CEO of Bcomp, Christian Fischer, talks to AZoM about an vital involvement with Components One’s McLaren. The corporate has helped develop a pure fiber composite racing seat, echoing the racing and automotive business’s transfer in the direction of extra sustainable applied sciences.
Are you able to inform us slightly bit about what Bcomp does?
It began because the traditional storage story: materials science PhD’s that needed to construct skis with extraordinarily excessive efficiency to weight ratio. That quickly was Bcomp, a Swiss cleantech scaleup that develops sustainable lightweighting options from pure fibers. We now have at all times been conscious that we have to have a high-performance product – whereas including a sustainability profit. Now our merchandise are utilized in sports activities, house, Components 1, luxurious yachts, and shortly in your on a regular basis automotive. We at all times work carefully along with our clients to develop options.
Bcomp and McLaren have collaborated to supply Components One’s first pure fiber composite racing seat. What drove this growth?
Motorsports, in massive, are placing sustainability larger on the agenda: it has at all times been a know-how growth platform for automotive. To stay related right this moment and appeal to a brand new era of audiences and sponsors, growing and testing new and sustainable applied sciences is crucial for the game and its contribution to mobility.
McLaren was a frontrunner in introducing carbon fibers to motorsport. Right now, it’s the main F1 staff by way of working with sustainable applied sciences. This makes McLaren the proper accomplice for this enterprise, and we’re humbled and proud to have this technical growth with them.
Picture Credit score: McLaren
How does the pure fiber racing seat evaluate to the usual carbon fiber racing seat?
The composite shell of the seat is made completely from pure fibers. Whereas matching the efficiency necessities, it means as much as 75% decrease CO2 emissions. The components will be incinerated for vitality restoration with out residual waste at finish of life as a substitute of going to landfills. Materials prices are diminished, the chance of sharp shattering mitigated, and vibration damping – vital to the driving force’s consolation – is as much as 250% larger. Because of powerRibs™ know-how, it’s the first time that pure fiber composites can exchange carbon fibers.
What’s Bcomp’s powerRibs know-how, and the way is it used within the seats?
The powerRibs™ know-how is impressed by the veins on the again of a leaf. Making a 3D construction on one facet of a skinny shell maximizes stiffness at minimal weight to allow much less base materials and cut back weight, value, and consumables in manufacturing. The proprietary know-how is ideal for high-performance functions similar to changing or reinforcing carbon fibers in motorsport bodywork or reducing weight in automotive inside panels with pure fibers.
For the McLaren F1 seats, the powerRibs™ are used on the surface/again of the seat – it’s the grid sample seen in photos. They’re important to achieve the required stiffness to weight; in any other case, the seat can be too heavy on the required properties.
What do sustainable composites imply for the automotive business, and the way will it change the driving expertise?
One in all our engineers mentioned, “We hope to be within the lives of many, with out them noticing”, referring to having extra sustainable merchandise with out compromising the efficiency or expertise. It shouldn’t need to be an lively selection for the buyer, however the pure approach to go.
Nonetheless, as our applied sciences for automotive inside panels allow vital weight reductions by utilizing smaller volumes of fabric extra effectively, there’s a optimistic affect on driving vary/gasoline consumption and improved vibration damping. A decrease quantity of fabric can also be associated to decrease VOC, and never least, improved crash conduct because the powerRibs™ forestall shattering.
How is security impacted when utilizing Bcomp’s pure fiber composites to assemble a racing seat?
We carried out reversed engineering of the carbon fiber seat and developed a pure fiber seat that doesn’t compromise the required properties. Subsequently, it’s also important to know what functions to make use of pure fibers. Our candy spot is thin-walled non- or semi-structural functions which are primarily loaded in stiffness/designed for stiffness. There are functions the place the power to weight is extra vital, after which carbon fibers will be extra applicable. You will need to have an in depth and sincere dialogue with clients.
What course of is concerned to make sure the seat has the required power to face up to F1 racing circumstances?
Along with the reverse engineering and modeling strategy described within the earlier query, the seat has been examined on the monitor by Lando Norris through the February pre-season exams in Barcelona, confirming that the seat behaves in line with our calculations and all people’s expectations. It’s repeatedly examined throughout on-track testing and can finally bear the ultimate homologation by the FIA.
How does the natural-fiber composite seat symbolize a step ahead within the automotive and racing business?
Being current in F1, the top of motorsports, is pivotal for sustainable applied sciences. McLaren takes the place of utilizing F1 as an innovation platform for cleaner applied sciences – and F1, typically, can also be transferring on this course, to stay the main innovation platform and stay related to the automotive business, sponsors, and viewers. Highway relevance is essential and permits for know-how switch from race to street, which is one vital function of racing – an innovation platform for tomorrow’s applied sciences.
Do you’ve got every other tasks that you’re at present engaged on?
Sure, our sustainable light-weight applied sciences are at present utilized in 16 racing sequence worldwide – from F1 and GT to rally. Porsche Motorsport just lately launched a full pure fiber physique equipment for 4 Motors’ Cayman GT4 MR.
Exterior of motorsports, we’re collaborating with the European House Company and have made a satellite tv for pc panel. We’re working with many main manufacturers in sports activities and leisure, and have just lately entered the marine sector, the place Baltic Yachts are at present constructing two implausible crusing yachts.
We’re additionally working with a number of automotive manufacturers for inside panels. The cycles are lengthy, however the developments are optimistic. Final spring, Geely and Volvo Automobiles-owned electrical efficiency model Polestar launched the Polestar Principle, which has all inside panels utilizing our supplies. That was additionally a big milestone and a fantastic collaboration.
The place can readers discover extra info?
McLaren
https://www.bcomp.ch/news/mclaren-racing-pioneering-sustainable-lightweighting-in-f1/
https://www.mclaren.com/racing/team/natural-fibre-sustainable-composite-racing-seat/
Polestar
https://www.polestar.com/en-ch/news/polestar-and-bcomp/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfivqeZHTlA
Porsche Motorsport
https://www.bcomp.ch/news/porsche-full-natural-fibre-bodykit/
Baltic Yachts
https://www.balticyachts.fi/yachts/baltic-68-cafe-racer/
About Christian Fischer
Christian Fischer is the CEO of Bcomp Ltd, a PhD engineer in materials sciences, and a mountain lover. He left company and co-founded Bcomp to problem conventional light-weight materials applied sciences. Right now, Bcomp is an award-winning, main provider of sustainable light-weight options and a part of the continuing revolution in the direction of cleaner mobility.
The Swiss high-tech firm has created and entered new markets and is effectively on the best way to ascertain itself within the large-scale automotive business. Fluent in a number of languages, Christian additionally teaches Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Composite Supplies at universities.
Disclaimer: The views expressed listed below are these of the interviewee and don’t essentially symbolize the views of AZoM.com Restricted (T/A) AZoNetwork, the proprietor and operator of this web site. This disclaimer varieties a part of the Terms and Conditions of use of this web site.
