2015-2016 Electra – FSAE Electric Racecar

Background

AR-10 Electra is a research and design project which gives students experience working on a Research and Development Prototype for a Design Competition with industry methods of team organization and systems engineering, real deadlines, and economic justification (drafting a business plan to prove that the product can make money).

Students design, build, test, and drive the racecars.

Goal and Objectives

Pass tech inspection: Comply with all FSAE Rules (All 1054!), Tilt test, Noise Test, Rain test, Brake test, etc. (all are detailed here http://students.sae.org/cds/formulaseries/rules/2015-16_fsae_rules.pdf)
Complete 22km endurance event at FSAE Lincoln: durable car, sufficient battery capacity
Document all designing, building, testing processes thoroughly
Design a user friendly, serviceable car
Torque Vectoring System
Compete in all FSAE events

Parameters/Objectives:

Electric FSAE Car weighing under 700lbs (317 kg) with driver
0-60 mph in around 3 seconds
1g cornering, Analog Torque Vectoring
Range of 22 km at average velocity
User friendly, Inexpensive (UCI budget <$20,000), Waterproof, Safe
Analog Torque Vectoring System for durability and resistance to Electromagnetic Interference.

Innovation

Evolutionary Design: Keep the great parts from last year’s car (Zeta) like suspension geometry, brakes, steering, focus on what we can improve like our Battery Box design. Making chassis lighter, redesigning uprights, buying lighter wheels and hubs.

Systems Engineering: Requirements, Requirements Database at the components level

Team Management: Maximizing Individual Productivity with a Scrum board system to keep track of tasks.

Torque Vectoring System: uses steering angle, throttle position, and the electric motor’s torque speed curve as inputs and outputs different torque splits between the rear wheels to actively help turn the car.

The Bigger Picture

Industry Methods: This project uses industry methods of team organization, systems engineering, design, prototyping, and manufacturing.

Budgeting: The FSAE cars provide experience managing a budget, interacting with sponsors, and managing/working in a large labor force.

Testing Processes: To have a successful car at competition subsystems must all work together reliably under adverse conditions. This means that each subsystem undergoes extensive simulation and physical testing and that the whole car must undergo the same testing process to test reliability and to set up the car for maximum performance.

Final Working Prototype: As opposed to other senior design projects, FSAE mandates a completed final product in the form of a working prototype to enter in a design competition with a proposed production run.

Business Logic Plan: Students have to show that the production model has a market and that it can be profitable.

Timeline

Subsystem Breakdown

Contact

FSAE Electric Racecar Electrical Systems Form Update

AR-10 Electra Chassis Completed

Failure Modes Effects and Analysis Paperwork Approved

Trackday October 18th, 2015