vt motorsports: 2013 winter newsletter

7/29/2019 VT Motorsports: 2013 Winter Newsletter

1/13

WINTER 2013 UPDATETe purpose o thisnewsletter is to keep you,our sponsors, potentialsponsors, and riends upto date on our progress aswe work together to buildthe astest, saest, mostdependable, high-quality

racing automobile. I youhave any comments orsuggestions, or would likeadditional inormationplease email VincentSorrento ([email protected]).

Monetary Donations:V Formula SAEc/o Dr. Bob West

Dept. o Mechanical EngineeringVirginia echBlacksburg, VA 24061

Product Donations:Virginia echMechanical Engineering DepartmentAN: Formula SAE eam114 OPP Randolph HallBlacksburg, VA 24061-0238540-231-9100 (Fax)

Check us out!@vtmotorsports

vt motorsports

V Motorsports

Website:www.vtmotorsports.com

Hello everyone and welcome to the V Motorsports Winter2013 newsletter. Te team has many updates and signicantprogress to share with you across the entire program and thenew 2013 competition vehicle. As you read this newsletteryou will realize that we are in a great phase o transition andwere moving orward in both engineering design and testing,

as well expanding the program. We are a multidisciplinaryteam recruiting underclassmen rom ten majors including:Mechanical, Electrical, Computer, Aerospace, Industrial andSystems, Materials Science in the College o Engineering;Marketing, Finance, Management rom the Pamplin Collegeo Business; and Communications in the College o LiberalArts and Human Sciences. Tis year also brings change romthe competition with the addition o the Business LogicCase which is designed to meld business and engineering

goals into the oundation or the Design, Sales, and Costevents. Te 2013 car is an iteration o the 2012 vehicle withsignicant adjustments in many subsystems and the majoraddition o a ull aerodynamics package. Our main goals orthis year are enhancing reliability, perormance, drivability,and serviceability. Te team is traveling to both FSAEMichigan at Michigan International Speedway rom May8-11 and FSAE Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska rom June19-22. We invite any alumni, parents, and amily members

to join us at competition. Cheers to a great season! We thankyou all or your continued support.


2/13

Engine

Tis year, we have created an enginemodel o the 2012 engine system usingRicardo WAVE engine and gas dynamicssimulation soware.

Using the model, we can predict theoutput o the engine with new designconcepts, such as intake or exhaustgeometries. Using WAVE experimenteatures, we can optimize the poweroutput o the engine based on manydierent design parameters, which willcut down on manuacturing and testing

time. On the next page, you can see

the results plotted comparing actual versussimulated results

Te 2013 intake design will be an iterationo the 2012 design. We are currently testinga tapered runner concept, with a largerdiameter at the intake plenum, taperingdown to the diameter o the intake port.Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) andWAVE testing has shown an increase inairow and power output.

We currently have a prototype intakethat was provided to us by Stratasys, whoprovides ree rapid prototyping services orthe team. Te runner prototype has beentested on the ow bench, and it has shownan increase in ow similar to CFD results.Dynamometer testing is in progress with new

test components. A new throttle body designis being implemented to increase airow andreduce weight.

A major design change or cooling on the2013 car is the addition o sidepods. Workingwith the aerodynamic subteam, side podswill be designed to help reduce drag whileincreasing cooling eciency. In addition,


3/13

the radiator will be angled, rather thanupright, in order to reduce the rontalarea exposed to incoming air urtherreducing drag.

o compensate or the smaller exposedarea the side pod will be used to ductthe necessary amount o air through theradiator. o aid in cooling, the oil systemwill be designed to increase coolingthrough the oil, relieving some o theheat load on the cooling system.

Tis year the uel system is building on

the 2012 design. Te tank will use the sameinternal uel pump, with added bafes toreduce sloshing during cornering. A higherow rate uel injector is being tested due tothe increased air ow rate o the new intakecomponents.

Suspension

Te 2013 suspension is looking to heavilyiterate o o 2012s designs, which provedto be highly successul. Each part is gettingminor changes to improve its design, andthere is much eort going into analysis andvalidation. Te major change in suspension

design is moving rom pull rods to push rodsdue to packaging constraints. Tis will alsoallow the steering rack to be moved rearwardor more linear and predictable steeringresponse. Also, the kinematics and dynamicsare changing to better accommodate thelarge aerodynamic loads on VM 2013. Weare tuning the dampers to accommodatethese new loads on the shock dynamometer.


4/13

Te chassis has overall dimensions verysimilar to 2012, but has undergonesome geometry changes in order toincrease the stiness. New nite elementmodels to analyze chassis stiness havebeen created and the results have beencorrelated to physical tests successully.Additionally, the roll hoops have been

slightly raised and the ront bulkheadhas been lengthened. Tis is or abetter ergonomics package as well as toaccommodate new rules regarding the95th percentile male template.

Uprights remain very similar to 2012 wherewe are continuing V motorsports stapleo custom sheet steel uprights. Again,more developed nite element models arebeing created to conrm designs as well asphysical tests. Much eort has also goneinto veriying John Fratellos suspensionanalyzer through stain gauge data collectedrom suspension members. Currently, theVM12 has 10 tires running either LC0s orR25B compound. Calspan did not providethe ire est Consortium with normalizeddata or these tires. Because o this, we havehad to develop our own Pacejka coecientsand algorithms to determine wheel loadsduring various driving maneuvers. At this

point, the chassis in manuactured and weare welding tabs. Te uprights are designedand manuacturing is starting. Also, wehave recently received all o our control armmaterial and plan to manuacture them overwinter break.

Drivetrain

Te 2012 car is a great platorm to build oo and the designing o the 2013 Drivetraincomponents has been highly iterative optimizing part design or reliability,perormance, serviceability, and drivabilitysuch as increasing atigue lie and reducingweight. Te team eels that iteration is thebest way to ultimately win competition.


5/13

Last year marked a push to acquire realworld data and to use that data to reneand validate design, and this year thateort continues. Strain gauges have beenapplied to the hal shas on the 2012 carto determine the maximum torque aswell as the uctuation in the torque asthe car goes through dierent loading

scenarios. Knowing the torque in the halshas, the team can now more accuratelycalculate the loads going through entiredriveline. Tis allows or design validationand improvements, as well as locating thesources o loss in the driveline. Strain gaugeswill also be applied to the bearing blocks orsimilar purposes.


6/13

Te thermal brake model used to designthe rotors is also being revamped.By measuring the rotor temperatureversus speed on the 2012 car, thethermal conductivity as a unction ovelocity o the brake system can bedetermined. Design o the 2013 brakesystem depends on continued testingnot only o rotor temperatures whiledriving but also o line pressures ando aerodynamic components, whichare both variables in the brake model.Much testing will be needed to veriythe accuracy o the new brake modeliteration.

Te gearing and shiing subsystem isalso making changes to the shi drumprevious years have used. Because theengine is rom a dirt bike the shi drumis mapped so that neutral is between rstand second gear, this occasionally causesthe driver o the car to shi rom rstgear to neutral preventing power romgoing to the driveline and ultimately

reducing reliability and perormance.Te desired order is N-1-2-3-4-5. oresolve this, the shi drum needs to be3D scanned and remapped in order tohave the desired gearing order.

Tis year there are two maindevelopments related to the brakessubsystem. Te rst is a hardware

upgrade or the ront brakes; the tworont calipers will be rom AP Racing,the our piston 4227 model sincethey will best complement the 4226two piston rear calipers also rom APRacing. Te second major change tothe brakes subsystem is an overhaul othe way the system is modeled. Te twoexisting models, one thermal and one

mechanical, are being combined into a singleMathematical code which aims to greatlysimpliy brake design while maintaininga relatively high level o delity to the reallie problem. In particular the way in whichconvection over the rotor is handled hasbecome more closely based on empirical testdata which ought to provide more accurateresults.

Electrical

Tis year, the electronics sub team is takingthe advancements o past years teams and

taking them to the next level. Tere aresignicant updates being incorporatedinto the 2013 electrical system includingupdates to the power generation anddistribution systems, a rom scratch wiringand packaging scheme, as well as CANbus utilization or on-board diagnosticsand wireless telemetry unctionality. Inaddition, we are adding a whole new

Electric Powertrain sub-team to the mix. Perusual, our main design goals are to create areliable and ecient electrical system, andby iterating on the 2012 design we hope tosolidiy a oundation upon which we canbuild on more advanced unctionality in theuture.

In the past, we have utilized an aermarket

stator and linear regulator/rectier orgenerating power or the vehicle. Tisyear, we are taking this to another level bycreating a custom designed recticationand regulation system which will bemanuactured in-house and is predicted toreduce power loss by approximately 40%.

We will also be testing our system to


7/13

determine and compare the capabilitieso our current vs. uture hardwarechoices, as well as to determine thepower consumption o each component

in the system.

Te Power Distribution Unit (PDU) willalso be upgraded to incorporate post-designchanges made last year, as well as LEDindicators to enable a better understanding

o unctionality as well as to quickentroubleshooting.

A large improvement to the 2013 car will bean all new wiring and packaging scheme.Focused around modularity and colorcoding, the new wiring harness will bemake it easier to perorm maintenance andpost-manuacture changes to the various

components on the car. Connectors arebeing selected and implemented in new waysto prevent human error in assembling andreassembling the vehicle, regardless o whois perorming the maintenance. Packagingis also a high priority on this years car.Waterproong and thermal and vibrationalresistance will be accomplished by usingvacuum molding techniques and rubber

mounting systems.

In addition to these analogupdates, we are continuingto improve on the digitalront as well. We willbe utilizing the DigilentCerebot MX7c prototypingmicroprocessor in order


8/13

to increase our On-Board Diagnostics(OBD) capabilities. We will bemonitoring the CAN bus, manipulatedmainly by the MoeC ECU, in order toully understand the condition o eacho the cars components at any time viaan LCD display. Another goal or the2013 system is to implement a wirelesstelemetry system. Te addition o such asystem will allow or more streamlinedtesting days and an increased actor osaety or both car and driver.

wiring scheme (shown above)

Finally, new to 2013 is the ElectricPowertrain (EP) sub-team. Te goal othe EP team over the next 3 years willbe to research, design, build, and racean all-electric Formula variant side by

side with the currently existing combustionmodel. Te preliminary specications or theall-electric vehicle include a 90 horsepowerAC motor with 90 consistent *lbs o torqueand 7kWh battery system, all under 500 lbs.Te EP sub-team is a pilot program withan additional year included or researchand unding purposes. Our goal is to have acompetition ready car by May 2015.

Aerodynamics

An exciting addition to the 2013 VMotorsports car is a ull aero package.

VM13 will be eaturing a ront and rearwing, a body, and an undertray/diuser.

Te 2012 undertray le a good platormor 2013 to iterate o o. Te 2012 car hadan undertray/diuser that was producingaround 35 lbs. o downorce at 35 mph. Tegoal or this years undertray/diuser is toproduce around 40 lbs. o downorce at 35

mph while at the same time reducing thedrag o the ow underneath the car. Teundertray will be eaturing inlets near theront o the vehicle to eed more acceleratedair underneath the vehicle; treating it morelike a venturi. With doing this, the tunnellengths will need to be adjusted as todecelerate the air back down to the ambientair speed to reduce drag.


9/13

VM13 will be eaturing a ront and rearwing that has been designed rom theground up here at V Motorsports. Tegoal o the wings is to create 100 lbs. odownorce at 35 mph. One o the mainaspects our engineers have been lookingat or adding the wings is the overallbalance o the car. With the added aeroloads, we need to be certain that these

loads are not upsetting the dynamicstability o the vehicle. o do this, we arematching the aero loads with the ront-to-rear weight percentage o the vehicle.With around a 45% ront and 55% rearweight percentage, 45 lbs. o downorcewill be produced by the ront wing whilethe remaining 55 lbs. is produced by therear wing.

We are also working on placement othe wings so that the moment aboutthe center o mass is being canceledby the aero loads so there is no excessunder-steer or over-steer. Utilizing therelationship V Motorsports now haswith the Aerospace Department, we willbe testing scale models o the wings in

the Open Jet Wind unnel here on campus.With this wind tunnel testing, the engineerswill urther validate the CFD models alongwith on-track testing.

Te bodys goals are to reduce drag andoptimize airow paths. Te body will haveside pods as to direct the ow to cool theradiator oil and electronics. Te ront o thebody is being developed to allow as muchront wing area as possible while helpingdirect clean ow to the undertray. Te rest othe body will be used to direct ow over thedriver, provide air ow to the side pods, andto reduce the overall drag o the vehicle.

V Motorsports takes pride with our in-house manuacturing, and this will continuewith the aero package. Te wings, undertray,and body will be made by the team. VMotorsports has never made wings beore, sothe engineers have been developing ecient

manuacturing processes to build the wingsto be light, but to be able to handle the aeroloads and possible impacts on the course.We are also designing the end plates to allowvarious angles o attack. Te added aeropackage has been a challenging yet rewardingproject or VM13 and will only help usbecome more competitive at competition.


10/13

Ergonomics

In the area o human actors andergonomics, a driver positionsimulator was recently constructed.Tis is simply a wooden mockup o the

things that the driver will physicallyinteract with during vehicle operation.It can and will be used to evaluatedierent seat angles, steering wheelplacement, pedal positions, and driverinormation systems. Te steering wheelgrips are being custom molded basedon driver input. Tese grips are to be3D scanned and then rapid prototyped

or installation on the nal wheel. Weare also looking to collect baselineergonomic data including steering eortwith strain gauges in order to betterdesign the next vehicles.

Te end goal is to equally allow a 5thpercentile emale and a 95th percentilemale to drive the vehicles in competition

in anticipation o new technicalregulations.

Cost and Sales

Te 2013 competition year brought aboutthe incorporation o another sub-teaminto Virginia ech Formula SAE. Tis yearIndustrial & Systems Engineering (ISE) will

play an integral role in the areas involvingcost, manuacturing, acilities planning,ergonomics, and human actors evaluation.As this is the rst year that an ISE team hasbeen included in Formula SAE, much o thework the ISE team will be doing will be romthe ground up. Currently in the works isthe creation o a more eective and ecientway o constructing the Cost Report or the

car. Te goal o this is to create templates inwhich each sub team and each person cancontribute their work in a way that will beast and easy to compile into the completecost report. Tese methods will be le oruture ISE teams to evaluate and possibleimprove the cost analysis even urther. Tissub-team will also be constructing a acilitiesplan to be included in the sales presentation

that will urther support the business logicplan and improve the competition scores inthat area.


11/13

Development

Tis year, we have collaborated withmultiple colleges within Virginia echto orm the rst development subteam.We recruited students rom the Pamplin

College o Business and CommunicationDepartment. Currently, there areapproximately ten members onour subteam with various roles andresponsibilities. Tere are six areas weare ocused on which include websitedevelopment, alumni/amily relations(including this newsletter), social media,competition sales presentation, public

relations, and sponsorship outreach.

Tis team will also work to strengthenthe business side o the competition.Te development o the team will helpus garner overall awareness o V

FSAE on campus and in the community.By diversiying the team, we hope to sparknew insights and reach new heights withthis program. We are also in the processo revamping our website, so look out orupdates. Please ollow us on witter, like uson Facebook, and join us on LinkedIn.

Tank you or all o your support!


12/13


13/13

vt motorsports: 2013 winter newsletter

Documents