Senior Design Formula Hybrid

About Us

Recently, the world has moved towards using electric energy instead of gasoline to power cars. Future engineers will need to continue this trend to make electric cars as efficient as possible. As a result, our senior design project focuses on using electric energy to race a formula hybrid car. A formula hybrid car is a race car that has an open cockpit and uses batteries, electric motors, and a gasoline engine. The race is hosted by the Society of Automotive Engineers and it allows students from different engineering disciplines to work towards a better energy solution together. Our team is the start of a five-year project which involves building a hybrid car that can race in the 2023 competition. We are the first year of senior design teams at the college working on this project. We aim to design the most efficient hybrid car possible while making our work easy to understand for future teams. As a first year team our main goals include the designs of the architecture, the hybrid drivetrain, and the suspension of the car. We also planned to have a physical demonstration of the work that was completed. In the first year our team finished most of the design goals that were set. The most challenging goal is presenting our work in a way that helps future teams. The demonstration we have completed is a small scale quarter car setup. The setup includes combining a scaled down motor and batteries with a model of the suspension and steering. We also tested the motor using the batteries to make sure our design worked.

Video Intro (Demo video will go here)

Where We're At

Currently the team is working to purchase components and gather the beginning of a physical control system. We have been diligently planning and proving our model designs in Solidworks and Adams programs.

Setting goals and objectives to win
Budget and timeline planning

We aim to apply industry best practices in what we do
Improvement from year to year

Future Work

The team will be working to set up control system to Labview in preparation for testing, run controls system in Adams, and create a prototype. The team can further what is done by providing more than throttle control and include suspension testing and graphical analysis using an accelerometer. .

SAE Formula Hybrid Competition

Project Description:

The senior design SAE Formula Hybrid competition is a five year multidisciplinary project which requires senior design teams to observe SAE trends, establish a vehicle architecture that will be viable by the year 2023, and build scalable systems for demonstration. This project will involve using a systematic design approach to define vehicle functions and achieve competition targets. The 2017-2018 senior design team will be compartmentalized to design and model a quarter car setup.

Needs:

Initial sponsor statements were interpreted and formed into basic needs. These needs are kept in the simplest of terms so that they can be built upon during product development. This puts in place a foundation that is used to keep focus on the project's goals.

Target Summary:

Target Summary: Targets were set for the race and all three design goals that were chosen: suspension, chassis, and drivetrain.
Race Targets:

Longest running distance = 45 km

Lap time = 85 seconds/kilometer

Average velocity = 25 miles per hour

Suspension Targets (based on driver position and geometry):

Wheel base = 62 inches

Front Track Width = 48.75 inches

Rear Track Width = 46.5 inches

Ride Height = 2-3 inches

Chassis Targets:

50:50 Weight Distribution

Center of gravity < 8 inches

Weight = 450 lbs (entire car)

Drivetrain Targets

Motor voltage = 60 volts

Power to weight ratio = 0.125

Power target 30 kilowatts

Battery specific energy = 200 Wh/kg

Project Plan:

Purchasing:

One EMRAX 188 motor should be purchased by February 9th. (2/9/2018).

If it is decided to purchase a pre-designed control system, it should be purchased no later than February 23rd (2/23/2018).

The batteries should be purchased ASAP, but no later than March 2nd. (3/2/2018).

Any materials required for the suspension and steering should be purchased no later than March 2nd (3/2/2018).

Any other materials required for the demonstration frame, transition design, or any other component needed to meet the 2017-2018 project goals need to be purchased no later than March 2nd (3/2/2018).

Design and Construction:

The accumulator system (battery cells, BMS, packaging) should be completely designed and ready for construction by March 2nd (3/2/2018).

The load bearing suspension and steering system needs to be fully designed by March 2nd (3/2/2018).

The EMRAX 188 motor and accumulator system needs to be integrated and calibrated by March 16th (3/16/2018).

The control system plan needs to be ready by March 30th (3/30.2018).

The suspension and steering model needs to be fully constructed by March 30th (3/30/2018).

Testing and Wrap up:

The batteries need to be tested and analyzed by March 23rd (3/23/2018).

The EMRAX 188 motor needs to be powered and tested by March 30th (3/30/2018).

The quarter car model (suspension/steering, accumulator, motor) needs to have a test setup by April 3rd (4/3/2018).

Drivetrain Targets

Motor voltage = 60 volts

Power to weight ratio = 0.125

Power target 30 kilowatts

Battery specific energy = 200 Wh/kg

Concept Selection

Overall Architecture:

The main objective of our project was to define a vehicle architecture. A series setup was chosen to be built. This setup consists of a vehicle that is driven solely by motors with an engine generator setup to charge the batteries. While it suffers from relatively low power to weight ratios, it benefits from both a much higher range and fuel efficiency in addition to being easier to design and implement. The placement of components was then determined by focusing on the driver placement in relation to the necessary vehicle components to achieve a 50:50 weight distribution with a center of gravity as close to the ground as possible. The suspension components were placed by defining a 60” wheelbase as the minimum requirement as set by the SAE rulebook. Using CAD software, it was determined that mounting both the two DC motors, and the engine generator setup behind the driver and mounting the batteries under the driver, this setup provided the best possible weight distribution and center of gravity.

Accumulator:

Our energy storage system will consist of lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) batteries. This specific type of battery outperforms conventional lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in areas ranging from performance to cost. NMC batteries are also better suited for automotive powertrains due to their unique capability to be tailored for either optimized specific energy or a preferred power output.

Motor:

The motor selected for the tractive system is the Emrax 188 brushless DC motor. This motor is much lighter than other options, provides a very high-power density (10 kW/kg), and will be utilized with a gear reduction in order to extract the maximum possible power at low speeds. Two of these motors will be used, each powering one of the rear wheels and each providing a continuous power output of 30 kW with a peak of 70 kW.

Engine:

The engine in our vehicle will be used solely for charging the batteries. A 125cc Honda Grom engine, increased to 205cc using a stroker kit, was selected because of its high power to weight ratio. The engines power output (13.4 kW) is very well suited for supplementing the power that the batteries will be sending to the two electric motors while minimizing the weight that the motors must move. This will be used in tandem with an appropriately sized generator to provide electrical power to the batteries.

Suspension:

Front and rear double wishbone suspensions were selected for the vehicle because they present the same benefits of a multilink suspension but without the need for a separate rear subframe assembly. This promotes the mounting of control arms closely together with the rear engine and drivetrain components mounted directly to the frame. The result is a suspension that weighs less and gives more freedom to adjust various suspension parameters such as camber gain curves.

Meet The Team

Donghao Ye

Electrical Engineering major, Donghao comes from China. Donghao is a international student and interested in both energy storage and vehicle.
P: (850)-300-8547
Email: dy17b@my.fsu.edu

Rachael Rosko

Second year SAE president and fourth year mechanical engineering student, Rachael has interned two years in a row with Fiat Chrysler.
P: (813)-310-8271
email: rsr13@my.fsu.edu

Matthew Adams

Senior in Mechanical Engineering, Matt has a passion for cars and racing and enjoys studying fluid dynamics and heat/energy transfer. He is also finishing 2 years of work for the University's Engineering Department.

Daniel Adams

Senior in Mechanical Engineering, Daniel is a research assistant at Power Sciences Lab under Dr. Jim P. Zheng and a technician at General Capacitor. His research interests are in energy storage and fuel cells.

Joey Chrabot

Joey is a Senior in Electrical Engineering at Florida State University, having a wide variety of experience including an internship with consumer electronics provider HARMAN International by Samsung. Joey’s contributions are within the design of the tractive system of the formula hybrid senior design project.

Will McCormack

Senior in mechanical engineering, Wills leadership skills and Solidworks knowledge have helped the SAE formula team hit the ground running last year.
P: (325)-262-0205.
email: wbm13@my.fsu.edu

Lee Joiner

Lee is a Senior in Electrical Engineering at Florida State University, having great project management experience through internships at Packaging Corporation of America and ATKINS Global. Lee's contributions to this project are designing the tractive portion of the SAE formula hybrid senior design project.

Alexander McKinlay

Alex is a senior mechanical engineering student and has an interest in aerospace as well as sustainable energy systems. He will graduate in Spring 2018 with a bachelor’s degree before moving on to work in industry.

Jonathan Mendez

Senior mechanical engineering student, Jonathan has a passion for fluid dynamics and automotive engineering. He has combined both his passions to help create the best Hybrid Formula Car.