FSAE Michigan

Posted by rpifsae on May 17, 2012
Posted in: Team Developments. Leave a Comment

Competition’s always a great learning experience. We placed 49th overall mostly due to a DNF (did not finish) on endurance. As always, it’s hard to win without being reliable as well. Everyone came together and we all really learned the meaning of the word team. Everyone should be proud of themselves for such a great year!

The results for each part of competition are as follows:

Static Events
Presentation – 29th
Cost – 33rd
Design – 44th

Dynamic Events
Acceleration – 9th
Skid Pad – 22nd
Autocross – 36th
Endurance – DNF (did not finish)

Thank you again to all of our sponsors! We look forward to starting the 2013 race car and plan to build an even more reliable car next year!

 

Go Baby Go!

’012 Test in Wind Tunnel, Diffuser Performance Evaluated

Posted by rpifsae on May 6, 2012
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'012 in Wind Tunnel

The 2012 Race Car positioned in the tunnel for a baseline test used to validate the diffuser's performance

On May 3rd and 4th four team members worked at Calpan’s Atmospheric Simulation Facility to conduct full scale wind tunnel testing of the 2012 Race Car with a focus on validating the newly constructed diffuser’s performance. The team built a false floor for the car to sit over while mounted on four corner weight scales to measure down force. A load cell was mounted in the rear to measure drag while the diffuser was instrumented with 43 static pressure taps to evaluate specific features of the diffuser. Additional pressure taps were installed on the intake and radiator to validate modeling done in previous years. Calspan provided instrumentation and operational support, but largely left the wind tunnel set up and test plan open for the team to decide. After more than 20 hours of preparation, we were able to conduct five hours of testing, varying speeds from 7 to 80 mph. Tests were done to determine proper diffuser pitch, ride height and driver position. The data is still being processed but initial results show that the diffuser produces 20-50 lbs of down force while reducing overall drag on the car.

The team thanks Calspan for this great opportunity and looks forward to working with them again in the future.

Undertay Diffuser

Posted by rpifsae on April 17, 2012
Posted in: Chassis, Team Developments. Leave a Comment

1/8 inch honeycomb Nomex core surrounded by 12K bi-weave carbon fiber fortified with Kevlar contact patch pads have all come together to make the 2012 racecar’s undertray diffuser.  The use of an undertray diffuser could yield as much as 20lbs of down force at 30MPH.  Gains like this will help to ensure RPI places top ten this year.  Below is a photo of Alex Giordano applying epoxy resin (West Systems 205 and 105 hardener) to the honeycomb core surface with Max Egdorf in the background on his way to wet up the top layer of carbon fiber.  Diffuser Layup

 

2012 Roll Out

Posted by rpifsae on April 2, 2012
Posted in: Team Developments. Leave a Comment

Great turn out from sponsors, faculty, family, and friends made for a picture perfect unveiling today.  Eric Smooke delivered a powerful statment regarding the 2012 racecar improvements and ambitions for the season.  With plenty of young energy the team is hungry for a top ten finish.  The 2012 racecar is shown below.

Roll Out

Thank you again to all those supporting faculty, sponsors, family members and friends.  Your support is more valuable than you know.

Progress Report

Posted by rpifsae on March 25, 2012
Posted in: Uncategorized. 2 comments

Dyno testing, chassis twisting, and most other forms of physical testing have all been put on hold for the last few weeks as the RPI FSAE team shifted gears to manufacture the 2012 racecar.  Team members have put well over 1500 hours of labor into the car since our last post.  As of today the 2012 motor package has been installed in the freshly painted chassis.  I would like to share a photo of the engine team and chassis team work coming together.  Unfortunately the colors are not allowed to be revealed until our April 2nd Roll Out event on RPI Campus, therefore I give you the preliminary assembly of the 2012 racecar!

Paint Job!

Paint Job!

Thanks to our new sponsors at Powder Tech in Duanesburg NY the 2012 racecar will have the best appearance at competition in over 10 years!

Calibrate With Your Data

Posted by rpifsae on January 19, 2012
Posted in: Drivetrain, Engine Calibration, Sponsor, Team Developments. Tagged: , , , . Leave a Comment

After consulting with several local engine calibrators, one piece of advice was consistently offered:  “Use your data.” They all said it and re-said it.  Victor Chichester, from Chichester’s Tuning, and Howard Tanner, from Redline Motorsports, both suggested the engine team invest some time and money into upgrading their data acquisition methods on the Dyno.

O2 and MAP

As a result we purchased a four port analog input module from Dynojet.  This has allowed us to log: horse power, torque, MAP, O2, all versus RPM in WinPep7.  This one upgrade has greatly increased the efficiency of our calibrating efforts.  Logging this data simultaneously  during a transient run allows the operator to quickly interpret the information, and in turn put less wear on the vehicle and all our equipment.  The first two runs with the new dataq tools are shown above.  Below are some screen shots of the ECU software and WinPep7 control screen.

 

WinPep7

WinPep7

 

peMonitor

peMonitor

There is still much to improve but the team is making progress in a positive direction.

RPI FSAE & Redline Motorsports

Posted by rpifsae on January 19, 2012
Posted in: Engine Calibration, Sponsor, Team Developments. Tagged: , , , . 1 comment

When contacted by team member Xander Cesari, Mr. Tanner founder of Redline Motorsports agreed to help develop a solid foundation for engine calibrating within our race team.  Mr. Tanner has met with the students at Bumpstead garage on several occasions, each yielding more understanding of the modern combustion engine.

2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Beyond his obvious talent for engine calibrating, Mr. Tanner is a good businessman and teacher.  The conversations quickly moved from basic calibrating techniques to what makes a successful team in industry and applying that to what makes an effective race team.  This web site is a direct result of meeting with Mr. Tanner, he expressed an urgent need for better media coverage of this extraordinary race team.  Mr. Tanner has been a great motivator for the team, he has encouraged the team  to deal with often overlooked aspects the team including: media coverage, team hierarchy and structure, and ease of  manufacturing.  We look forward to working with Reline Motorsports as the season progresses.  For more information on Mr. Tanner and Redline Motorsports check out his web site.

 

Chassis Update

Posted by rpifsae on January 16, 2012
Posted in: Chassis, Sponsor, Uncategorized. Leave a Comment

Winter break continues to be a productive time for the team.  Chassis leader Stephen O’Grady successfully fit two of the structural carbon panels into the 2012 chassis this weekend.  The panels will not be bonded to the chassis until March 24th, because our new sponsor Powder Tech from Duanesburg, NY will need a bare chassis to powder coat the 2012 racecar.

Carbon Panels

Carbon Panels

2011 Motor Takes a Beating

Posted by rpifsae on January 7, 2012
Posted in: Engine Calibration, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . 3 comments

This week the engine team disassembled the 2011 racecar motor due to significant engine knocking.  Many members had ideas as two what caused the  noise, but no one could have known the real root of the problem.  After a full tear down, some marring was seen on the top of cylinder one piston.  Likewise the head was damaged as the heads are softer than the pistons.   Below is a photo of the visible damage.

Piston Damage

Piston Damage

Head Damage

Head Damage

After careful inspection, the engine team found a connecting rod cap installed backwards.  As a result the connecting rod journal bearing was spun.   However minimal damage was done to the crank shaft and the engine internals.  Fresh journal bearings have been ordered and a lesson in engine building will take place early next week.  The CBR 600 F4i manual will be the instructor.

Engine Breakdown

Engine Breakdown

Thanks for reading, feel free to leave comments or questions.

Engine Calibrating

Posted by rpifsae on December 28, 2011
Posted in: Engine Calibration. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Students have returned after visiting family and friends during the Christmas holiday.  During the past two days attempts have been made to effectively trigger and log O2, MAP, TPS, Horse Power, and Torque.  Below a screen shot of HP and Torque vs RPM using WinPep7 (Top) and  O2 vs RPM using Innovate Log Works 2 (bottom).

The engine team has been attempting to obtain data using what resources are available at the shop to avoid the purchase of the Dynojet’s  analog module.  At this point the process is slow.  Students have agreed that all data needs to be recorded via one set of software to keep start/stop times consistent along with sampling rate.  WinPep7 is best suited for this type of data reduction.  The next step for the engine calibrating is to feed MAP, O2, TPS, into Dynojet’s WinPep7 software and plot these values for safe and efficient calibrating.