Final year Project

Cooling System: Cont

2010-04-08T04:57:00.000-07:00

As the car moves forward it generates a low pressure region behind it. Having a grill in the rear end of the car allows the low pressure region to extract air out of the engine bay. this pulls more air in through the intakes and provides constant circulation oif air around the motor keeping it cool.

Cooling System details

2010-04-08T04:56:00.000-07:00

According to available data the motor will need a cooling rate of 155J/s to run effectively. This would require the motor to be mounted with large heat sinks .

However for the heat sink to work effectively, constant airflow around it is required. This will be provided by the ducts.

The two side ducts will push air in from the sides and one large duct will push air in from above directly on top of the heat sink. The rear end of the car will be covered by a grill.

When the car will move forward air will ram into the intakes. A low pressure region will also be generated behind the car due to its motion. This region will be at a lower pressure than the front of the intakes and the engine bay and will draw out air from the engine bay through the grill.

This process will allow constant free airflow through the engine bay and will greatly assist in cooling the motor.

This design will also provide airflow for the internal combustion engine when it is used in the shell eco challenge without any modifications.

The main goal of Shell Eco is fuel efficiency therefore a good airflow to the engine is crucial.

Cooling System

2010-04-08T00:55:00.000-07:00

This has been long overdue. We have been working on the actual gearbox construction and easter holidays have started. this is a concept design for the cooling system. Air vents have been added to force air on the motor. the motor itself will be covered by a heatsink so this should keep tempratures low enough to work properly.

After easter break is over i plan to start mounting the power-train and a floor. After which we will begin construction of a body shell.

Photo Archive

2010-02-13T05:29:00.000-08:00

Just reposting the link. I thought the last link was not clearly visible.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46267928@N05/sets/72157623157558096/

Progress of sorts....

2010-02-13T04:53:00.000-08:00

Hello!

I have not been able to post for the last two weeks. I was a little too busy with university work.

A lot of work has been done to the car since we started. We added the front wheels and fixed the steering linkage. Also i constructed a new mock up gearbox just to see is the design we are going to go with fits properly.

We had to do this because i realised that the old gearbox was backwards. that is it was designed for mounting next to the firewall behind the driver's seat. It was a good design but i felt it was taking up room where we thought the batteries and the IC engine would go.

So i decided to take it apart and build a new casing more suited to our needs.

i used a laser prototyper and solid works to build it. It did not take too long but the main problem i had was taking the old gearbox apart. now usually I excel at taking things apart but in this case tight bearings and inaccessible screws made it a difficult task.

The case in the photograph is a mock up made of plywood. The real gearbox will look the same but will be made of aluminium.

Also the flicker gallery has been updated with more recent photographs.

More soon

2010-01-18T13:47:00.001-08:00

The same renderings from before but with better viewing angels to get a better idea of the distance.

hopefully we will do some 'Real' work on the car this week and we will be this blog aswell.

Tasks for 19/01/2010

2010-01-18T10:29:00.000-08:00

Tasks:

1. Show where and how both engine and elec. motor will be mounted

2. Where are the rear wheels going to be placed

3. What changes are going to be done to front wheels

4. How and where is the gearbox going to be mounted

5. How is the chassis going to be strengthened

6. Update Gantt chart

7. How is the breaking going to work

8. add floor, aircraft material floor tony suggested

9. Steering system needs to be revised

10. What things are needed to achieve all these

UPDATE: Gearbox And Motor

2010-01-11T11:20:00.000-08:00

I uploaded the renderings of the updated 3D model. i have placed the motor and the gearbox

in the chassis. This is to show what i think is the best position for placing the motor.

The batteries can be secured in the space just below the motors.

The main advantage of this configuration is that the motor and batteries can be quickly removed and replaced with the patrol engine for the Shell Eco challenge.

This ensures minimum modifications and a secure place for all equipment.

The motor has the correct dimensions. The gearbox however is still under development so the current dimensions are an estimate.

The Motor we are using is a Framco DC motor. I think i will add some sort of heat sink to the motor to help cool it down. Also ducts directing air on the heat sinks would be a big help.

I will update more on this after our next group meeting.

2010-01-07T17:26:00.001-08:00

I added the steering column so I can start building the entire steering system on the model. Next phase will probably be to model the drive train. Modelling the gearbox is going to be tricky to say the least. Lets see how it turns out.

At the moment i plan to make a 'dummy' model (draw a box roughly the same dimensions as the gearbox and motor to make modelling a bit easier). it will give us an idea about placing the actual gearbox ,motor and batteries when we start construction.

2010-01-07T10:50:00.001-08:00

Here are some 3d models of the chassis. I used Sketchup to render them because it is sooo easy!

The drawings are labelled and all dimensions are in CM.

2010-01-06T22:47:00.001-08:00

This is a link to the photo gallary which will be updated on a regular baisis.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46267928@N05/sets/72157623157558096/

2010-01-06T22:34:00.000-08:00

I am uploading some basic pictures of the chassis as it stands right now and some pics of our proposed gearbox/motor arrangement.

First update of the year

2010-01-06T22:08:00.000-08:00

Christmas break is over and now its back to work!

At the moment there is a lot of things to be done. The final project is a bit behind schedule to say the least.

The work that Must be prioritised at the moment is as follows.

1)The drive train and the wheels must be mounted immediately if not sooner.

2)The current chassis(which I feel is weak in the general cockpit area) must be strengthened

Trouble is that the current gearbox was designed by the previous team and was supposed to be mounted on the firewall. I would like to change that and mount the gearbox on the far end of the chassis. The reason for this is it gives us more room to mount the motor and batteries and will make changing engines easier once we get the car ready for Shell Eco Standards.

My plan at the moment is to mount the motor on rails and link to the gearbox using a chain drive.

The batteries will also be mounted on rails and will be right below the motor.

This makes removing the batteries easier as they can now be pulled out from the sides.

Also since i have decided to move the gearbox further away from its original intended position i would need to recalculate the toe in of the front wheels because it changes the wheelbase. This involves me reading up on the Ackerman's principle. I am not sure if the previous team did any such thing but if they did data recalculations await me in my future.

I will be posting pictures and renderings of my 3D models here soon and I also hope to put up a video record on our group meetings and a Vlog of me blabbing in the near future.

So here is what to expect in the next few updates:

1) Photographs and schematic diagrams of the vehicle

2)3d model renderings

3)A fully laid out plan of the work that need to be done over the next few weeks

So there is a lot of work to be done and hopefully we can get back on schedule soon

FOR SCIENCE!!

First Post

2010-01-06T22:04:00.000-08:00

Hello

Qapla' batlh je!

I have decided to document my progress on my final year project in a blog.

This should help us keep track of what is going on and what needs to be done.

Also it lets me make an informal record of the work done where i can save my ideas, make them more accessible to the people involved and make everything sound cooler than it already is.

I also hope it will provide future students with a reference point so they can draw on our experience with the project.

Since the project began before the conception of this blog here is a summary of the work that's been done (Mostly by the previous team) and what we plan to do with the equipment we have at the moment.

The project is to build a car that conforms to the Formula 24+ standards set by Green Power.

The same car should (with minimal modifications) be used for the Shell Eco challenge.

Now the two specifications are for (understandably) two entirely different vehicles.

The Green power F24+ is an electric racer while the Shell Eco car is a petrol powered super efficient vehicle.

Out car will be a sort of (pseudo) Hybrid. We plan to have a common chassis and body shell with a swappable engine.

To do this the engine unit must be modular and easily removable.

We also plan to use a common gearbox so both the engine units must be compatible with it.

That's all for now. I will keep updating this space at least once a week to keep track of our progress so if you are interested watch this space.

Live long and prosper