The F1 season has begun. Seeing Tsunoda in the pits is painful. But that aside. Right now, Aston Martin Honda is in a big pinch. They’re experiencing severe vibrations, making it impossible to drive properly. The team principal, who designs the car, blamed the vibration problem on the Honda engine in a press conference. This press conference had me thinking, which is why I’m writing this.
It’s only natural for an engine to vibrate to some extent. And I don’t think the vibrations of a Honda engine, which has won multiple championships, are particularly bad. The root of the vibration problem is probably in the car itself.
Every object has something called a natural vibration. If an actuator (in this case, an engine) generates a frequency that perfectly matches the natural vibration frequency, the intensity of the vibration is greatly amplified, sometimes by more than 100 times. This is what acoustic musical instruments, the phonograph, make use of.
Engines always vibrate. Therefore, it’s important not to amplify this vibration. For that reason, production car engines are suspended by rubber engine mounts to prevent the transmission of vibration. However, this in turn worsens throttle response, because the engine’s driving force is momentarily absorbed by the rubber. In motorsports, where instantaneous throttle control is crucial, this is fatal. That’s why F1 car engines are rigidly mounted.
With that in mind, there’s no doubt that Aston Martin and Honda’s abnormal vibration problem is due to the car’s inherent vibration. However, the person responsible for car design seems to be trying to protect himself by blaming the engine. To most people, that would seem to be the fault of the engine, which generates the vibration. But the real problem isn’t the vibration, it’s the resonance that amplifies it. However, it’s also true that increasing the car’s rigidity in pursuit of performance in the car makes the resonance stronger. The important thing is to shift the resonant frequency and find a good landing point.
Well, I think the biggest problem lies with Honda, who keeps getting told off. As someone said, I feel like Honda really does have a glimpse of the Japanese salaryman mentality. They need to be able to clearly state what needs to be said. Otherwise, the team will fall apart.
Now, I apologize for going on so long about F1, but if you replace the engine with the power transformer, the car body with the chassis or rack, and the abnormal vibration problem with a transformer humming problem, you might understand what I’m trying to say. This means that transformer hum is not simply a problem with the power transformer. However, there is a dilemma in that floating the power transformer with rubber will result in a decrease in performance. — Hideki Kato – SOULNOTE
