Renishaw 3D printed a manifold part that serves in Formula Student competition

Renishaw assisted the Brunel University London race team that participated at the Formula Student (FS) competition. The Engineering company 3D printed in metal a manifold part for the team’s BR-XX car, which was used to compete at FS-UK in Silverstone and FS-ATA in Italy in July.  

During the past 20 years, Formula Student has established itself as a coveted educational motorsport competition.

Before calling for Renishaw’s help, the Brunel Racing team had produced carbon fibre and aluminium fabricated manifolds, but this method had limitations due to the design geometry. This year, the team has improved the design and added other features such as dual stage fuel injection and improved port matching between exhaust manifold and the engine to increase efficiency.

Using the original design geometry, Renishaw was able to design the part for AM. The optimised part has been produced on the manufacturer’s multi-laser RenAM 500Q AM system. This included splitting the part into smaller assemblies and looking at how to eliminate overhangs where possible.

“Renishaw’s expertise and advice on how to design a part for the additive manufacturing process was invaluable,” explained Matthew Crouch, a Mechanical Engineering student and one of the managers of the Brunel Racing team. “To design for AM, overhangs could not be over 55° from the vertical axis on both overhangs and each part requires smooth transitions of cross-sectional thickness.”

 “The applications of AM are broadening into ever more industries,” explained Joshua Whitmore, Applications Engineer at Renishaw. “In many examples, it offers clear benefits over traditional manufacturing methods as you can simplify the manufacturing process or increase part performance. The growing use of multi-laser machines, such as the RenAM 500Q, allows for higher build rates, vastly improving productivity and lowering cost per part.”

Renishaw’s additive manufacturing technology has been leveraged in more than one racing applications. The Atherton Bikes are another example that demonstrates the capabilities of the company’s technology in extreme environments.

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