Additive Manufacturing Special Report - November 2023 - 7

Wind-tunnel testing of a Formula One chassis with 3D Systems' unique Accura Composite PIV components, the blue-tinted tabs at the front-wing attachment points.
car on the Friday of an F1 event make their way to race day.
These sessions provide most of our opportunities to test on
the car during the season.
SAE: How much wind tunnel testing time have you saved via
the use of 3D-printed materials?
Warner: I'm not sure that we have saved time in the wind
tunnel, but it allows us to deliver more parts in a shorter time,
speeding up the process.
Alpine F1 racecar on the track; " Almost everything you can see, and quite
a lot that you can't, is produced additively, " said Collaborator 3D Systems'
Pat Warner, Advanced Digital Manufacturing Manager of the Alpine
Formula One team.
and quite a lot that you can't, is produced additively; in the
region of 70 percent of the iterative test parts are produced
this way.
We produce nearly 500 parts per week for wind-tunnel
testing using Accura Composite PIV. Due to the material's
unique optical characteristics, we are now collecting more
reliable data from our PIV system in the wind tunnel.
SAE: Are any of these test pieces going into " production "
for use on the race car?
Warner: Not directly, the wind tunnel model is scaled down to
60 percent. Having said that, some of the parts we test on the
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING SPECIAL REPORT
SAE: Is the use of 3D-printed components providing weight
and space savings on the F1 car?
Warner: Absolutely. The ability to design components
without the constraints of conventional manufacturing have
helped with packaging on numerous occasions. Our
hydraulic inverter coils make a good case-study of this.
SAE: Have you been able to apply the time and cost
reductions made via 3D-printing into other areas of the
Alpine F1 car to extract more performance from the overall
package?
Warner: Absolutely, last-minute additive parts are quite
common. The benefits of being able to produce components
without the lengthy process of manufacturing tooling has
obvious advantages.
This year we'll have 22 races. Formula 1 doesn't stay static
for very long. It's a big logistics operational challenge. What
we're about is pace of development. We require different
components at every track. Making them with no tooling
involved is obviously ideal for us. 3D Systems gives us a onestop
shop.
NOVEMBER 2023 7
BOTH IMAGES: 3D SYSTEMS

Additive Manufacturing Special Report - November 2023

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