Further Developing our Aerodynamics
Streamlining our Steering and Suspension
With a the team back on site, testing can now begin in this new venture for the team. Aero suspension arms, track and toe rods are being developed, following a planned incremental introduction to the build, with three phases.
Phase one will see the construction of a set of aero covers that will be situated on the suspension arms and toe rods across the vehicle to help reduce drag, utilising a NACA 30 symmetrical profile. Once phase one has been implemented and tested, this will allow us to accurately determine the available value in developing phase two, in which we will investigate the use of the aerodynamic profiles to influence the aerodynamic gains on the major control surfaces of the car.
Phase three is the introduction of 3D printed metal and CFRP composite parts for the suspension members utilising our very own layup construction concept to reduce waste, remove the need for tooling, jigs and moulds and to vastly reduce the cost and time to produce a finished composite suspension component. The subassemblies will be constructed utilising 3D printed metal part as a component and a form around which a roll wrap tube influenced layup method will be performed providing significant tensile strength along the length of each member. An 'A surface' finish will be obtained through the use of a thick release film to help obtain a good finish and roll wrap heat shrink tape to provide the pressure required.
Build for phase 1 and prototype and testing for phase 3 planned to commence in the coming weeks.
Example of aerodynamic additions to steering and suspension components
ePlan
As SHU Racing further improves its electrical system and continues the development of an electric vehicle, the continued support of ePlan is vital to the success of the team. The software provided by ePlan allows the electrical system to be mapped out before being physically produced. This has many advantages which include improving the reliability of the complicated circuits involved. Additionally, there are many tutorials and courses available to the team to allow us to get the most out of the software and in turn, our designs.
SHU Racing would like to thank ePlan for their continued support of us throughout this season.
Meet the Team
Meet the Team is an opportunity for us to give you a chance to learn a little more about the people who make up SHU Racing. This week, we welcome a member of our electrical department, Ryan Cox.
Name: Ryan Cox
Age: 22
Course: BEng Aerospace Engineering
Role: Member of the Electrical department and completing a third year project on Telemetry and Data Logging
Number of years with the Team: 1
Hobbies and Interests: Football and Video Games
Favourite Car: Porsche Carrera GT
Dream Job: Engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Reasons for Joining SHU Racing: I thought doing a data logging project on the SHU Racing car would be interesting and it would be a good experience to work on a large engineering project.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/-ryancox
