Overview
The Formula SAE competitions challenge teams of university undergraduate and graduate students to conceive, design, fabricate, develop and compete with small, formula style vehicles. The competition is an engineering education competition that requires performance demonstration of vehicles in a series of events, both off track and on track against the clock. Each competition gives teams the chance to demonstrate their creativity and engineering skills in comparison to teams from other universities around the world.
Teams are to assume that they work for an engineering firm that is designing, fabricating, testing and demonstrating a prototype vehicle. The vehicle should have high performance and be sufficiently durable to successfully complete all the event at the Formula SAE competitions. Each student team design will be judged and evaluated again other competing designs in a series of Static and Dynamic events to determine the vehicle that best meets the design goals and profitably built and marketed.
Formula SAE promotes careers and excellence in engineering as it encompasses all aspects of the automotive industry including research, design, manufacturing, testing, developing, marketing, management and finances¹.
Involvement
My contributions to the Formula SAE team began in a general role, assisting the team in design, fabrication, implementation, and test. These tasks were spread out among the Mechanical, Power train, Electrical, Aerodynamic, and Suspension sub teams. These tasks would define my role for my first semester until my election by the team to become the Electrical Team Lead responsible for the design and implementation of the next vehicle’s electrical system.
The responsibilities as the Electrical Team Lead were to execute the design, fabrication, test, and implementation of the electrical system which included vital electronics on the vehicle as well as data acquisition. The electrical team capitalized on previous systems by maintaining strengths and improving upon weaknesses. Beyond assembly, test, and integration of a robust system a modular sensor scheme was included to allow for performance analysis and optimization of the suspension, power train, and aerodynamic systems.
- “Formula SAE Michigan.” SAE International ®, http://www.sae.org/attend/student-events/formula-sae-michigan/about.
Adam's Project Timeline 