Making Sense Of Sensors

Modern racecar engineering is data-driven, which means a car needs to be fitted with an array of durable, light and – most importantly – accurate sensors to tell the team what’s happening to it out on the race track. But how do these hi-tech devices work and what exactly do they do?

- Jahee Campbell-Brennan

A wide spectrum of sensory equipment has seen industrial application for centuries, yet in motorsport there have been many engineering obstacles that have proved tricky to overcome. With desires to keep weight to a minimum, increasingly small package spaces and extreme NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) conditions, achieving the high level of accuracy required has been very difficult.

Also, as electronically controlled automotive systems proliferated, so did the requirements of measurement and control engineering. But advances in manufacturing technologies, materials understanding, and electronic sophistication, at the same time edged sensor technology towards the refinement levels necessary. The most notable advancement was with the introduction of electronic powertrain control systems – electronic ignition, electronic fuel injection, electronic throttle actuation, wheel speed sensors, crank position sensors, fuel pressure regulators, etc. These were all innovations led by the advancement of sensor technology – and look at what they have done to the internal combustion engine in terms of fuel efficiency and power density.

The proliferation of sensor technology didn’t stop at the powertrain, though, especially with racecars where understanding the physical events happening around the vehicle is crucial in the drive to master the art. And so mechanical servos, pumps, and solenoids are operated with closed-loop feedback from position sensors, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, and accelerometers – assisting in the automation of functions to a level only dreamed of by engineers as little as 20 years ago.

Sensor sensibility