Chassis
Construction:
Steel tube frame manufactured by Stewart Racing, Inc (Phoenix, AZ). Chassis is standardized throughout the league, with minor modifications to the original design. Body panels are made of fiberglass and attached to the frame with Dzus style fasteners.
Weight:
Approximately 3200lb with driver and batteries.
Dimensions:
Wheelbase: 115"
Total Length: 163"
Suspension, Tires, and Brakes
Wet tires: Yokohama Nexus
Dry tires: Hoosier DOT slicks
Suspension:
Penske Racing adjustable gas filled shocks with coil-over springs on all four corners. Spring weight and ride height can be changed to suit the on-track conditions. Adjustable sway bars are used front and rear.
Brakes:
Twin Wilwood master cylinders (one for the front, one for the rear) feeding Wilwood 4-piston Dynalite calipers at each wheel. OEM Ford Thunderbird SC rotors are used front and rear. An adjustable balance bar can be used to change brake bias. At the moment, we do not use regenerative braking, however, this is something we may be considering in the future (see Drive Train section below).
Batteries
High Voltage:
14 battery aluminum battery battery packs (7 on each side) with two Optima Yellow Top lead-acid gel cell batteries per pack. Pack voltages range between 24~27 Volts. Each pack connects to the main battery buss bar via copper Radsok connectors.
12 Volt:
One lead-acid motorcycle battery, found in the nose of the vehicle, provides 12v power to the radiator fans and motor controller. The battery is recharged via an external charger.
Safety:
"Safety Loops" built into the battery buss can be easily removed to break the circuit. Disconnect "flags" are also incorporated into the high voltage system (1 per side), as well as the 12v circuit. All loops and flags must be in place before the vehicle can be started.
Drive Train
Motor:
We use a 3-phase Alternating Current (AC) electric motor donated to the team by Daimler-Chrysler. This motor was originally used in Chrysler's 1999 Epic minivan concept. It is currently rated at approximately 120-130hp and 170lb-ft torque. We are currently trying a different controller (see below) that will hopefully allow us to up the output to around 200hp and 250 lb-ft.
Controller:
This is our car's brain. The controller, as the name suggests, controls the motor's speed and output by changing a number of variables (it also converts the DC power of the batteries to AC). Our current controller was manufactured by Sat-Con for Chrysler, and was given to us with the motor (but little technical support). We have since purchased a new Flux Vector controller, manufactured specifically for our application by Electric Motorsports. We are in the process of testing this new controller with our existing motor.
Transmission:
We use a 4-Speed Hewland LD200 rear transaxle. This gearbox was designed for small formula applications, and is rated at for 165 lb-ft of torque. We will need to replace this transmission with one that can handle the increased output of our new controller/motor combination. We are considering options ranging from a direct-drive to a 6-Speed sequential box. Further testing on our dynamometer will be required to determine whether a transmission or direct-drive approach is used.
[Ohio University Front Door] [Russ College of Engineering and Technology]