SAE Mini Baja Powertrain
Chris Gilson
Spencer Suggs
Southeastern Louisiana University
Mechanical Engineering Technology
Instructor:CrisKoutsougeras
Advisor: Ho-Hoon Lee
Table of Contents:
Abstract…………………………………………………………………3
Introduction……………………………………………………………..4
Methods…………………………………………………………………5
Ideal Position for the drivetrain…………………………..…………...6-7
Rear Differential & Suspension Selection………………………….…8-9
Engine Mount Design………………………………………………10-11
Engine Mount Stress Analysis…………..………………………….12-17
Transaxle Mounting Bracket……..…………………………………….18
Mounting Bracket Material Selection………………………………….19
Bolt Grade Selection………………………………………………..20-21
Torque Transfer to the Wheels……………………………………..22-23
Conclusion……………………………………………………………..24
Abstract
The goal of this project is to design the placement and mounting of the engine, transmission, and differential and to implement these items on a mini-baja car. This was accomplished by utilizing the skills and knowledge we have gained while enrolled in the Mechanical Engineering Technology Program. Upon completion of the second semester the mini-baja car will be able to compete among other schools in time-trials and torture tests for the international SAE competition. This will be accomplished by following the SAE guidelines and regulations using the already provided Briggs & Stratton 305cc engine, a CVT transmission, and an independent axle differential. In conjunction with the frame design and suspension design teams, we completed a structural analysis and determine the materials required to assemble it.
Introduction
The SAE mini-baja is a college competition in which students from universities from around the world design and then build small off road type vehicles. Standards which each team must adhere to are in place to ensure fair competition. Annually there are numerous competitions held across the US and as well as around the world. These events utilize numerous ways to score a design. These include endurance, cost, acceleration, hill climb, and maneuverability. Some of these schools have large budgets with which to work and spare no expense in the design and fabrication process.
The power train plays an important role in the operation of a mini-baja car. Without it there is no possible way to transmit the power produced by the engine to the wheels. The rotating output shaft of the motor is where the torque originates and then travels through the CVT then to the transaxle and finally to the wheels. In the CVT a there are no gears so the proper term to use is speed ratio rather than gear ratio. In most CVT systems a belt and pulley are utilized to achieve an infinite number of speed ratios based on the rotational speed of the input. This is accomplished by varying the diameter of the pulley as the rpm of the input shaft changes. As the rotation passes through each subsequent component a gear reduction occurs changing the input speed to a slower output speed while having the same or greater output torque.
Methods
This design project used knowledge obtained in mechanical design, dynamics, statics, strength of materials, physics, engineering graphics and project management. These principles were applied to both the design and analysis of the mini-baja car drive train componentsthroughout the process to ensure the desired results.
Ideal Position for the drivetrain
After researching many previous mini-baja karts from other schools, we determined the simplest and most efficient route to go would be to rigidly mount the power-train along the frame rails behind the driver seat. One possible design was to use a swing-arm style system off a motorbike. This would not work considering both wheels would not always rest at the same ride height due to uneven terrain. This swing-arm style would cause the drive belt to twist and snap. Although it would work with a chain driven system with one chain per wheel, it would be quite costly and most likely cause us to go over our allowed budget. With simple CVT and a readily available differential we can easily stay underbudget without any major loss of performance.
Fig. 1
Mounting the Transaxle underneath the engine at a 45-degree belt angle is what we decided would be best. This positioning would help with easy installation and maintenance, be a simplistic design, and enable us to rigidly mount both engine and differential. Although mounting the engine directly above the transaxle would allow for the shortest possible belt length and wheel base, it would make for a very cramped space between the two systems and complicate maintenance.
Fig. 2
Rear Differential & Suspension Selection
After much research on previous mini-baja designs, we decided to utilize an independent rear suspension system. A solid axle would also not work with a belt driven system. As the kart would travel over uneven terrain the axle would twist causing the belt to be damaged and eventually fail. With our current resources and knowledge, we could not come up with operational system that would keep the engine and differential perfectly inline without causing serious damage elsewhere.
The independent rear differential would allow for the power train to be rigidly mounted in unison together and enable both wheels to operate at different heights. An independent rear suspension (IRS) system would also give the kart greater ground clearance, longer suspension travel, better ride quality, and significantly better cornering performance.
Fig. 3
The Dana Spicer H-12 FNR rear transaxle is the kit we decidedwould be best for our kart. The differential can range from $500 to $800 depending on axle grade. Polaris also makes an acceptable transaxle, but while analyzing other schools’ mini-baja projects we have found many of them found reliability issues with the Polaris model. So we determined the Dana Spicer was the system to go with considering price, reliability, and efficiency.
Fig. 4
Engine Mount Design
Fig. 5.1
The engine mount is the designed to sit on the rear frame rails behind the driver seat. To rigidly attach the engine to the mount we placed two 3/8” holes aligned with the pre-drilled and threaded bolt holes already in place in the bottom of the engine along with two 3/8” slots to allow for heat expansion of the system.
Fig 5.2
To rigidly attach the mount to the frame rails we also placed 3/8” slots horizontally along the side of the mount to allow the engine to slide forward 3” for easy belt removal and replacement. To apply tension on the belt for installation, you simply slide the engine towards the front of the kart and slide the bolts through the mount slots and pre-drilled holes through the frame. We designed the mount to wrap around the rail to decrease the possibility of deformation of the frame rails from the bolt torque.
Fig. 5.3
Engine Mount Stress Analysis
Fig. 6
Torque produced by the engine on the pulley in the counterclockwise direction is 19.7 Nm. Rearranging the equation for torque T=f*d the force was found to be 107.065 N. A moment equilibrium equation was then used about points A and B utilizing all information in the diagram above which represents the motor, pulley and mounting plate with their respective distances. These forces are present at the mounting bolts located in the plate.
The calculations of the resultant forces are:
The shear and bending moments are utilized in the structural analysis process to assist in the design of our motor mount. This ensures that we use the proper size and type of material which will withstand the calculated forces exerted by the drivetrain components on the mount without failure. Based upon the maximum shear and moment values we can select a material that has a yield stress that is safely above the exerted forces.
Fig. 7
After finding the reaction forces at the bolts in the mounting plate we then applied those forces to the entire length of the mount. A moment equilibrium equation about point A was then calculated to find RBwhich is 228.127N. Subsequently an equilibrium equation in the Y direction was used to plug in the known value of RB to obtain RA which is -10.727N.
+↑ΣFy=0
RA+RB+29.1−246.5=0
RA+RB +29.1−246.5=0
RA+RB =217.4N
+↺ΣMA=0
RB (0.225)+(29.1)(0.015)-(246.5)(0.21)=0
RB (0.225)+(29.1)(0.015)-( 246.5)(0.21)=0
RB=228.127N
RA+RB=217.4
RA +228.127=217.4
RA =−10.727N
Fig. 8
Using the resultant forces found, a shear diagram was calculated by using a force equilibrium equation in the Y direction for each of the three sections in the motor mount plate.
The calculations for each section are:
0≤x≤0.015:
+↑ΣFy=0
−10.727−V1=0
V=−10.727N
0.015≤x≤0.21:
+↑ΣFy=0
−10.727+29.1−V=0
V=18.373 N
0.21≤x≤0.225:
+↑ΣFy=0
−10.727+29.1−246.5−V=0
V=−228.127 N
Fig. 9
Using the resultant forces found, a bending moment diagram was created utilizing a moment equilibrium equation for each of the three sections.
The calculations are:
- 0≤x≤0.015:
+↺ΣMb=0
−10.727x−Mb=0
Mb=−10.727x Nm
- 0.015≤x≤0.21:
+↺ΣMb=0
−10.727x+(29.1)(x−0.015)−Mb=0
Mb=18.373x−0.436 Nm
- 0.21≤x≤0.225:
+↺ΣMx=0
−10.727x+(29.1)(x−0.015)+(−246.5)(x−0.21)−Mb=0
Mb=−228.127x+51.328 Nm
Fig. 10
A model of the motor mount, as seen above, was created using the modeling program SolidWorks. This advanced software allows for the simulation of forces being applied to an object to determine if the selected material can withstand them based upon its known yield strength. Considering T6 6061 aluminum has a yield strength of 2.75e8 N/m2 and the largest concentration of stress is 1.102e5 the mount will not fail under the loads placed on it.
Transaxle Mounting Bracket
Fig. 11
The transaxle mount is designed to sit in between two frame rails to prevent vertical movement. There will be two of these plates, one on each side of the transaxle. The single bolt hole to the right will prevent horizontal movementwith a vertical brace towards the rear of the kart. The actual differential will bolt through to the six pre-drilled holes that sit around the large 4” hole in the center. The large hole was put in place for the CV axles to slide into the differential with easy maintenance and installation. Here is a similar example we found while researching previous projects
Fig. 12
Mounting Bracket Material Selection
T6 6061 Aluminum is the material we decided would be best for our kart with an ultimate tensile strength of at least 290MPa (42,000psi) and yield strength of at least 240MPa (35,000psi). At low cost, easy machinability, and minimal weight this material is perfect. Mild steel would weigh too much and be difficult to machine to spec. CP grade 2 Titanium has a greater yield strength than T6 6061 Aluminum and has low weight but cost about 20 times more.
Fig. 13
Bolt Grade Selection
For the bolt grade selection, we used the highest force in the powertrain system as our basis for selection. The highest concentration is 246.5 N located at Reaction Point B (RB) on the engine mount stress analysis diagram above. For safety concerns we doubled the force at RB to 500 N and will use this as the basis for all mounting bolts throughout the powertrain.
Fig. 14
Using the pre-drilled and tapped 3/8” holes in the bottom of the engine as our bolt size we then found a bolt grade spreadsheet and chose a bolt that could handle these forces. According to the graph below a SAE Grade 5 bolt with a width of .375” = 3/8” can handle up to 9888 lbs = 43985 N of tension force and 8280 lbs = 36831 N of shear force will easily handle to 500 N of force the bolt would receive.
Fig. 15
Torque Transfer to the Wheels
To calculate the torque transferred through the powertrain we had to select a readily available continuously variable transmission (C.V.T.). Investigating other universities, we found that many of them were using a lower speed ratio CVT to increase the karts maximum velocity, but the SAE competition only has one straight line acceleration trial. The other trials include a 30-degree hill climb, uneven terrain, and endurance event so we chose to go with a higher speed ratio to give us more torque at the wheels and better bottom end performance.
The CVT we chose is the Comet 780 series CVT, this CVT has a high speed ratio (RH) of .69:1 and a low speed ratio (RL) of 3.71:1. To find the Torque at the wheels we first had to find the engines output torque at different RPMs which is provided by Briggs and Stratton. The engine idle speed is 1800 rpm. The max engine output torque is at 2800 rpm. Also the max engine rpm is 3600 so we will just use these points in the rpm range for now.
Fig. 16
Formulas:
CVT Ratio (RCVT) =
Complete Ratio (RC) = RCVT × RG × NCVT
Torque at Wheels = TOutput× NCVT× RC
RPM / CVT Ratio (RCVT) / Complete Ratio (RC) / Engine Output Torque (ft. lbs) / Torque at the Wheels(ft. lbs)
1800 / 2.63 : 1 / 29.11 : 1 / 13 / 336
2800 / 1.66 : 1 / 18.37 : 1 / 14.5 / 235
3600 / .69 : 1 / 7.64 : 1 / 13.8 / 98
Comet 780 CVT Specs:
Low Speed Ratio (RL)= .69 : 1High Speed Ratio (RH)= 3.71 : 1
RPMRange = 2800REngage = 800
CVT Efficiency (NCVT) = 88%
Gear Reduction Ratio (RG) = 12.58 : 1
RPMEngage : The RPM at which the CVT first engages = 800 rpm
RPMRange : Highest rpm – idle rpm = 2800 rpm
Fig. 17
Conclusion
Throughout this semester our capability and knowledge has been demonstrated by the work on this design project. There are still many unknownsand problems that are certainto present themselves, but will be overcome through analysis and application of engineering fundamentals. After a successful completion of this first phase we will be able to start the process of building the mini-baja car throughout the Fall semester in the second portion of senior design.
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