Two new bearings were tested and the following results obtained
As supplied 1.5 revolutions
Lubed with light clock oil 9 revolutions
Lubed with WD 40 26 revolutions initially
12 after 20 minutes
Lubed with INOX 24 revolutions initially
23 after 6 weeks
(INOX manufactured by Candan Industries distributed by
Consolidated Bearing Co.)
From these results it is obvious that lubricant is important to bearing friction, but we need
to be careful not to trick ourselves. Grease lubed bearings after some use will have spun
the grease to the outer edges and give better results than shown here.
However having a known performance from the start is best for our Solar Car. The
energy saving when comparing as supplied lubrication to INOX lubrication as
measured by the technique described above is about 3 Joules over a complete race which
for the car Enigma mentioned in Part F Car Performance represents about 3% of the total
energy the panel could supply over the duration of a race in full Sun.
APPENDIX J
MOTORS & ELECTRONICS & DYNO 12/06