Year
2012-2016
8 - 30+
Project Type
Competitive
Organisation
University of Pennsylvania
Penn Electric Racing
Over my 4 years at the University of Pennsylvania I was part of our Electric Racing team. I grew within the team from the early team formation to co-leading the composites and cockpit teams for the car each year.
Objectives + Challenges
Problem Statement
Design and build an electrically powered racing car that complies with FSAE Electric regulations and compete.
Target Audience
FSAE Electric
Goals | Constraints |
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Collaboration
The team grew from around 8 people in my first year, and expanded to around 30 active members by 2016, the year I left. I co-led the composites team and cockpit team in my final two years.
Process + Approach
Methodology
We built a team and formed sub-teams as the team grew. Core project areas were broken down with design dependencies and timelines for completion. Team directors set the targets for the overall car, and sub-team leaders designed and executed.
For the composites and cockpit team, we had to wait on many of the core dependencies to be set from the chassis and electronics packaging so first few months of each year were focused on skills and process development as well as training and upskilling new members. We created better tools and parts each year because of this.
Key Activities
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Tools & Technologies | Materials | ||
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Solutions, Deliverables + Outcomes
Final Output
In my time at Penn, I built three cars, REV0, REV1, REV2. We built kevlar parts for REV0 and REV1 and were able to shift to carbon fibre in my final year. Each year we improved the car, adding features, improving ergonomics, and aerodynamics
Key Features
Core to each shift was improvements in tool making. We moved from foam to MDF tools, and from painted layups to infusion methods. We also trialed fibreglass toolmaking.
The move from Kevlar to carbon fibre was a big step as well, we finally figured out the electrical safety with this.
Technical Specifications
Outcomes + Comments
Lessons Learned
Penn Electric Racing was a great team to learn in. We learnt how to work as an engineering team that was growing, to build to regulations and compliance, and to drive continuous improvement in engineering excellence.
Composites, ergonomics, and aerodynamics were specific areas of technical learning for me.
Follow-up
The team has continued to build from the early days and is still competing annually and is at REV10 now.
Personal Commentary
Penn Electric Racing was a brilliant student run learning experience. During my time there the team grew from a handful of interested people to a proper organisation building for a specific competition. I got exposure to detailed engineering project management, co-led a team of my own and delivered functional parts as part of a whole. We got to learn how to learn in a real engineering environment and learn how to work together and teach each other. I had a lot of fun with composites and ergonomics development and fitting these with the constraints of a racing car.
Awards/Recognition
REV1 was America’s first fully functional, student built, electric racecar. It won first place at the FSAE electric event in Lincoln, Nebraska.
REV2 was 2nd place that year after, but broke the North American 0-75m Acceleration Record with a 0-60mph time of 2.6s.
Composites Development
Below you will find a gallery of photos showing the progression in our composites process between REV1 and REV2.
REV1:
We designed the seat itself based off of the chassis and cockpit constraits.
The tool was then designed off of the seat ensuring correct angles for release.
We then split the tool up into 2 inch thick layers for the foam boards we had
These were CNC cut to shape and then stacked.
The foam was sealed with resins and body and sanded multiple times before getting to a good tooling surface.
We prepped with mould release, did a kevlar wet layup and vacuum cure before release and trimming with a rotary tool.
REV2:
For REV2, we managed to get a sponsorship from Leading Edge Composites. With them we were able to solve our electrical conductivity problem with carbon fibre (it conducts enough to be dangerous). We also got to use their 5 axis CNC mill and finishing studio.
The design process was similar with seat, then tool, then break it down to sheets, but with this we did it in MDF, and were able to sculpt it with the mill to shape before sealing with sprays. The MDF and sealants they had gave a much better final tool to work from.
Additionally, we worked with them to do a resin infusion process instead of a wet layup, giving more consistent resin density.
OTHER PROJECTS
