Allen Racing

University of Washington Formula SAE

As a junior at the University of Washington in the Mechanical Engineering Department I am participating in the Formula SAE program. This is a 60+ member student run race team at the University of Washington. The team is responsible for designing a formula style race car, fabricating and manufacturing the parts desisgned, and competing at national FSAE competitions.

The summer and fall quarters are dedicated to design work in which each team member is assigned a specific part or system that they must design and model using 3D computer modeling software, test their design using finite element analysis, and report to the team their choice of design. The winter begins the fabrication phase in which each member is responsible for machining their part at the University of Washington machine shop facilities. Finally, spring quarter, the car is assembled, tested, and raced at competitions. If you are interested in learning more about the University of Washingtons Formula SAE team visit http://students.washington.edu/auto/ .

As a member of the Suspension technical group on team 20, I am responsible for desiging the bellcranks. Bellcranks are designed to transfer the motion of the wheel to the shocks. Here are some pictures of my design. January begins the winter quarter in which the manufacturing phase begins.

Below are some photos of the final product, the bellcranks underwent a number of design changes up until a week before they were manufactured however they remain conceptually the same as you will see below.

The Car

Below is an initial assembly drawing of the front bellcranks including the bearings and spacers.

This is the results of the finite element analysis on the front bellcrank with 5 degrees of out of plane loading.

This is the front bellcrank in the space frame.

Below is the assembly of the rear bellcranks, a more traditional 2 piece design.

FEA results for the rear bellcrank.