Drives & Controls June 2022

33 www.drivesncontrols.com June 2022 MONITORING n Wind tunnel upgrade helps keep Williams up to speed A n upgrade to the wind tunnel facility at Williams Racing’s Oxfordshire headquarters has helped the Formula One team to improve performance and uptime by using sensor technologies and analytics intelligently to save energy and shift to predictive maintenance. The project, which included the installation of extensive energy-measurement and condition-monitoring sensor networks, along with supervisory systems for data acquisition and analysis, is helping the team to optimise key equipment, reduce downtime, and gather crucial insights into the performance and condition of its equipment. Formula One’s governing body, the FIA, imposes strict limits on wind tunnel usage during the racing season. Consequently, any time spent using the wind tunnel must be maximised to optimise performance on the track. Uptime of the wind tunnel equipment is therefore critical. For example, if the large motor that powers the main fan fails, this can result in a month of downtime while repairs are carried out. Williams realised that enhanced monitoring of wind tunnel equipment, such as fans, compressors and pumps, could lead to a more data-driven approach to managing the performance and efficiency of the equipment. Crucially, it could also facilitate the adoption of a more proactive approach to maintenance. Whereas Williams previously relied on manual inspection to monitor the condition of its wind tunnel equipment, it decided to bring in B&R Automation, an official supplier to the team, to create a system that consolidated data from across the equipment to tell maintenance staff exactly how each device and component was performing, as well as its maintenance needs, in near real-time. An array of 73 sensors was installed to monitor parameters such as vibration, current and voltage drawn, pump coolant temperature and level, and hydraulic oil quality. The sensors feed data into B&R’s Aprol software platform, which uses two purpose- built modules to monitor energy use and equipment condition. The newmonitoring systems fit intoWilliams’existing hardware and software architecture, and can collect additional data without affecting other systems. The system is also scalable and backwards-compatible, ensuring that it can be integrated with any future upgrades. According toWilliams Racing’s head of partnerships, Al Peasland, incremental gains off the track canmake a big difference on race days.“We strive for excellence not only on the track but in everything we do, and our wind tunnel is critical to the development of our race cars,”he explains.“Formula One is an industry of very fine margins in which you have to leverage every advantage you possibly can. “The sport is also keen to take steps to reduce its carbon footprint, and with the wind tunnel accounting for 75% of all electricity consumption on site, this was an area where even small improvements can quickly add up.” Since the equipment was installed, Williams has obtained crucial intelligence from the data gathered to help improve the wind tunnel’s operations.“We continue to find new data- driven insights that we would not otherwise have discovered,”reports Williams’head of aero test facilities, Chris Hyde.“For instance, we noticed that we were getting voltage drops across phases on some of the motors. This is often a sign of winding degradation, and is something that with manual inspection alone would likely have taken us some time to detect and diagnose. “As a result, we can replace the motor during planned maintenance, saving us vast amounts of time and money, while avoiding any unplanned downtime,”he continues.“We also found that some of the pump motors were being run constantly around the clock when there was no need to do so. With the data we’d accumulated we were able to make the case to install variable-speed drives to run the motors more efficiently, reducing equipment wear while also reducing our energy footprint. This action alone will save us huge amounts in energy costs.” According to Peasland, the sky is the limit in terms of potential further improvements at the facility by applying the data-driven approach more widely:“There’s huge scope to expand our use of data across the facility, and the wind tunnel is a proof-of-concept as to how that could manifest. We’re already looking at ways in which we can incorporate more sensors across our buildings and processes.” n Williams Racing has installed new sensor and control technologies at its Oxfordshire wind tunnel facility, unlocking unprecedented insights into the performance and efficiency of the facility, while minimising downtime.