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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