Update

Drawings updated again after conversation with Morgan... All tires will be 16", dimensions modified to reflect that change. Also, total height now reflected in drawings as well. The cabin area was changed to 20" from the bottom of the cabin area witch is 2" off the ground so, total height is 22"

also, engines are shipped to everyone who is registered in January. If we register soon, we may be able to negotiate to receive an engine that was left over from a team that did not compete and was never used. I'm not sure if the engines are exactly the same this year as last year though. Once we are close to registering I will find this out...

Update

After some conversation with Mike, the height of the driver’s cabin has been modified. We’re now at 20” high and places us at the minimum dimensions for height and width for Eco-Marathon and safely within all other dimensions specified for Eco-marathon.

Remember, you will mostly likely have to hit refresh if you have already looked at the drawings previously as they will be cached.

I’ll get our “Super Eco Mileage Marathon” specs drafted up as soon as I can and get them posted. For now there are links to both specs on our website.

Also, I have already heard back from Supermileage that the requirement for mirrors is not satisfied by any electronic means. Well, the backup camera sounded like a good idea…..

Update

Well, I’m really excited about being able to compete in the Shell Eco-marathon it’s first year back in the states and I am really excited that we were number five of the first five teams to register and therefore be eligible for the $10K reimbursement.

We had some good conversations last Thursday and I think we will be well on our way to making some tangible progress in the weeks to come.

As promised, I am working on our “team specs” that include both requirements for SAU Supermileage and Shell Eco-marathon and will be clearing up some technical questions that we have come across already.

I have also re-worked the numbers that Mike and Lauren provided for the driver dimensions and have put up a few new drawings to reflect these changes….

http://dana.ucc.nau.edu/pr62/Files/SAE/

Overall the dimensions are approximately 95” long, 32” at the driver’s head, and 25” wide at the front wheels. I was able to find a source for 16” front wheels with a low rolling resistance thanks to Mark James and his folding bike so , a 16” diameter was used for the front while a 20” is still in place for the rear for now. For these smaller diameter tires you can check out Dahon http://www.dahon.com/components/performance.htm

I also moved the engine a little farther back for a better center of gravity (witch may or may not be necessary) with the front tires now placed closer to the Driver’s hips rather than at the knees.

I still left 6” for each wheel well for not only the tires themselves but steering gear, brakes, and sprockets. This should allow us more than enough space to allow for turning in the front. With a track of 19” and a wheelbase of 57.75” and a desired turning radius of 600”. The angle that the wheels will have to turn would be approximately 1°. So, the tire would have to move only a little more than ¼” so, we might be able to trim down this width a bit but, we do have to take into consideration the steering gear….

At any rate, if anyone has any questions or my thought process seems flawed, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

Shell EcoMarathon

Check it out...

Drawings

Here is the link to our current drawings in several formats... I'll put a permanent link on the sidebar for future reference.....

Update

for those of you who may have missed/not recieved the email...

Our next meeting will be this Thursday, October 26 and we have a few things on our agenda. Each team will have a few minutes to give a status report to include what research has been done, what issues may have arisen, what progress has been made, and what still needs to be accomplished. Each team will have all the time they need to present their progress and discussion by all SM (Supermileage) team members. This is a great time to show off what has been done and to ask for help when needed.

There are a few specific things that we need to address during this next meeting. First, we need to come up with a team and vehicle name for registration and documentation. Second, and more importantly, we need to come up with our vehicle dimensions so that everyone can have something to start with. The biggest determinate of the overall vehicle dimensions is the driver’s dimensions. I’ll be putting together a model of the required space for the driver and will make this available in both JPG format and DWG. If anyone wants anything else (Solid Works and AutoCad should be fine with DWG) just let me know. I will also set up a general drawings and documents online repository so that it’s easier to get a dimension that you might need at 3 in the morning when nobody else is awake.

Another big factor in the overall vehicle size is, tire diameter. What size wheel/tire are we going to be using? Along with tire size, we will need to determine how much room we will need inside the body for the tires to move about the necessary angle to give us a max turning radius of 50’. Of course to determine this we will need to know the vehicle’s track. So…we will definitely need to be able to agree on some dimensions that we can all live with this Thursday so that design progress can get underway.

Also, be sure to check out our website, http://nausupermileage.blogspot.com/ for updates, info, and random thoughts about SM. Once we get a team/car name decided on we’ll get this linked from NAU’s SAE website and maybe even some additional advertising around campus to get a little more exposure for this new and exciting project.

INFO

This link is for the Shell Eco-Marathon competition that is very sililar to SAE supermileage. This document offers some excellent advice and is a good read. Currently the world record for fuel mileage is held by a Eco-Marathon team and perhaps after some experience NAU may decide to enter this competition as well.....

if you're curious, here's some more info on the Eco-Marathon...

Why Supermileage

Here is yet another reason do be prticipating in Supermileage...

Research

I was surfing along and foudn some great pics of the track at Eaton Proving grounds...

oh, and there's a couple pics of the car too...

SAE Student Membership

Don't forget to get your SAE Membership. It's only $10 and it does give you some good benefits. That , and you need to be an SAE member to be an "official team member" of any team competing in an SAE competition...
Here's a link, and I'll put a link on the sidebar as well...

Update

Ok, here we go...

I am glad to have such a dedicated team to go to Michigan for the first time with Supermileage.
If you missed the email here's the latest update...

First of all, I want to thank everyone for coming to our fist SAE Supermileage meeting. I am really looking forward to being able to take a competitive car and a competitive team to Michigan this summer to show SAE what NAU can accomplish!

We’ll have our next meeting on Thursday, October 26, 2006 in the CAD/CAM room at the machine shop. Do some research, bring your ideas, wish lists of parts we can go begging for, and be prepared to present to the entire team. We will be identifying team leaders for each section and creating our design/build/compete timeline so that we can set specific goals for each team.

If anyone needs anything at all, or if you are just stuck for ideas, let me know. I’ll get together all of the research and websites that I have so far and make them available for everyone as soon as I can. Make sure to document everything and anything as well as thought processes. Remember for the design report it is more important that we show why we did something and not so much how.

Also, Lauren will be sending out everyone’s phone numbers so that we can communicate with each other and don’t forget to do a little recruiting as well. It doesn’t matter what their major is, just get them excited and interested in the Supermileage project. We still need another driver too, so if you know someone that fits our size restraints…..

Team Breakdowns will be listed on the side bar as well as categorized links...