Team 15 - FSAE Uprights

For the work period of March 9 - March 23, what work toward your team's project has been completed?   The team has focused on having everything ready for completing validation once the uprights are done being machined. The team has worked alongside the suspension team in the manufacture of the other components the upright will have an interaction with. The team has received CNC’d bell cranks and spacers that are fundamental to the suspension system. The team has also installed the sway bar and pushrod components into the chassis. With all of these components installed and finished, the last step in the suspension geometry validation is to install the uprights. For the work period of March 24 - April 6, what is your team's plan for near term work?  What major milestones does the team hope to achieve in your work?  Since the team experienced yet another unexpected delay with machining, the team expects to have the finalized uprights by March 29. In the following week, the team

  Progress from February 4 - February 17th From February 4th through February 17th the team has worked on acquiring the material for the machinist, providing final engineering drawings for the machinist to fabricate, and has begun prototype testing for the validation. The team received the first order of the materials on February 4th and the second order on February 8th. The team also finalized the engineering drawing for the machinist on February 9th and sent in the drawings on February 14th. The team expects to receive the uprights from the machinist in an estimated time frame of March 8th. To begin and get a head start on the validation plan, Dr. Agrawal suggested the team utilize old uprights from the previous competition year and test our validation setup. The team decided on using the uprights from the 2018 competition year and began testing the validation setup on February 14th. The team has tried two setups for securing the upright in a fixed position for the force application

                 Progress from December 11th to February 3rd  During the break, the team made tremendous progress in completing Milestone 3. The team as of February 3rd has finished researching the possible material vendors and has settled on ordering the materials from McMaster-Carr due to the price and the shipping time for the materials. During winter break, the team finished the 3D prototype for both the front and rear uprights. The week of January 22nd the team completed the third task in Milestone 3 by checking the dimensions of the design and ensuring they were compatible with the existing assembly of the car. Dimensions such as the bolt-hole diameter and screw threading have been edited after completion of this task. This then allowed the team to order the material from the vendor and the order is to be received by the 16th of February.  Future Plans to Achieve Major Milestones For the work period of February 4th - February 17th, the team plans to acquire the material for our

  Progress from November 11th to November 25th, 2023 The team has made significant progress in completing Milestone 2. The team arrived at a finalized design for the front and rear uprights after many iterations using FEA and Topology Optimization. After creating a design that met all of the weight saving and performance goals, the team imported the design into the master assembly of the FSAE car to make sure fitment with all of the other suspension components, shown in Figures 1 and 2 below. Finally, creating a bill of materials is the last step for the team to complete milestone 2.  Figure 1: Front upright integration side view. Figure 2: Front upright integration isometric view. Final Design and its Features The final design of the front uprights incorporates several key features to address the main issues related to suspension geometry and handling. The dimensions of the uprights have been meticulously crafted to achieve optimal suspension geometry parameters, thereby enhancing ove

  Progress from October 28th to November 11th, 2023 In the past two weeks, Team 15 has made significant strides in advancing our project. Notably, we successfully concluded Milestone 1 by finalizing a preliminary CAD design for the front and rear uprights. This accomplishment lays a solid foundation for the subsequent phases of our work. Currently immersed in Milestone 2, the team accomplished the first task by conducting thorough research on the materials for the uprights. This step is pivotal in determining the structural integrity and overall performance of the final product. Table 1 shows the design matrix that the team used to determine the best-suited material for the uprights. Table 1 clearly shows that Aluminum 7075 is the material that fits the needs of the solution the most. Criterion Strength Weight Cost Machinability Overall Score Weight (1-10) 7 9 5 5 cost per bar 2"x4"x12" density g/cm^3 Tensile Strength (MPa) Material Raw score Weighted Score Raw score Wei