REPUBLIC OF RÉPUBLIQUE DU

CAMEROON CAMEROUN
Peace – Work – Fatherland Paix – Travail –Patrie
******* *******
THE UNIVERSITY OF L’UNIVERSITE DE
BAMENDA BAMENDA
******* *******
HIGHER TECHNICAL ECOLE NORMALE
TEACHER TRAINING SUPERIEURE DE
COLLEGE (H.T.T.T.C) L’ENSEIGNEMENTTECHNIQ
BAMBILI UE (ENSET) DE BAMBILI

COURSE TITLE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

COURSE CODE: SEDT5203

DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF AN AUTO-TILTING

SUSPENSION CAR (CARGO
TRICYCLES SUSPENSION SYSTEM)

DEPARTMENT: MECHANICAL ENGINNERING

OPTION: MECHANICAL DESIGN
LEVEL: 500
YEAR: 4
PRESENTED BY: MOUOTCHOUO PUWA CALVIN

MATRICULE: UBa19T0593

SUPERVISED BY: Dr. TANAH

2019/2020 Academic Year

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 Table of Contents
DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF AN AUTO-TILTING SUSPENSION CAR (CARGO
TRICYCLES SUSPENSION SYSTEM) .................................................................................... 1

1. VARIABLES ON THE PROBLEM .................................................................................... 1

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT ................................................................................................ 1

1.3 GENERAL OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE OF THE PROJECT ....................................... 2

1.4 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................. 2

REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................. 3

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 DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF AN AUTO-TILTING
SUSPENSION CAR (CARGO
TRICYCLES SUSPENSION SYSTEM)
1. VARIABLES ON THE PROBLEM
At a time when development and industrialization are the talk of day in every country and with the
fast increase of population especially in city areas, transportation becomes difficult with big cars
in city traffic, carrying of goods from farm to market with motor bikes (Bicycles) and while not
the fast delivery of goods by industrial or business services. This now gives the tricycle which has
a shorter track width and more load carrying capacity an upper hand in transportation sector.
Tricycles are undoubtedly the solution to rural and urban transportation as can already been seen
in many developing and developed countries of the world. But it is rather unfortunate that many
Cameroonian citizens do not admire it due to low cornering speed and maneuverability.
This same problem have been seen by many engineers before now and attempts have been made
in solving it which the cambering and the tilting suspension system which were the most
promising. Still, these attempts were not sufficient to solve the problem of the cargo tricycle
because of their low load carrying ability. Following the idea of the other systems who try to
solve this problem by engineering the suspension system, we therefore started questioning to know
if really the suspension system affects the speed of the vehicle, if lateral acceleration which take
the tricycle of the track during cornering by reduce by modifying the suspension and if
maneuvering is affected by the suspension system. And looking at the European and Japanese
modern high speed trains which faced a similar problem, we used software to proposed an auto-
tilting suspension system as a solution to this problem by simulating a tricycle with this system
fitted on it to see the difference in it cornering speed. We also developed an application to calculate
the amount of tilt angle for various types of tricycles. From the result obtain, we can say that auto-
tilting suspension systems are the actual solution to the problem of the cargo tricycle.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Narrow track cars (tricycles) are without doubt the future of urban mobility due its numerous
advantages over four wheel cars and two wheel motor bikes. And in the developing countries of
Africa, the cargo tricycle is the solution to the farm to market or industries transportation. While

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not the circulation of goods and services within the city. Nevertheless, many people do not admire
or prefer it because of its stiffness, low speed limits and instability during cornering caused by
its short wheel base and the less comfort it seem to offers to occupants.

1.3 GENERAL OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

The objective of this project is to successfully design and simulate a tilting mechanism for a
narrow tilting car (cargo tricycle) and adjust the aerodynamic nature of the car in order to increase
its speed limits during cornering. The mechanism is to be reliable, simple, cost-effective and
practically feasible. The aim of this tilting mechanism is to provide banking to the car on unbanked
curves, to enable added threshold speed on curves in comparison to a narrow non-tilting car. This
system is also supposed to enhance passenger comfort, as the side force felt by passengers in a car
taking a turn is comparatively less.

1.4 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

Specifically, for this project to come to completion, we have as specific objectives to:
i. Identify what causes speed limitations on a cargo tricycle during cornering?

ii. Find out if the suspension system affects the cornering speed of the tricycle.

iii. Propose solution(s) to the problem(s) realized.

iv. Produce a model and simulation of the proposed solution to proof its functionality.
v. Develop an application program that will help tricycle users to apply the proposed solution on
different types of tricycles.

vi. Compare speed results of tricycles before and after the mechanism develop is applied.
vii. Estimate the cost of implementing or realizing the system.

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REFERENCES
1) Cyclelogistics – moving Europe forward D2_1_Analysis_of_ Cargo_ Cycling_v_2_ Sept
2013 (1)

2) China Good Quality Three Wheel Cargo Motorcycle Supplier. Copyright © 2016 - 2017
motor-tricycles.com. All Rights Reserved

3) Ekberg A, Kabo E & Andersson H: (2002). An Engineering Model for Prediction of Rolling
Contact Fatigue of Railway Wheels. Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures,
Volume 25, Issue 10, Blackwell Publishing.

4) Francisco Posada, Fanta Kamakate, Anup Bandivadekar. Sustainable Management of Twoand

Three-Wheelers in Asia Date: December 2011