RAFTAR FORMULA RACING 22, IIT MADRAS

Powertrain Tasks | May 2021

Sub-juniors Practice Tasks

PCB Design:

There are 4 input signals to the PCB.

1) RED
2) GREEN
3)GND
4)LV+(12V)
These 4 inputs are digital inputs(they are either 0V or 5V).
Depending on which input is higher, a particular light should glow. Say RED is
high a red light should glow, GREEN is high a green light should glow. Make use
of a N-channel MOSFET. The components you would require are
1) Connectors(help to bring inputs to the PCB)
2) N-MOSFETs
3) LEDs
4) Appropriate valued resistors .

● Generate a .brd file(It is a file which contains the PCB’s board information).
So basically you are asked to design PCB for the circuit that you made.
The PCB design has to be done in Autodesk Eagle (download link here).
● Also Generate a 3D CAD for the PCB that is designed. This would require
creation of managed libraries in EAGLE. Refer here.

The video links to aid you in the process are below in resources.
The components are to be chosen/referred from this website.
This is the website that we use to order/buy components from.

1) While choosing Resistors verify their power and voltage ratings. Like the
max power and voltage ratings of the resistors should be proper.
2) The LEDs chosen must be bright enough. Watch this video to get an idea
of brightness. So choose the power rating of the LEDs accordingly.

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Powertrain Tasks | May 2021

Sub-juniors Practice Tasks

3) Use some of the PCB design considerations that you came across when
filling your application, while designing the PCB. ( Appropriate trace widths,
clearance..etc.). Also remember that the PCB should have two layers with
one of the layers being a ground plane.

Inventor/Ansys:

We use Chain transmission to transfer power from the Motor to the rear axles. It
would look similar to the chain drive in a cycle. The toothed profile which holds
the chain in line while rotating is called a sprocket.

Our motor is very powerful and hence the transmission should be able to handle
the forces at the same time we can't afford to add unnecessary weight into the
system. Hence weight reduction is an important factor to be taken care of. We
design the Sprocket in Autodesk Inventor.
Download Inventor
Go through this Inventor session to get yourself familiar. Then after designing
we need to ensure whether the design is suitable for given loading conditions
and we do that in Ansys Static Structural.
Download Ansys
To get familiar with Ansys watch this.

Design the sprocket, and do static structural analysis.

Designing sprocket (Don't worry much about the mathematics, follow instructions
to make sketches in Inventor. And ignore the shaft grove part) To calculate the
required parameters use the excel sheet.
We are using ANSI 50 chain. And the sprocket to be designed has 47 teeth.

For simulating in Ansys, first go through the small course provided by Ansys (just
do 1-2 assignments). Then go through the document to find the loading. Check

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Powertrain Tasks | May 2021

Sub-juniors Practice Tasks

the Stress and Strain developing in your sprocket. Think of where you can
reduce weight.

Heat Load Estimation:

The motor and controller generate high amounts of heat, which needs to be
rejected to the atmosphere in order to get safe and efficient performance. This
requires the design of a cooling system.

To design the motor and controller cooling system, we have to estimate the heat
that is generated. To get the total power consumed by the motor and controller,
we simulate the endurance (longest event, hence highest total heat load) event
using Lapsim code. It is assumed that all the inefficiency in the motor and
controller contributes to the heat rejected. Thus we can estimate the heat load
during endurance event.

For this task, you’ll be required to use matlab. This will get you familiarised with
matlab. To download matlab, click here. This is a step by step guide for matlab
installation.

Once you get familiar with matlab, go through lapsim code. The lapsim simulates
the car going through FSG track. It gives us the torque, current, power and many
more variables related to the car. The inputs to a lapsim are the parameters that
define the car, like mass, wheelbase, etc. These three mat files contain the
specifications related to the car that’ll be required to run the lapsim. Assuming
constant efficiency of motor to be 97% and controller to be 91%, estimate the
total heat load during the endurance event.

If you want to know more about cooling system design, check this research
paper. Check this folder to know more about lapsim.

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Powertrain Tasks | May 2021

Sub-juniors Practice Tasks

Data Acquisition Suite (DAQ Suite) using Python:

To get the most out of a testing or driver training session, we need some tools for
data processing and visualisation. These tools can be used to compare two
drivers, and gain insights from the skillful drivers, or to check the proper
functioning of different components. One of the better platforms to develop these
kinds of applications is Python’s Tkinter.

Use the tkinter package (If you find anything better, use that) of Python and
create a simple Windows application which can select a file (.log, or .xlsx or .csv
format) having some columns, select any of the the columns , 'timestamp' and
'value', and plot Value vs Time on clicking a button. (Moving plot of the Value
would look cooler, and Make the plots interactive if you can; A feature to pause
the plot and do some other cool stuff like Fitting a spline etc etc…. would also be
nice ) Also, try to do some post processing on the data in order to obtain some
useful conclusions.

GUI using Python

Plotting in Python
Link for the Testing File

Battery Modelling (Matlab & Simulink):

An equivalent battery Model is essential inorder to Test our batteries by

Simulating Real life situations. i.e, we need to check if our Accumulator with a
given configuration can sustain throughout the course of the Endurance event. To
do this we model the Batteries using Resistors, Capacitors and Voltage Source.
A base level model would be to use a series combination of (i) Voltage source (ii)
RC parallel combination (iii) Resistor. The more the number of RC Parallel
combinations, the better the model would be. Learn about Battery Modelling
here. For extracting the Pulse Test results & any other test’s results, use websites

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Powertrain Tasks | May 2021

Sub-juniors Practice Tasks

like ‘Batterybro’ or ‘e-cigarette’. An intro on Battery Modelling can be found here.

You would require to learn how to use Matlab and Simulink for this.

Your Aim is to configure the Battery Model Parameters for LG HG2 cells, and test
it with any Current profile, and figure out the Resultant Terminal Potential
difference, and calculate the SoC drop on giving any Current profile.

Other useful Links:

https://in.mathworks.com/help/physmod/sps/powersys/ref/battery.html
https://in.mathworks.com/videos/how-to-develop-battery-management-systems-i
n-simulink-part-3-state-of-charge-estimation-1574416618095.html

Sensors and Arduino:

The Dashpanel of our car is controlled using an Arduino, and displays data from
several sensors, or from datalogger, in a useful way for aiding the driver. For
getting an understanding of how this can be achieved at a lower level, and how
telemetry works, we use two arduino’s. Both the Arduino’s will be connected
wirelessly using the Wi-Fi module (Make a Local Network - In Order to give you
an understanding of how Telemetry works).

● The Arduino-A will be connected to a Display,and to a Buzzer.

● The Arduino-B has the following sensors connected to it:
1. Temperature Sensor
2. Pressure sensor / Force sensor
3. Potentiometer
4. Gas Sensor
Under Normal Operating conditions, All the data from the sensors attached to the
Arduino-B should be transmitted wirelessly through the Wi-Fi Module, to the
Arduino-A, in real-time, and that data should be Displayed in the Display.

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Powertrain Tasks | May 2021

Sub-juniors Practice Tasks

If the Temperature is above a certain limit, then the Display should print
“Battery Temperature too high!”, and the Buzzer should turn ON.
If the Pressure sensor & Potentiometer together notify a BSPD failure
(Check Rulebook), then the display should print “BSPD triggered!”
If the Gas Sensor in the Radiator detects steam, then the display should
have “Steaming in Radiator!” printed and the Buzzer should go ON.
When everything gets back to the normal operational condition, then the
display should start displaying the Values from the sensors as normal.
Also, think about how the Raw data can be made into useful data, and make the
display act accordingly. Use tinkercad for this task.

Some Useful Resources:

https://www.tinkercad.com/things/8eGIik7iAl3-arduino-configure-wi-fi-module
https://www.tinkercad.com/things/4weMbS5AZEd-led-display
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFF2WwUSiXU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypH6efMokUY

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