Wheel Assembly Uprights
With a more in-depth understanding of force paths and suspension loading on the University of Alberta Formula Racing uprights due to a catastrophic failure that occurred in 2019, the design for UA-22 was focused on optimizing the uprights for maximum strength to stiffness. Testing sessions and driver feedback last season indicated compliance issues with the uprights due to high-speed instabilities and unpredictable suspension kinematics under worst-case scenario loading. The results for the UA-22 uprights are a design that is marginally lighter than previous years with a 25% improvement in stiffness due to further optimized geometry and superior ball joint and tie-rod tab design.
Drivetrain Assembly
The goal for the UA-22 drivetrain assembly was to iterate and refine the design from previous seasons with a major focus on reducing the overall assembly weight. As the third drivetrain design personally completed, it was recognized that the UA-20 differential hangers were overdesigned and added weight in unnecessary locations. The UA-22 design optimizes the differential hangers with a 30% reduction in weight and includes a revised idler sprocket tensioner design. Strategic webbing was added to the left hanger to reduce stress concentrations while the right hanger was optimized separately as it experiences a magnitude less force than the left hanger. The idler tensioner is designed with the use of a turnbuckle, and the new design is much more elegant and superior in terms of serviceability and ease of use.
2019-2021 Season
Drivetrain System Lead
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uAlberta Formula Racing team
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Documentation of design philosophy and pertinent calculations for the UA-20 drivetrain assembly was a major focus of mine for the 2020 season. The following design report was constructed with intent to pass along valuable information to future University of Alberta Formula Racing members and create a worthy design reference to be used at 2020 competitions.
Drivetrain Design Report:
UA20 CAD Render
UA20 Fabrication
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Mechanical Design Project II (MECE 360)
2019/2020 Academic Year
This mechanical design project required collaborating as a team of 5 engineering students to design a 6-speed transmission including a reverse gear for a fictional Mario kart go-kart. Specifications for a realistic motor-cycle engine, go-kart size, weight and scale were given as constraints and the purpose of the project was to design and specify gears, shafts, and bearings in accordance with AGMA and ASTM standards. Our teams' unique sequential dog-box transmission with it's compact size given the project constraints and built from off-the-shelf spur gears, bearings, sprocket and chain components earned us the top grade of our class. Our final project report can be seen below.
MECE 360 Final Project Report:
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uAlberta Formula Racing team
2018/2019 Season
Drivetrain Design Member
My commitment as a drivetrain design member offers a hands-on opportunity to design, fabricate and race a formula-style race car. This international collegiate competition is a completely student lead project providing other automotive enthusiasts similar to myself an extracurricular activity where technical skills learned in the classroom can be applied to real life. Each year the team attends a competition where performance, reliability and design philosophy of the vehicle are tested in Lincoln, Nebraska, and new to this year, Barrie, Ontario.
Fabrication generously provided by United Gear Ltd.
Finishing 18th overall out of the 81 teams and 3rd for Canadian teams that attended Formula SAE Lincoln Nebraska, the 2019 teams' result is the best for the University of Alberta in over 5 years. We all hope to carry this momentum into the following season and continually improve our results in the upcoming years.
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Mechanical Design Project I (MECE 260)
2018/2019 Academic Year
This mechanical design project required collaborating as a team of 5 engineering students to design and fabricate a small scale prototype vehicle which would be used to tackle a real-world problem. Our team was tasked with building a vehicle which would travel a required distance while maneuvering through obstacles, pick up golf pencils and dispose of them back at the starting zone all while being extremely limited on our material selection. The physical testing of the vehicle was designed to recreate issues found within the Alberta logging industry. Our unique solution came after an immense amount of brainstorming, prototyping and testing.
