Greenpower F24+ racer Build (ONGOING)

Greetings!
Qapla' batlh je!

I have decided to document my progress on my final year University project .
The project is to build a car that conforms to the Formula 24+ standards set by Green Power.
This should help us keep track of what is going on and what needs to be done
and hopefully get feedback from people interested in the automotive field and make everything sound cooler than it already is.
I also hope it will provide future students and hobbyists with a reference point so they can draw on our experience with the project.
Since the project began before the conception of this post 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.




For those of you who dont know about green power:

Formula 24+ is an exciting Formula, aimed at those in further education aged 16-25 years. Anyone that falls into this category can enter, including privateers, youth groups, sixth forms, colleges, universities, graduate schemes and company apprenticeship schemes. The vehicle regulations are almost identical to Formula 24 for secondary schools – the only difference being an increase in allowed vehicle length to cater for taller drivers and allow enhanced aerodynamics. Seven championship rounds of 90 minutes are held at major motor circuits for Formula 24 + cars during June, July and September 2009*. Teams must compete in two races of their choice, plus the final round of the season held at the Goodwood Motor Circuit in October, to be included in the Constructors Championship. Points for the Constructors Championship will be awarded on the following basis at each round: 1st – 10 points; 2nd – 8 points; 3rd – 6 points; 4th – 5 points; 5th – 4 points; 6th – 3 points; 7th – 2 points; 8th – 1 point. Teams may enter more than the three compulsory events, but only their three highest scores will be counted, one of which must be from the final round.

A second requirement for the project is that 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.

So I am going to document my build here. It might be useful for students in the future or for people who are interested in auto mobile modification and fabrication.
If anyone has any ideas or suggestions please let me know. all feedback is appreciated.

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


P.S. a blog with the same content can be followed here. The content will be almost the same but without a discussion board.
Blog


[edit on 8-1-2010 by raptorinvictus]

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!!

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





This is our chassis as it stands right now. It is constructed from square section 3cmx3cm aluminium. It is pretty strong and lightweight.

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.
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.

UPDATE: Gearbox And Motor

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.

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.




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