Wednesday, April 24, 2013

WIKISPEED progress report


IREngineering Outsider blog post
Daniel Marshall 4-24-2013 

The semester has been flying by and many of the students and faculty are making greater use of the modeling lab and the new machining lab.  The WIKISPEED project team has been occupying a section of the machining lab to build the WIKISPEED SGT-04 car. 

After the WIKISPEED project team traveled to the Lynnwood Washington shop there was a realization that the team had to step back and redesign the scope of the current project. Many of the presumptions about the current WIKISPEED car were wrong and more engineering analysis was needed than thought.

The primary focus is now to redesign the steering setup to provide better handling, redesign the crush structure assembly, implement suspension improvements, and adapt the motor mounts to support the larger 2.0 liter Honda Civic engine.  The changes made to the cars design have been made with engineering excellence in mind.  The crush structures, along with many other project goals are nearing completion with the semester coming to an end. This has been achieved by setting aside time every Thursday for the team to go into the shop and work on design and fabrication of car components.

Completion of the items in the team scope will leave the fall 2013 WIKISPEED project team set up for a quick start.  The image below shows the current phase of construction of the WIKISPEED 100 mpg car and the testing done to determine the vibration characteristics of the crush zones and chassis structure.  The new machine lab is an awesome addition to Iron Range Engineering and will improve project based learning here at the Minnesota State University, Mankato extension campus.  


Steven Spooner & Ronnie Ulseth editors

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