New Design

University of Central Florida's Electrathon Design 1996

The new deign for this years electrathon vehicle is centered around a new frame. The new frame will be based on the old one but will only maintain the components that link the front A arms and rear driving wheel. The most important constraint when designing the new frame was to lower the profile. This would involve changing both the drivers position and the steering mechanism. With a lower profile the vehicle aerodynamics will be improved with a two piece fiberglass body. This body will be constructed of fiberglass cloth bonded with an epoxy resin. The shape of the body as can be seen on this and the previouse page will follow the shape of the frame as closely as possible. The steering system on this years vehicle is based on a simple tierod, rabbit ear linkage. Conventionaly this would have input from the driver through a steering wheel that was either linked through a rack and pinion or pivoting arm. The drivers input will be through a a single stick that has only one degree of freedom. This stick will pivot about a point and travel in a forward to rear direction. This movement will then be converted via a bell crank to the neccessary left to right motion to adjust the tie rod. The drive train for the vehicle will be a Bosch one and a half horsepower permanent magnet DC motor driving the rear wheel through a single belt drive reduction. The power for the system will be supplied by two 24 volt DC batteries wired in series giving the system a 24 volt variable amperage power supply.