ME 224 Final Project: SunRayce Car Suspension Analysis

Alexander Ellis Ian Harrison Lars Moravy Jonathon Walker December 12, 2001 Prof. Espinosa, ME224 1:00

Table of Contents

Introduction Experimental Setup and Procedure Theory and Analysis Data and Results Conclusions Appendix A: LabVIEW Programs Appendix B: Circuit Diagrams Appendix C: Biographical Sketches Appendix D: Mechanical Calculations

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Introduction
SunRayce is a nation wide competition that allows college teams to design, build and race solar cars. The Northwestern Solar Car Team built a car that competed during the summer of 2001. Currently the team is preparing to build the second-generation car, improving on previous efforts. After benchmarking other teams, Northwestern determined that the key strategy to producing a more successful car is to significantly reduce the cars weight. The team asked our group to assist them by collecting data on the forces of the suspension. With this information, a future design can be optimized for lighter weight. As the car drives, various forces act on the wheels of the car. These loads are created by bumps or other imperfections in the road and by acceleration of the car. The former primarily produces forces that are normal to the road surface, and the latter produces forces that are primarily tangential to the road surface. Since the tangential

forces are always produced at the tire contact patch, their magnitude is limited by the following: Fnormal = tire * Ftangential Knowing the normal forces on the wheel will tell us the maximum tangential forces on the wheel. Therefore, the magnitude of the normal forces on the wheel is of primary

interest to the solar car team. The purpose of this experiment to to determine the magnitude and frequency of forces acting on the front suspension of the solar car. To do our experiment, we utilized each of the tools learned in ME 224 form LabVIEW programming to circuit setup. Our experiment will improve the SunRayce vehicle and hopefully contribute to a strong Northwestern finish at this year's competition.

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Experimental Setup and Procedure

Experimental Setup: We have set out to measure the displacement of the shocks and axial strain for the Northwestern NErgy solar car vehicle under a variety of driving conditions. We have

written a LabVIEW program that takes data from a potentiometer and strain gauges placed strategically on the vehicle and converts the changes in voltage to give us realtime data of the displacement of the shock system. The current suspension design is shown to the right. This drawing shows that the normal

forces on the tire are transmitted through the wheel to a push rod, which turns a bell crank that pushes or pulls on a spring and damper. The

easiest way for our group to measure the normal forces on the wheel is to measure the strain on the push rod. In order to measure the strain on the shock system, a Wheatstone bridge of four strain gages was used. This was placed on the end of the push rod, as shown below. In order to attach the strain gages, an M-bond kit was used. M-bonding is the standard for attaching strain gages to materials. The voltage across the bridge of strain gages was then wired to the DAQ of the Solar Car, which sits near the driver, using shielded wire with one end grounded to protect from the electrical interference the car might produce. The DAQ was then attached to a laptop computer and the LabVIEW program written for data acquisition and analysis. The next step in setting up this experiment is attaching the potentiometer to measure the travel of the shock. At first, a linear potentiometer was considered, but was deemed too excessive. Instead, measuring the angle change was chosen as the best option. A 5 k rotational potentiometer was attached to the fixed pivot point of the shock and a bracket was

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attached to a bolt on the shock attachment fixture. A picture is seen to the right. Taking the resistance at several known displacements, a calibration was found for Ohms / inch. This calibration is 224.6 / inch. The voltage across the potentiometer was wired to the DAQ using the shielded wire with one end grounded, again to reduce interference. Using the calibration factor, we were able to measure the displacement of the shock very accurately through the LabVIEW program. Procedure: SunRayce requested us to find the strain on the shock under various conditions so that they might use the data to better the car's suspension design. With this in mind we ran tests under various conditions. The testing conditions were chosen to closely model a Since our setup

variety of situations that the car might encounter during competition.

was complete to the point where the only thing we needed to do was run the LabVIEW program and drive the car, the program was run while the Solar Car was driving in the following scenarios: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Straight down a smooth road Turning left on a smooth road Turning right on a smooth road Straight down a bumpy road Running over a pipe .5'' diameter

In each of these situations, care was taken that car speed, weather conditions and other factors were kept as constant as possible. The data from these seven situations was saved into 5 different files so that the data may later be analyzed.

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Theory and Analysis

Potentiometer Circuit:

The potentiometer resistance changes linearly as the knob is turned.

We can therefore

relate the travel of the shock system to a voltage and use a L abVIEW program to analyze our results in real time. We will use a second resistor (R1 ) in series with our potentiometer as is pictured in the diagram below. Then, the equation for the resistance in our potentiometer as a function of its voltage is as follows:

Knowing that I=V/R Then, for the circuit to the left I = V / (R1 + R2 ) V2 = I * R2 Subbing Eq. 2 into Eq. 3 V2 = (V * R2 ) / (R1 + R2 ) Solving for R2 R2 = (R1 * V2 ) / (V - V2 ) Eq. 4 Using Eq. 4, we can convert it with the calibration factor (224.6 / inch) to inches of travel. Eq. 2 Eq. 1

Using Eq. 1 for the voltage across R2 Eq. 3

Strain Gage Circuit:

This circuit involves an op-amp since the change in voltage on the strain gage is so minor that it is very hard to measure. We will use an amplification factor of about 100 to get a range of a Volt or so for the DAQ input.

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This means that the two resistor values R and R3 will have to be related by the 100 = R2 / 2 R3 . The easiest way to do this is to make R = 100 k and R3 = 1 k. Converting the 2 voltage the DAQ reads to actual strain gage voltage using this amplification factor and then the strain can be calculated using: = (4*Vo ) / (Vs* Sg)

Eq. 5

Where Vo = Voltage of strain gauge Vs = Volatge source Sg = Gauge Factor = Strain

= Function of strain = 12 V = 2.08 = Variable

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Data and Results

(Note different scale for each graph)

1.

Smooth Road

Smooth Road
-0.074 -0.076 Strain (um/m) -0.078 -0.08 -0.082 -0.084 -0.086 Time (sec)

Smooth Road
0.1 0.05 Distance (in) 0 -0.05 -0.1 -0.15 Time (sec)

The strain on the rod while driving on a smooth road varies + and - .004 um/m from about .08 um/m. We therefore conclude that the resting strain is -.08 um/m. The shock worked well as it only let the bar displace about 1/20 of an inch each way. At the same time, the wheel itself traveled .05 up and .1 down. These values are to be expected since the road was relatively flat.

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2. Left Turn

Left Turn
0 -0.01 Strain (um/m) -0.02 -0.03 -0.04 -0.05 -0.06 -0.07 -0.08 -0.09 Time (sec)

Left Turn
1 0.8 Distance (in) 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 -0.2 Time (sec)

As the car turned left, the strain decreased on the bar. The left strut also lengthened. These results are due to the car rolling slightly as it turns. This shifts weight from the wheel on the inside of the turn to the wheel on the outside. It is also important to note that the wheel displacement in this situation is significantly larger than the displacement while driving straight on a smooth road.

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3. Right Turn

Right Turn
0 -0.02 Strain (um/m) -0.04 -0.06 -0.08 -0.1 -0.12 -0.14 -0.16 Time (sec)

Right Turn
0.4 0.2 Distance (in) 0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 -0.8 -1 Time (sec)

The right turn is almost exactly the opposite of the left turn, which makes sense.

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4. Bumpy Road

Bumpy Road
0 -0.02 Strain (um/m) -0.04 -0.06 -0.08 -0.1 -0.12 Time (sec)

Bumpy Road
0.4 0.3 Distance (in) 0.2 0.1 0 -0.1 -0.2 -0.3 -0.4 -0.5 Time (sec)

The graphs still oscillate about the restings values as they did on the smooth road. However, they bounce sharper and with greater magnitude.

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5. Running Over a Pole

Running Over Pole

0 -0.02 Strain (um/m) -0.04 -0.06 -0.08 -0.1 -0.12 -0.14 Time (sec) c

Bar impact

Running Over Pole

0.6 0.4 Distance (in) 0.2 0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 -0.8 Time (sec)

Bar impact

As you can see here, the car behaved as it did on a smooth road, but then there is a spike in compressive strain that we can only assume is when we hit the pole. The strain dove from its at rest value of -.08 to -.12 and then went back up to about -.05. This is about what is expected. The travel also behaved as it did on a smooth road but then spiked to about -.6 in and then oscillated before returning to normal.

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Conclusions
The objective of this laboratory was to determine the magnitude and frequency of the loads impacting the front suspension on the Northwestern University solar car so that future suspension designs can be optimized. The car was driven in several situations that were meant to simulate typical racing conditions: n flat road surface n bumpy road surface n turning n road hazard Surprisingly, it was found that the highest stress occured when the car went through a turn. However, this information should be used cautiously as several sources of error may have produced this result. It is very likely that the bumpy road or the road hazard actually caused the greatest strain in the push-rod, but either LabView or the strain guages did not have the capacity to measure such a brief event. In contrast, turning occured over a comparatively longer amount of time, giving the sensors and PC more time to respond. Data analysis revealed that the solar car was of robust design. Several calculations were conducted to determine the fatigue, yield and impact limits (Appendix D). The existing design exceeded all requirements with some safety factors of up to 60 times the expected loads. As might be expected, impact loading had the lowest safety factor. Future designs should aim to push these saftey factors to much lower levels as excess weight is the greatest consideration. Other material choices such as aluminum or magnesium alloys could provide the neccessary strength without sacrificing weight. The most important conclusion from this experiment is that further testing of the solar car is necessary. There are so many varibles that could affect the loads on the wheels, and our group just touched on a few of them. For example, the team should strongly consider running the tests in this laboratory for various vehicle speeds as well as a more detailed test on the effect of turning radius.

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Appendix A: LabVIEW Programs

This is the LABView screen that gave us a real-time view of the data as we drove and saved it to an Excell spreadsheet.

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Appendix B: Circuit Diagrams

Potentiometer

R1 = 5100 Ohms V = 12 Volts R2 = 0 to 3400 Ohms

Strain Gauges
R1 = Vary linearly with strain R2 = 1000 Ohms R3 = 100000 Ohms V = 12 Volts Voffset = 0

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Appendix C: Biographical Sketches

Ian Harrison
Height: Weight: Major: 69 95 lbs Mechanical Engineering

Hometown: Bumbleville, MO Hobbies: Building SunRayce cars, testing

Sunrayce cars, thinking about SunRayce cars, drawing SunRayce cars in his notebook, needlepoint. Fav. TV Show: Cops Quotation: Bio: Never put off until tomorrow what you can put off even longer.

Ian is a senior who participates in many school-related engineering activities. He helped build and design the SunRayce car, competed in the robotics design competition, and held office in his fraternity. Ian interned for General Electric Power Systems.

Alexander Sasha Ellis

Rank: Major: Fav. Show: Hometown: Hobbies: Second Luitenant upon graduation Mechanical Engineering Historys Greatest Military Blunders Evanston, IL Flying, bossing Ian around, pull-ups, working out Quotation: I cant believe the government is going to let me fly 40 million dollar jets. Bio: Sasha, son of Northwestern Professor Donald Ellis, is a training to be a pilot in the Marines. He participates in NU design competition and will be a vital member of the US armed forces when he graduates this Spring. Sashas life long goal is to be a jet pilot and his skills as a mechanical engineer will no doubt help him in the future.

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Appendix C: Biographical Sketches

Lars Moravy
Ethnic Background: Swedish Major: Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Year: Junior Hometown: Arlington Heights, IL Hobbies: Fixing things, buildings things, making things, hanging out. Quotation: Bio: Da Bears

Lars resume reads like a manual of how to become an engineer. He is copresident of the Society for Automotive Engineers, his robot team took third place at last years competition, is a member of ASME, and is in charge of his fraternitys house management and repairs. Lars plays tennis and likes cars a lot. His brother also attended Northwestern.

Jonathan Walker
Nicknames: J-Walker, Walky-Talky, J Dubs, Jonny Walker Year: Junior

Hometown: Boulder, CO Hobbies: Chess, studying, computer games, soccer Favorite Band: Pearl Jam Quotation: Whats the deal with water? I mean, it doesnt taste like anything, so why are so many people drinking it? Bio: Jon grew up in Colorado and loves the outdoors. He Participated in NU design competition and is studying to join the chess club. As vice-president of his fraternity, Jon must manage a large group of people. He is currently a Co-Op student working for Moog in East Aurora, NY. Jon wants to be an astronaut when he grows up.

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Appendix D: Mechanical Calculations

FATIGUE ANALYSIS: Endurance limit: Se = 0.45 Su Se = 363 Mpa Modified endurance limit: Se = kf * ks * kr * kt * km * Se kf = ks = kt = km =1 kr = 0.9 {for 90% survivability} Se = 0.9 Se = 327 MPa [Se = 327 Mpa] > [max = 1.01E7] infinite life without fatigue failure

FATIGUE SAFETY FACTOR: a = max. expected amplitude of stress on the push-rod m = mean expected stress on the push-rod kf * a / Se + m / Sut = 1 / ns 7.83-3 + 9.29-3 = 1 / ns 0.0171 = 1 / ns ns = 58 <= too high! YIELD ANALYSIS: max = 1.017 Pa y = 6006 = 68 Pa {for 4140 steel} [y = 68 Pa] > [max = 1.017 Pa] will not yield YIELD SAFTEY FACTOR: ns = 68 / 1.017 = 60 too high

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Appendix D: Mechanical Calculations

IMPACT LOADING: Impact Factor, Im = Pmax / Pavg = 1.69 E3 N / 5.07 E2 N = 3.333 Impact stress, i = Pmax / Area = 1.69 E3 N / 1.576 E-4 m2 = 1.07 E8 Pa

IMPACT LOAD SAFETY FACTOR: Yield Stress, Sy = 8.07 E8 Pa ns = Sy / i = 8.07 E8 Pa / 1.07 E8 Pa ~ 8

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