Bringing Formula One technology to the world

Williams has customised their Formula One-based simulation systems for passenger vehicles and which it hopes to use for training drivers in the years to come. It announced an association with Mowasalat in 2011 for use of these systems in future.

By Mikhil Bhat/Doha

Such is the technology available in the sport that conventional automotive theories sometimes have only one place — out of the window!

The Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) is one such example. When a driver hits the brakes, the system stores all that Kinetic Energy in a battery to be used at a later stage. At that later stage, the engine gets a boost of around 80 bhp at the whims and fancies of the driver. So the energy which was going waste as heat otherwise, has instead been recycled to reduce the carbon footprint of the car and also create overtaking opportunities. Considering the car is using a byproduct of the energy already used, the driver also ends up saving fuel.

Now, by no stretch of imagination, is KERS or any alternative thereof cheap enough to be popped into a road car. Public transportation system, however, is a different story.

Enter Williams F1.

One of world’s most successful Formula One teams, Williams F1 is largely a sponsorship-driven outfit, unlike the Ferraris and the Mercedes of the world. In 2008, one of the revenue-generation streams that the nine-time F1 Constructors’ Champion thought of was to tweak their F1 technologies enough to be usable in real world scenarios.

In 2009, Williams Technology Center-Qatar (WCTQ) opened its doors at Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP), after the two entities signed an agreement to fund research and development programmes with a goal of benefit from the commercialisation of technologies that are created. The state-of-the-art QSTP complex is part of Qatar Foundation’s ambition to invest in knowledge-based post-carbon economy.

After three years of research and development, the WSTQ has churned out prototypes and technologies that can be executed to provide value in the world outside a Formula One circuit.

The WCTQ has been working on two main technologies — flywheel energy storage system and a road safety simulator system.

The flywheel energy storage system, fundamentals of which are the same as F1’s KERS, has been created to judiciously use the excess energy that is created in due course of a vehicle’s routine functions.

The only major difference is that, the KERS unit in the F1 car is an electric one as compared to the flywheel-based system that WTCQ is working on.

Williams has created two versions of the system: one a smaller 60kg, 120kw mobile system for buses, hybrid passenger vehicles, and the other a stationary 200 kw behemoth, which can be scaled up by combining more units, for metros, trains and monorails.

“The idea is that when this system is connected with the train or a metro system, and when the train brakes, it will sense a spike in voltage and start the flywheel to store the energy. When the train leaves the station, it would require that extra power to accelerate from a stationary position. The flywheel will then discharge by slowing down. It’s the same principal as KERS but on a larger scale,” Matthew Burke, chief engineer, Energy Systems, told Gulf Times.

The flywheel itself is made up of three different layers — with Magnetically Loaded Composite (MLC) forming the inner core, glass fibre in the middle and an outer layer of carbon fibre. It stores energy as the flywheel rotates faster and releases energy as it slows down.

The WTCQ is focussing on Qatar Rail projects, which are driven from the Qatar National Vision and form an essential part of the Transport Master Plan for Qatar.

“Qatar Rail is really our focus for our flywheel systems,” said Damien Scott, general manager of WTCQ. “Considering these are still initial stages of development for the rail network, our systems can be integrated pretty well into the network. And we have been studying the plans and working very closely with Qatar Rail.”

The flywheel energy storage system, according to WTCQ, has a life of ten million cycles and if the time-tables can be optimised, each of these units will have a life of 20 years. “Depending on the time-table, energy costs etc., the payback time for the system is expected to be around 3-5 years,” added Scott.

“Unlike batteries, where their capacity to hold power reduces with time, with a flywheel that’s not the case. It really comes down to the fatigue of the flywheel,” said Burke.

Williams already has a programme running with the UK bus operator Go Ahead wherein one of the company’s double decker buses is being tested using the mobile version of the system.

The company has a similar association with French conglomerate Alstom for the use of this technology on the company’s trams by 2014. “We are working very closely with Alstom and we are looking at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving energy-efficiency,” Scott said.

One of the reasons Williams believes it can make a difference and is in the right place, is because of the Qatar National Research Strategy which mentions renewable energy and energy-efficiency as two of its goals.

Also, with Qatar preparing itself for the 2022 World Cup in terms of public infrastructure, Williams sees it as a big opportunity to help reduce the carbon footprint of the country besides financially diversifying itself.

Another area where Williams has been able to use its F1 expertise for a wider world use is its simulator system. “In the airline industry, pilots have to go through simulator training for a certain number of hours, before they can actually fly the real thing. So the idea behind these simulators is also very similar — to use real vehicle controls and couple it with immersive experience. We have spent a lot of our time and effort on the artificial intelligence to create specific driving conditions,” Scott said.

To this effect, one of the first steps that Williams has taken is to enter into an association with Mowasalat. “We announced an association with Mowasalat at the end of 2011 to look at how this technology can help improve the driving ability of taxi drivers, customer experience, reduction in accidents, accident avoidance, reduction in fuel consumption which will have an environmental impact,” Scott said.

Matthew Burke, Chief Engineer for Energy Systems, with a 200kw flywheel, which works on a similar principle like KERS in F1 and which can be integrated with rail and metro systems to save energy. PICTURES: Shemeer Rasheed & Williams F1

Apart from the technology itself, Williams has come up with an entire plan to ensure that their road safety simulator has the maximum impact.

“The thing about simulators is that you can do and test a lot of dangerous things in a safe environment. You know you can put drivers in there and put them through really complex and dangerous situations. You can gauge their reflexes, test their observation skills, and you can train them time after time, until they get it right. Until they are better and safer drivers,” said Max Renault, programme leader for simulation systems at WTCQ.

“Also, an extension of this is emergency services. We are talking about police vehicles and ambulances. Those drivers get into extremely difficult and complex situations, driving really fast in urban environments where you have pedestrian and vehicular traffic,” he added.

According to Renault, Williams has three key relationships in this area — National Committee for Traffic Safety (NCTS), Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and the Supreme Education Council. While the relationship with NCTS and HMC is to do with the regular and emergency drivers on the roads, Renault said that the support of the Supreme Education Council is very essential to be able to reach out to the kids for road safety awareness.

“The idea is that at the end of the day kids become road safety ambassadors. After their experience at the road safety initiative, they will tell their parents, ‘Daddy, wear your seat belt’, ‘Mom you are driving too fast’,” Renault said. “People are generally more receptive about what their kids tell them. And this way we can also ensure that tomorrow’s drivers are more responsible.”

Financially, Williams expects to break even this year with returns consequently expected to begin by 2014.

According to Scott, Williams’ endeavour in Qatar has been particularly fruitful considering the association the outfit has had with QSTP and also that the team has been able to strongly enhance the sponsorship value with its commercial partners.

“Our endeavour to commercialise F1 technology in road safety and energy space is important to our commercial partners in the sport,” Scott said. “It is not only about the visibility on the car but also about what else are we doing. So the whole sponsorship proposition has been considerable enhanced because of our efforts. We are also hoping that our presence here in Qatar will help the companies here to make their presence felt in Formula One as and when they deem fit and ready for such a venture. So it is much more than the regular marketing value that most companies and teams offer.”