VENKATRAGHAVAN
A seasoned mechanical engineering leader with over 6 years of experience, I specialize in transforming innovative concepts into market-ready products. My expertise spans a variety of manufacturing processes, including injection molding, sheet metal fabrication, PCB interconnects, casting, and vacuum forming.
ATV Vehicle
BAJA SAE 2015
BAJA SAE is an international competition wherein 125 teams from around the world compete to decide which is the best ATV. The BAJA journey includes concept generation, design, manufacturing, testing and finally marketing of the ATV at a collegiate level.
ABOUT THE BAJA CAR
Details about the Baja Car
CHASSIS
Roll Cage can be called as skeleton of a vehicle, besides its purpose of accommodating the driver, providing safety and incorporating other sub-systems of the vehicle, the main purpose is to form a frame or so called Chassis to provide structural integrity to the vehicle.
DRIVE-SHAFT
The drive-train consisted of 2 half-shafts connected to the engine side using Rzheppa CV joint and the wheel side using Tripod CV joint. The Rzheppa provides a rotational degree of freedom to the driveshaft to accommodate various ride heights. The Tripod provides a plunging capability to allow the drive shaft to contract in length and allows for smaller angle bends (15 degree approx)
DRIVETRAIN
The power is produced by a Briggs and Stratton 10HP engine. The engine is coupled to a transaxle (DANA H-12 FNR gearbox) that provides a high gear ratio of 12.58:1 and consists of a limit slip differential
A mount was designed to mount the transaxle onto the Chassis
REAR WHEEL ASSEMBLY
The wheel assembly consists of a hub attached to the spindle and the wheel. the brake rotor disk is mounted on the hub and so is the brake caliper.
the driveshaft is attached to the hub using roller bearing s to allow for transfer of power to the wheels.
REAR ROLL HOOP (RRH)
The RRH(Rear Roll Hoop) is the first section of the chassis to be designed. It is angled rearward at 15° to the vertical to provide the driver with a comfortable sitting position.
ROLL HOOP OVERHEAD (RHO)
The RHO is welded to the RRH. The RHO provides the appropriate head room for an average driver (5’10”) with additional 6 inch clearance for safety purposes.
LOWER FRAME SIDE MEMBERS (LFS):
The LFS is welded at the bottom of the RRH. The width of LFS keeps on decreasing along the length, gradually at first, then drastically. This design is adopted to provide optimal space for accommodating the legs of the driver which is a concern due to a compact B section
SIDE IMPACT MEMBERS (SIM)
The SIM increases chassis stiffness and is a major member that provides protection to the driver in a side-on collision.
FEA ANALYSIS
ANSYS Workbench solver was used to perform FEA analysis. It was assumed that the Vehicle weighed 250kg and the driver is estimated to be 80kg.
FRONT IMPACT
REAR IMPACT
ROLL IMPACT
VARIOUS COMPONENTS OF BAJA CAR
The various components of the BAJA car have been illustrated below.
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