MODIFICATION OF RACING CAR CYLINDER HEAD USING 3D DIGITIZATION AND REVERSE ENGINEERING

Abstract

Race car drivers experience that engine with identical technical specifications and of the same make did not have same characteristics and do not perform identically. Based on the driving experience, the considered cylinder head enables the engine to have better performance than serially produced parts. Today the technology behind 3D scanning is so advanced that it can be used equally to tactile coordinate measuring machines for geometric measurement. With 3D scanning of parts, the whole surface geometry is measured, and not only selected coordinates. The cylinder head were digitized using an industrial 3D scanner ATOS. After polygonization and transformation of the polygonal model into the desired coordinate system, the geometry of all 4 cavities is obtained, and one of the geometries is adopted as reference. By the process of reverse engineering, a digital twin is obtained and can be replicated an unlimited number of times. CNC machining of cylinder head was performed on 2 different engine cylinder heads. At the time of this paper preparation, the qualifying rounds for the race within the Serbian championship 2020 are being run. Preliminary feedback on the overall effect achieved by the described modifications are that the two engines performing identically.