The project aimed to enhance the Formula UBC Racing team's engine performance by designing, calculating, and manufacturing a carbon fiber air intake. Focused on optimizing aerodynamics and engine efficiency, the goal was to deliver a lightweight, structurally sound intake system that maximizes airflow for superior racing performance.
For this project, I spearheaded the comprehensive redesign of our air intake system. The air intake system funnels air into the engine, combining with the fuel to combust and power our car. Leveraging my fundamental design principles and employing both hand calculations and flow simulations, I crafted a high-performance intake system to optimize engine efficiency.
The project involved primarily mechanical design, using SolidWorks CAD software to create a streamlined and aerodynamically efficient air intake structure. Calculations were conducted to ensure the requirements for our engine’s volume of air were met, as well as meeting all regulations by FSAE.
Utilizing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, we fine-tuned the air intake geometry to enhance airflow dynamics, ensuring optimal oxygen delivery to the engine for peak performance.
Manufacturing the air intake from carbon fiber was a strategic choice to achieve a lightweight yet robust structure. I collaborated closely with our in-house manufacturing team to ensure precision in carbon fiber layup, curing, and quality control.
The end result is an optimized air intake system that not only meets but exceeds the performance expectations of the Formula UBC Racing team.
<aside> 💡 This project was an introduction to flow analysis and simulation.
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The engineering design cycle for the Formula UBC Racing team's air intake project began with a thorough ideation phase. We conducted a comprehensive analysis of the existing air intake system, identifying performance gaps and potential areas for improvement. Previous year's designs had inline, symmetrical bell mouths in the plenum and poor distribution of airflow which led to asymmetric thermal distribution and overheating. Our main concerns when generating concepts were considering factors such as aerodynamics, weight reduction, improved pressure distribution, and material strength.
Following ideation, the project moved into the conceptual design phase. Using SolidWorks (CAD) software, I designed multiple iterations of different bell mouth and plenum configurations. These models were refined iteratively, considering the team's ability to manufacture and our project goals. Calculations were performed to validate the volume of the plenum needed and the required length of the intake runners.
Our first design featured a symmetrical arrangement of the bell-mouths, which would lead to more evenly distributed air flow across the cylinders. This design improved the maintenance of high pressure in our intake from previous designs and would allow for better thermal distributions across the runners. The issue we found with this design was in the runners. The runners which are aluminum pipes connecting the intake to the cylinders of the engine required complex geometry which our team was unable to manufacture with good quality, making this design difficult to implement.
Runner 1,4 Lengths: 221.25 mm
Runner 2,3 Lengths: 222.6 mm
We altered this design to go back to an inline bell-mouth design, which would require manufacturing symmetrical and much less complex geometry for the runners.
The overall plenum volume decreased by 2.8L. The overall volume of the plenum was finalized as 2.397L.
Final Intake Design