Altair > Case Studies > Optimizing Formula Racing Car Parts with IoT: A Case Study on Gator Motorsports

Optimizing Formula Racing Car Parts with IoT: A Case Study on Gator Motorsports

Technology Category

Robots - Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGV)
Sensors - Autonomous Driving Sensors

Applicable Industries

Automotive
Cement

Applicable Functions

Product Research & Development

Use Cases

Smart Parking
Vehicle Performance Monitoring

Services

System Integration

About The Customer

Gator Motorsports is the Formula SAE team based out of the University of Florida. Each May, Gator Motorsports competes against 120 teams from all over the world in the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) design competition in Michigan. This competition assesses the team’s ability to not only engineer and produce a reliable, high-performance vehicle, but also its ability to organize and manage a team to develop a feasible product for market. The program provides students with the technical, teamwork, and project management skills required to transition seamlessly into careers in industry. Gator Motorsports has been extremely successful in recent years with a 9th place overall finish in 2016 and a 2nd place finish in 2015.

The Challenge

Gator Motorsports, the Formula SAE team based out of the University of Florida, was faced with the challenge of improving the performance of their Formula-style racecar. The team aimed to decrease the weight and increase the strength of the car parts for better competition performance and faster design. The critical components that needed redesigning included the pedal box and suspension bell cranks. The team's goal was to develop and construct a single-seat race car for the non-professional weekend autocross racer with the best overall package of design, construction, performance, and cost. The challenge was not only to engineer and produce a reliable, high-performance vehicle but also to organize and manage a team to develop a feasible product for the market.

The Solution

The team utilized solidThinking Inspire for concept generation and optimization to redesign and increase the performance of the vehicle's bell cranks and brake pedal. The first parts that Gator Motorsports focused on were the bell cranks. They measured how far the suspension system could safely travel and used their data logging system to find the maximum forces on the pull rod. These forces were then applied to different locations on the bell crank in Inspire, which used these loads to generate the optimal structural design for the bell cranks. The next part that the team worked on with Inspire was the car's brake pedal. After viewing a few online tutorials, the team was comfortable enough with the program to apply loads and perform a full optimization of the pedal. The whole redesign process took less than two weeks from start to finish.

Operational Impact

The use of solidThinking Inspire in the design process resulted in significant improvements in the performance of the vehicle's bell cranks and brake pedal. The new design resulted in a 6.6% weight decrease over the prior year’s bell crank, as well as a reduction in max stress by 1,000 psi, all while increasing the overall stiffness of the part. The redesigned pedal resulted in a significant increase in factor of safety. The successful usage of Inspire has encouraged the team to use it on multiple new parts in the future. The team is currently working on producing the part so it is ready for the team's first racing event in Brooklyn, Michigan early next year.

Quantitative Benefit