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MET RC BAJA
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Fall Presentation:
Video 1.0
Winter Presentation:
Video 2.0
Final Presentation:
Video 3.0
Engineering Report:
Intro
The RC Baja is a engineering project where a scale remote-controlled car is engineered and built to specifications to fulfill requirements. The requirements are laid out prior to the designs so that the car has boundaries just as a typical engineering project. The car will be put through testing to prove that it makes the requirements and also be competing in the ASME competition along with the other CWU MET students that are participating in the same project.
This focus of this project is the suspension and steering side of the car. The suspension and steering will contain parts and assemblies just as a modern car has but will be completely designed and manufactured by the student.
Motivation for the steering and suspension of the RC Baja car is from the interest in extreme suspension design as found on Trophy Trucks and Stadium Trucks. Designing a full suspension and steering system for the RC car is a challenge but is all the more reason to test knowledge.
Images
Initial Design:
Double Wish Bone with Coil overs with Solid Rear Axle
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Alternate Design 1:
Twin I beam with Coil overs
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Alternate Design 2:
Solid Front Axle
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Initial Design:
Solid Rear Axle with Leaf Springs
Alternate Design 1:
4 Link Solid Rear Axle with Coil overs
Alternate Design 2:
Independent Rear Suspension with Coil overs
Image 1.7
Results
The RC car was an absolute success. Sure, it may have some unique features but it’s a beast off-road and is high quality. The testing results have certainly been satisfactory. The main tests performed were the cornering test, vertical drop test, and a frontal impact test.
Table 1
Beginning with the cornering test, the requirement was that the car must be able to complete a corner at 5 m/s with the steering fully locked one direction for a whole 180-degree turn. The results of the test are shown in Table 1. The Car was able to meet the requirement and passed without any wheel lift, tipping, or loss of traction.
Table 2
A requirement was made to test the durability of all suspension and steering components by a vertical drop. The required height of the drop was 650 mm which is roughly the height of a desk. First the heights started a 250 mm, then 500 mm, and then 650 mm for 3 Trials. The data is shown in Table 2 where the car meets the requirement with compressing the coil overs 100% without any component failure.
Table 3
The front impact requirement states that the front wheels must withstand a front impact at 2 m/s, 3 consecutive times for each side. A failure would be if there is any loss of directional control. This test was successful because the car had no broken parts and stayed within 2 degrees of original alignment. As seen in Table 3, the car maintained less than 2 degrees of the original alignment past the speed required.
This project has turned out more than satisfactory. All of the results from testing and the ASME competition have met the requirments. The RC Baja car took first place in the competition and was the only car to not have any problems throughout the competition day. All tests were a success and the only failures occurred outside the require
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