a chance for a detailed look at the powerplant of the Eurofighter, for both understanding its capabilities and from an engineering perspective to see if there is anything worth copying.Mansells Tash said:
Evanivitch said:
Is there a risk of Geely engineers getting a little too close to the EF2000 engine?
That's actually a very good question, I'm sure the Chinese government would love a chance for a detailed look at the powerplant of the Eurofighter, for both understanding its capabilities and from an engineering perspective to see if there is anything worth copying.robinessex said:
Mansells Tash said:
Evanivitch said:
Is there a risk of Geely engineers getting a little too close to the EF2000 engine?
That's actually a very good question, I'm sure the Chinese government would love a chance for a detailed look at the powerplant of the Eurofighter, for both understanding its capabilities and from an engineering perspective to see if there is anything worth copying.robinessex said:
There is no way the 
s will get any useful/groundbreaking data about that engine, just by gawping at it.
No? Firmware. Plug JTAG dongle into any exposed ports, press button. Upload to laptop, and in China's hand within the hour. That would tell you more about the engine performance than a week with a spanner and micrometer.s will get any useful/groundbreaking data about that engine, just by gawping at it.Zad said:
robinessex said:
There is no way the s will get any useful/groundbreaking data about that engine, just by gawping at it.
No? Firmware. Plug JTAG dongle into any exposed ports, press button. Upload to laptop, and in China's hand within the hour. That would tell you more about the engine performance than a week with a spanner and micrometer.s will get any useful/groundbreaking data about that engine, just by gawping at it.
I think it's safe to say no-one, not even the UK BH team members are going to be proding around inside the FADEC!
Jet engines are very well understood, and these days the "magic" is in the materials engineering, rather than the physical form (ie the alloys and manufacturer techniques for the blades etc. Pretty much anything else can be scaled well enough from a google images picture etc
Jet engines are very well understood, and these days the "magic" is in the materials engineering, rather than the physical form (ie the alloys and manufacturer techniques for the blades etc. Pretty much anything else can be scaled well enough from a google images picture etc
Mansells Tash said:
IN51GHT said:
The Geely engineers will not be working on jet systems as far as I'm aware, so tinfoil hats off.
What will they be doing? Making the brews?It's also a great networking opportunity for them as well as raising brand awareness in the UK. When bloodhound goes and smashes the record they'll become a household name and steal a march on people like Kia that have been trying to build a brand for decades. Its why I'm amazed no other mainstream auto maker has jumped on, imagine the marketing Audi could do if they were "the fastest car on the planet"
Lets face it, if China wanted industry secrets they've got entire departments for industrial espionage, sponsoring the Bloodhound project is an incredibly convoluted way to get at the info and is something you're more likely to see in a bond movie.
Mansells Tash said:
What will they be doing? Making the brews?
I imagine they'll be keen to have their engineers work on bespoke bits that may still need to be designed and made, or modifications/remanufacture/spares production of existing parts.Nothing huge like the nosecone or anything, but sundry brackets, plates, pipes and the like which will inevitably need working on as the design is refined during development and initial running. Engineers, particularly junior ones, spend much more of their time on the unglamourous stuff like this than they'd probably care to admit
They may also be keen to validate Bloodhound's CFD data against their own systems and models. It would not surpise me if Geely have a world-class environment for this and it may be very useful as changes are made. Computer time can be expensive.
Working with experienced teams from advanced sectors in a mature market will probably help them a lot too. I doubt they'll need much help on the pure technical capability side, but successful teams are inevitably more than the sum of their parts and learning from the culture and experience of the Bloodhound guys may well be something Geely value.
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