The 2011 Formula Hybrid team recently registered as car number 13 in the Formula Hybrid SAE Collegiate Design Series.  The competition takes places from May 1^st to May 4^th of 2011. The team is very excited to improve on the 2010 Formula Hybrid car after a disappointing performance caused by system failures during the 2010 competition.

The design process for many designs is completed or near completed including the chassis, suspension, drivetrain and aerodynamics sections. Materials and tools are being acquired for the respective designs with building to commence in the days following the fall terms final exams.

Single Piece Kevlar Composite Battery Pod

Some new designs for the team include a single piece Kevlar composite battery pod (for mounting lithium ion batteries), optimized aluminum front uprights and a steering wheel mounted full color LCD screen.

2011 Front Upright

The development of the team’s comprehensive data acquisition unit is fully underway with several component designs (and implementation) already completed with another sensor order going out this week. The team is implementing a monitoring system of the dynamic power flow in the High Voltage drive system for on the fly tuning and optimizing of the vehicle control parameters. The team is also focusing on developing an accurate but simple method for suspension analysis by use of position sensing potentiometers, strain gauges, accelerometers and GPS.

The team would like to thank Westward Industries for donations to the development of the teams High Voltage DC to DC Generator System Converter, as apart of their Series Hybrid system. The Generator System converts mechanical power from a gasoline engine into electrical power used to replenish energy into the cars lithium ion battery pack. The team would also like to thank the Shell Fuel Fund for funding the Formula Hybrid team in the research and development of the Generator System.

Accompanied by other hybrid and electrical vehicle projects from the University of Manitoba, the U of M SAE Formula Hybrid team took part in Winnipeg’s 101^st Santa Claus Parade. On the evening of November 13^th 2010 the Formula Hybrid took to their float after numerous hours of decorating. The float was pulled by an electrical ATV throughout downtown Winnipeg where countless people crowded the 2 kilometre parade route to get a glimpse of this year’s floats. The team was very excited to take part in such a public event. They feel it’s important to get their name out into the community and get people aware of the advancing technology that students at the University are getting involved with. The team really enjoyed the event and it is a great benefit to the team as well as the U of M SAE.

The Formula Hybrid team has many exciting announcements regarding the 2010/11 year. With two year team leader Josh Campbell graduating and a strong need for a better electrical system on the racecar, the unanimous decision was made to elect 5^th year electrical engineering student Robbie Brar as Team Leader for the Formula Hybrid team.

The team has decided to use the 2009/10 car as the base for the new year while making substantial improvements to the electrical systems on the vehicle while improving quality of the existing mechanical designs.  The racecar’s patent pending drivetrain, designed by Josh Campbell has been re designed and will be donated to the Formula Hybrid team by Josh. Additionally, the 2009/10 Formula Hybrid racecar was already one of the lighter cars at their competition at 550lbs but they will be focusing on reducing weight through the further use of light weight composite materials such as Fiberglass, Carbon Fibre and Kevlar.

The rear end of the 2009/10 Formula Hybrid Racecar

The Formula Hybrid racecar was the first to ever have a front and rear Carbon Fibre wing at the Formula Hybrid competition and will be using these same wings again for the 2010/11 car. In an effort to remain cutting edge, the team is investing the addition of other aerodynamic components never seen before at the Formula Hybrid event. Stay posted for details!

Electrically the team is very excited to be implementing a National Instruments CompactRIO FPGA system, kindly donated by National Instruments and Dr. Eric Bibeau, NSERC Alternative Energy Research Chair and Professor at the University of Manitoba. The team is looking to implement a comprehensive data acquisition system with wireless telemetry with the CompactRIO, a driver display interface and a control system for their drivetrain and generator unit.

Rendering of the CompactRIO Assembly

Additionally they will be using a new generator unit incorporating a Brushless DC motor and a newly designed DC to DC Boost Convertor. The air-cooled Kevlar battery pods from the 2009/10 car have been redesigned to have a more efficient cooling profile and ease of manufacturing.

The development of this car, the 3^rd Formula Hybrid racecar for UMSAE is already well underway.

Formula Hybrid – Loudon, New Hampshire

3 – 6 May, 2010 

This year’s Formula Hybrid vehicle is a continuation of the successful 2010 UMSAE program. Last year the Hybrid team members were neophytes at both vehicle design and the requirements of an international competition. As a result of what they learned last year, this year’s team was much better prepared for what they would face in this year’s competition.

The team decided to use a purpose built frame this year to ensure that none of the intended design features would be compromised. As a result, the vehicle ended up with a credible racing car shape but was able to have all of components packaged in a compact, efficient manner.

As part of this year’s effort, Josh Campbell, the team leader, conceived, designed, and built a unique, computer controlled powertrain transmission system. This system enables the vehicle to handle differing driving conditions while optimizing the transmission of power to the rear wheels. Josh has applied for a patent for his idea.

The car was ready for the competition early on Friday, the 30^th of June and the trailer was packed, ready to go. The drive to Loudon, NH took a very long 36 hours. The border crossing went well and the remainder of the drive was uneventful until it became obvious that there was something wrong with the trailer. It turned out that, despite the fact that the trailer had been in for inspection and maintenance two weeks before, the left suspension had broken. This caused severe vibration and enough tire wear to flatten one tire and damage the other. In addition, the vibration had damaged the Hybrid vehicle and caused some short circuits in the main vehicle battery pack. This occurred near the end of the drive and it was decided to fit two new tires and carry on with the intention of getting repairs done some time before the return journey. A tired but optimistic team of students checked into the hotel on the Sunday evening.

At this point it is appropriate to acknowledge the support of the Provincial Government for again providing vehicles and fuel for the drive to and from the competition. The vehicles were also used by the Formula team later on in the month.

2010 UMSAE Formula Hybrid Car

Monday, 3 May, 2010

The team drove to the track early in the morning to register and set up their pit area. The remainder of the day was taken up with rebuilding the damage that was done in the trailer and getting the car ready for the Design event and the technical inspections the next day. This took longer than anticipated and they didn’t get back to the hotel until about 11:00 o’clock that evening.

Repairing the vehicle battery pack

 Tuesday, 4 May, 2010

The team was up early to be at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway opened at 7:30 a.m. At this venue, individual covered work bays had been assigned in the in-field. This was excellent since there was rain from time to time during the competition.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway

But first, they went and had their car weighed. They had weighed the car back in Winnipeg and hoped that it would weigh about 550 lbs. They didn’t miss that by much as the car’s official weight is 552 lbs. This was one of the lightest cars in this event; some of them went into the 1,000 lb. range.

Taking the vehicle to be weighed

At 9:30 a.m., the team took the car for the design presentation. This was the second time for the team leaders and they were ready for most of the questions this year. They answered the judge’s questions well and they achieved a reasonable score of 137 out a possible score of 200 points. This was a standing of 7^th out of 24 teams.

At the Design Presentation

At 2:20 in the afternoon, two team members (Josh Campbell and business student Peter Tully) did the Sales Presentation. They had a short time to prepare but did reasonably well. The judges seemed pleased but had a few pertinent suggestions for improvement for the future. They achieved 77.7 points out of a possible 100 points. They stood 13^th out of 24 teams in this event.

In the mean time, the rest of the team hosted the first round of mechanical inspections. This resulted in a number of small problems and observations that had to be fixed. The major mechanical problem was the positioning of the seat belts. With a few minor modifications this was fixed.

First round of mechanical inspections

On the electrical side, however, the problems were much more substantial. The major one involved the battery management system. It was not communicating properly and, as a result, the control over the two side battery packs was not working. The rest of the day and most of the night was spent working on this problem.

Wednesday, 5 May, 2010

The team spent the entire day working on the electrical issues. As a result, they missed the Acceleration event and the associated chance at 150 points. Later in the day they also missed the Autocross event and its 150 points.

In the mean time, the trailer was taken to a local repair facility and, after an initial inspection, it was decided that the only requirement was new tires. After new tires were installed, however, it was obvious that there was some misalignment in the wheel mounting on the right front axle. It was then back to the repair facility. After a quick inspection they confirmed this diagnosis and went looking for a replacement axle. An axle wasn’t available for two weeks so it was decided to leave the repair until the team returned home but that they would monitor the tires constantly on the trip back. The axle would be replaced in Winnipeg.

After many frustrating hours of work on the battery management system with no results, the team found Davide Andrea, the owner and lead designer of the battery management system company, Elithion. He worked on the problem for a considerable amount of time but he too could not fix the problem. Finally, Mr. Andrea was able to get the loan of a battery management system from Boston Power, a lithium battery company that uses Elithion battery management systems for testing its own batteries. One of the parents, Mr. Rick Fay drove the four hour round trip to Boston to get the module. With this and an overnight effort, the team hoped to have the Elithion system working for the next day’s events.

Thursday, 6 May, 2010

The day started with higher hopes. They were again ready for electrical inspection but, after the inspection was finished, more modifications were required. This was very frustrating for the team as these were new requirements were not mentioned before and were considered trivial and not required. They worked on these issues but time was against them. They were not able to be in a position for an electrical re-inspection in time to get the remaining safety inspections done before these venues closed. They were done for this year’s competition!

Postscript

The efforts of the 2010 University of Manitoba Formula Hybrid team cannot be understated. From a quiet enthusiasm at the start in September, 2008 to a functioning car that met all technical requirements at competition in New Hampshire in May, 2010 is nothing short of phenomenal. Considering that the Formula Hybrid requirements are the most stringent of all of the SAE competitions, the team should be very proud of themselves and they have certainly brought great honour to the University of Manitoba.

Total # of teams entered and participating = 24

 2010 Formula Hybrid Competition Team Members

Josh Campbell - Team Leader

Robbie Brar

Derek Neufeld

Marcelo Dubiel

Travis Goertz

Tyler Listoe

Steven Young

Mitch Smith

Curtis Rafferty

Malcolm Symonds, P.Eng - Faculty Advisor