2022 Car Launch
On the 26th of October, UQ Racing gathered along with Alumni, Faculty staff, Sponsors, FSAE-A Competitors, family and friends to unveil the two new cars to represent the team in 2022. This year has seen leaps and bounds in the progression of the teams Autonomous Vehicle, as we prepare to compete against the 3 other Australian Autonmous teams.
AV Summary
This year a lot of effort has been put into making the vehicles hardware not only function but also reliable and a good foundation that will last us not only this year but also in the years to come. What was our 2019 EV “Chicken” became our 2021 AV “Rooster” and now this year with the car running track as an EV and actuation working in static environments, we are seeing our 2022 AV “Cockatoo” start to take off.
This year a large focus was put on finishing off retrofitting all the physical systems required for autonomous driving in order for us to be able to move from simulation based testing to a track based testing plan, opening up many more avenues for further software development.
The end goal from this is that we are looking to be able to have the car to have the car drive autonomously, specifically focusing on testing our vehicle actuation and the various on board hardware interfacing we have with all our vehicle components. The aim is that we will be able to compete in the “brake test” event at the FSAE-A competition this year, which is where the car will have to accelerate up to 40 km/h and brake.
Further to this, we have also further developed all our perception and path planning software by introducing a wider variety of data as we transition into more hardware based testing.
EV Summary
EV22 marks the start of a new, multiyear development cycle, moving away from a single motor and spool drivetrain to an individual hub motor concept. EV20 was a brilliantly refined car which closed a 5-year design cycle - and while EV22 is still new and untested, it’s incredibly exciting for the team.
This car has required a drastic change in design to our previous cars. To name just a few, we have needed to rethink and redesign our drivetrain, high voltage system, wheel hubs and uprights. We’ve managed to make huge and innovative improvements in these areas. Alongside these new systems we have also iterated the design of our aerodynamics, suspension, and structural packages.
The overall concept that EV22 has started is incredibly exciting for the team. It is a concept which will cement our position amongst the top FSAE teams in the world. This concept will expand the envelope of performance we can extract from the car, ensuring that UQR will remain competitive for years to come.
EV22’s driveline is worlds away from what was used on our past cars. Having used Emrax motors since 2014, this is the first major change of our motor and inverter set up. We are now using AMK Racing Kit for both our inverter and motors. Beginning with 2 hub motors, the AMK kit gives us control over the torque output to each powered wheel rather than splitting torque over an axle, giving us the opportunity to implement advanced control systems such as torque vectoring in the future.
These motors drive 1.5 stage planetary gearboxes mounted directly to the outboard wheel assemblies, which have been designed and manufactured almost fully in-house using the resources generously available to us at the Advanced Prototyping Workshop here at UQ.
If that wasn’t enough, this year’s accumulator has seen its first significant redesign since 2017. Supply shortages meant that previously used cells were proving difficult to source, and 5 years of learning allowed us to identify a number of issues in the design and manufacturing which we felt we could improve on.
The accumulator is both a performance and reliability-critical system for the car, and with such a young team it was incredibly important to share experience with newer members. With this redesign, it has allowed us to revisit the manufacturing and design processes in detail, learn how to quantify performance, and focus on new driveline requirements and improved safety.
The results? We’ve redefined the battery management system and segments for improved reliability, performance and ease of manufacture. In fact, we’ve halved the amount of time needed to manufacture each segment, and nearly doubled the peak system voltage in a massive innovation for the team.
Thanks to everyone that came along and we will see you all in Winton!
