Baja SAE Design Competition

1. Baja SAE Design Competition Baja SAE is an international design competition sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers. • Student designed and fabricated • Simulate real-world engineering design project • Three North American competitions per year

2. Team Organization Structure Team setup ensures efficiency in design and communication • Top down structure aids in easy team member communication • Leadership team • Three sub-teams and respective leaders

3. Chassis Design Overview Chassis’ primary objective is to make a sleek, lightweight frame while conforming to all the safety standards set forth by the SAE. Final frame design – Modification -- fabricating – testing and evaluation

4. Safety Conforming to safety standards is the most important objective when designing the Baja vehicle. • Safety harness on car • Safety equipment • required to be worn at • all times • Fire extinguisher on • board

5. Final Design The final design was developed from the initial frame concepts. • Maximize design efficiency • Weight Reduction • Maximize frame strength

6. Prepping for Fabrication Creating a frame jig is the key to manufacturing an accurate chassis. • Precisely machined • Bolted to welding table • Allows floor members to be accurately placed according to the design

7. Fabricating

8. Bending Slide How to bend: Feeding tube in bender, clamp, bend starts x-distance from die depending on die, bend to angle + springback Negatives of bender – inaccuracy in getting angle (overshooting to compensate for springback) , Picture of Bender

9. New Seat and Body Panels Making box for mold – two-part urethane foam – shaping down to size – overlaying with fiberglass Picture of box? Carbon fiber body panels

10. Flotation One key component in the East competition endurance race is water maneuverability. • Currently designing for Minicel M200 buoyancy foam. • Determining ways to minimize weight while retaining strength.