Collaborators:

Introduction:

Throughout the past 2 years, I have been an active member of the Northwestern Formula Society of Automotive Engineers. Joining the Powertrain subteam in the beginning of my Freshman year, I have spent my time learning about how the car moves. Our team designs, manufactures, and implements the electric battery, the drive shafts, the transmission and the limited slip differential.

Mission Statement:

Our team works to make the car move in time for competition while minimizing cost and weight.

My Projects:

Accumulator Container: The project I am most proud of is what I have worked on throughout the course of this year. This year, I have worked with a team of other engineers to design and manufacture the accumulator container. There is an electrical team and a mechanical team. My role on the mechanical team was designing the container itself, and the mounts to support it within the chassis. Below are some things I learned about through my role working on the accumulator container and mounts:

• Sheet Metal: We designed the container from one piece of sheet metal. We have outsourced manufacturing to a local company, Bystronic, for laser cutting and sheet metal bending of the accumulator. I worked with Bystronic to design this container keeping in mind bend radiuses, flange length, and Aluminum 6061 material properties.
• Adhesives: We are using Betamate 2090 to adhere the accumulator mounts to the container. Rules specify that the container must be able to withstand 15 kN in each direction. After doing some math, we determined that Betamate 2090 would be strong enough to connect the mounts to the container.
• FEA and Topology Optimization: My initial mount design weighed roughly 860 grams. These were made from plain carbon steel. After receiving a sponsorship from an additive manufacturing company, we were able to 3D print optimized mounts from titanium. Working with an upperclassman, we optimized these mounts from titanium and decreased the weight to 153 grams.

Manufacturing Lead: During my freshman year, I was one of the team lead manufacturers. I used conventional mills, CNCs, and most significantly, the waterjet, to manufacture various components for the car. I altered maintenance plugs to fit to specification, created jigs to support car tabs and frame tubes during welding, and manufactured all tabs through use of the waterjet. Furthermore, I used the waterjet to manufacture the 2022 accumulator container from 1 ⁄ 8 '' steel and electrical boxes from polycarbonate. This involved extensive use of the waterjet, learning the ins and outs of the machine. Lastly, while my welding skills aren't great, I spent many hours learning TIG welding from our team's chief mechanical engineer.

Skills Used: