A small team of 16 Engineering Students in Leuven, Belgium have taken the saying '0-60 mph' to another level. Working with the latest 3D Printing technology provided by iMaterialise, they worked together to design, manufacture and roll out their go-kart in three weeks. The actual go-kart is just as fast, going from zero to sixty in 4.27 seconds!
The Areion was created to compete with universities in the Formula Student competition. FormulaT (as they call themselves) included a number of interesting design innovations that set it apart from their competitors. For example, some for surface is covered with odd bumps, resembling chevrons to reduced air friction. This idea was taken from a property of shark skin. Air moving across any surface will form vortices and eddies that interrupt laminar flow - sharks developed skin to prevent this effect. And GroupT adopted it in their own design.
The body incorporates cooling airvents within itself as one piece, rather than separate components, reducing weight and most importantly, increasing speed. The most interesting application of 3D printing was the use of Titanium 3D printed uprights for the suspension system.
In cooperation with Sirris, Formula Group T gets the ability to design lightweight uprights in a first approach to get the unsprung mass of the car as low as possible. In order to get this practically done, the Electron Beam Melting technique is used. Together with titanium as production material, the use of a micro 3D space frame inside the upright is used to get a very strong and lightweight part. A nice advantage is the extra handling Areion receives.
Overall specifications |
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| 0-100kph | 3,2 s | |
| Topspeed | 141km/h | |
| Weight | 280 kg | |
| Length | ||
| Wheelbase | 1600 mm | |
| Trackwidth | 1200 mm (front) 1150 mm (rear) | |
Energy |
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| Batteries | LiPo packed in 50 V modules | |
| Energy | 8 kWh | |
| Power | 85 kW | |
| Transmission | Delta-Wye switching during driving | |
| Controlling | CompactRio driven | |
Mechanics |
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| Chassis | Steel tubular spaceframe | |
| Suspension | Double-A carbon wishbones with titanium uprights | |
| Transmission | Chaindrive with limited slip differential | |
| Motor | 1x167 kW peak axial flux motor | |
| Seat | Biocomposite race seat | |
| Body | Full 3D printed bodyshell | |
No doubt there are a lot of students on GrabCAD that are working on one of the many hundreds of student teams around the World that compete in Formula SAE. If you're on one of those teams, and want to talk more about your vehicle and your team, email me at jf@grabcad.com and we'd love to put something up on our blog!
