Team ID- 17362

Team eVega 2.0- Design Report

Abstract
With the advent of the 21st century, there came an evident Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) Welding is the method chosen for
increase in the need for the utilization of fuel, especially fossil joining the members. TIG Welding has been chosen because it
fuel, to satisfy the growing needs of the society for power, is capable of achieving the highest quality welds and it is the
majority of which is employed for transportation. The use of most versatile method of joining.
fossil fuels for mobility not only benefited the public, but also
maligned the immediate environment through growing pollution
and increasing the risk of scarcity of non-renewable resources
like coal and petrol. Some cities like Delhi and Beijing had to
take unprecedented drastic steps to curb these side effects.
We as budding engineers, aim to compensate these ill effects
by discovering and innovating the scope of electrical vehicles.
This design report illustrates and exhibits our progress on the
fabrication of an electrical all-terrain vehicle, we have worked
on optimising all possible fields of automobile engineering to
develop the same and our primary aim remain as the above.
Our secondary aim is to compete among other teams at the
highly coveted SAE eBAJA 2017 event and we hope that our
contribution to this field of engineering reflects our
performance at NATRIP, Indore.
Figure 1. Our initial frame design for Virtual eBAJA 2016.
Introduction
i. Improvised Design after the Virtuals
With the above mentioned objectives in mind, our team ‘ Team Round
eVega 2.0’ is divided into small groups pertaining to the major
subsystems of an ATV, after considering the specific talents Improvisations were done on the frame design to
and interest of the individual team members. These subsystem accommodate electrical components with well-defined
teams are headed by a system head, a person who has a prior clearance to aid thermal management systems, especially
knowledge about the respective subsystem as a former team cooling. Placements of the components were strategically
member. done to improvise and optimise the overall performance of the
electrical components. Suspension mountings were also
The vehicle models were designed using state of the art changed after improvisations based on our attention to details
design software, namely, ProE, Creo and NX CAD and given during the eBAJA workshop presentations held by SAE
Solidworks. Analysis of our designs were then done using BAJA during September 2016.
ANSYS and Lotus Shark software. The design report is split
with correspondence to the different subsystems and exhibits
all the required data and calculations.

I. Frame Design

With a view of establishing proper balance between cost,

weight and requirements, Chromoly AISI 4130 steel with
radius of 1” has been chosen as material for the frame. The
frame has been designed with 3mm thickness for primary
members and from 1mm to 3mm for secondary members.
Figure 2. Improvised design after the Virtual Round of eBAJA 2016.

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Computer Aided Engineering of Rollcage

A The computer aided analysis of the frame of the eATV was

done using ANSYS software, the frame is virtually tested for
front impact, rear impact, side impact, front and rear roll over.
Wheel bump and torsional stiffness is also done and is
exhibited in the following.

Table 1. Revised Analysis Table for improvised frame.

Test Load Factor of Safety

Applied
Front Impact Test 8.3 G 2.5

Rear Impact Test 2.8 G 2.2

Side Impact Test 3G 1.75
Front Roll Over 2G 1.8

Rear Roll Over 2G 1.29

Side Roll Over 2G 1.9

Wheel Bump 3G 1.9

Torsional Stiffness 3G 1.93

Figure 4. Front Impact Stress on frame.

i. Front Impact Test of Frame

ii. Rear Impact Test of Frame

Figure 3. Front Impact Deformation of frame. Figure 5. Rear Impact Stress on frame.

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 Figure 8. Side Impact deformation on frame.
Figure 6. Rear Impact Deformation on frame.

iii. Side Impact Test of Frame II. Electrical Subsystem Design

The electrical systems were supplied by SAE BAJA, the
systems are similar to the one used in the commercially
available Mahindra Reva vehicle, we have drawn inferences
on the same based on our observations as follows.

Figure 7. Side Impact Stress on frame.

Figure 9. Overview of the electrical components.

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i. Traction Motor
A Mahindra Three phase AC squirrel cage induction
electric motor with a built‐in temperature sensor & Hall
Effect speed sensor, operation speed up to 8000rpm with peak
power of 11KW and a peak voltage of 48V.
Motor speed feedback goes to the controller through
Hall Effect sensor. Thermal sensor is provided to limit the
current to motor in case of high temperature build up in the
Motor. The motor is coupled to the gear box through taper
shaft coupling arrangement.
Motor Safety: Any interchange in phase U, V & W cables or
fouling of shield mesh with motor cable lugs will result in
tripping of Controller. Any failure of Hall Effect sensor will
switch the drive to LOS, temperature Sensor failure will switch
the car into Economy mode. Any faults occurred, DTC codes
will be displayed in Vehicle Analyzer.
The throttle settings are made with the throttle potentiometer
provided and through the motor controller pin no.15.
Raw Value XV
Throttle Min + 0.10 volts
Throttle end - 0.10 volts
Figure 10. Graph: Power vs. Speed of Motor.
ii. Battery Assembly
Lithium Ion battery assembly comprises of 16 modules each of
3.17 volts, 160 Ah capacity all the modules are connected in
series using bus bars using bolts. The bus bars are marked
with High Voltage Indication for safety purpose.
Each module is provided with safety fuse and each module
voltage and the temperature inputs goes to the IEMS for
monitoring through the pack sense harness. The modules are
bundled into packs of 4 in a fire retardant battery enclosure
and 4 such enclosures are arranged to avoid vibration and
movements.
The battery housing that surrounds the battery weighs 116 Kg
only weighs 26 Kg and even a sharp object at 60 km/h collides
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the battery remains intact. In addition, the 16 lithium ion
modules are protected from humidity and a semi permeable
membrane for spacers to equalize pressure guarantees that
batteries are able to breathe. The gross weight of the modules
and enclosures weigh 142 Kg excluding the wiring.
iii. Safety and Ventilation System
Each enclosure is provided with a pair of cooling fans (inlet
and outlet) which is controlled by the iEMS. The iEMS
manipulates the temperature read from the sensors on board
the battery packs and sends a signal to the relay which
controls the cooling fans.
The battery is also monitored while in charging and
discharging such that the circuit is isolated if the battery
temperature crosses 55oC. The iEMS is programmed such
that if the battery temperatures cross 30oC, the ventilation
system is turned ON.
The battery is also monitored for overvoltage discharge by the
iEMS. An innovative approach is used to protect the battery
from being completely discharged to avoid the increase in
charge time.
iv. Charger Unit
A Lightweight - on board application charger capable of
charging the battery pack with 170 to 270 Volts wide range of
A/C mains from 16A standard outlet. The key functions of the
charger are:
• Charging the battery
• Optimizing the charge rate (stabilizing)
v. Transmission system
Direct coupled drive double stage reduction, trans-axial with
10.83:1 ratio-Oil quantity 600ml±25ml & oil type Castrol 80W90
(synthetic). A fixed ratio transmission is used with a gear ratio
10.83:1; motor is connected to wheels through Transmission
without any clutch/neutral in the drive line. This arrangement
is made possible due to torque speed characterization of
traction motor where in high torque is available from zero rpm
itself.
vi. Motor Controller
A motor controller is a device used in light electric vehicles to
control the speed and torque of motor. A Curtis 48V, 350A,
OS12, version 2.25 controller with a CAN enabled
communication with iEMS is used.
III. Brake Subsystem Design
As per the rule book norms, our braking system has a single ii. Braking Torque Calculations
pedal simultaneously locks all the four wheels. Polaris RZR
800S OEM Front Discs (Type: Ventilated) have been chosen
to be used on all four wheels of the vehicle with 1 master
cylinders (Diameter: 30 mm), X-Split circuitry and floating
calipers (Bore diameter: 45 mm).

The braking fluid used will be DOT4.

Braking pad coefficient of friction = 0.35

Braking pad Effective Area = 36.6 cm2

Figure 11. Overview X split brake configuration.

The brakes have been designed as per the following

calculations.
IV. Steering Subsystem Design
i. Braking Force Calculations The steering used is imported from DesertKarts.com and is
commercially used in many project ATVs for steering control.

The over-steer system is safer since it causes the reduction of

the lateral force at the rear axle and makes the vehicle to
stabilize at a smaller curve radius with less lateral acceleration.
While the under-steer vehicle is more dangerous because it
increases the lateral force and increases the swerve
tendency of the vehicle. Hence, over- steer setting in
steering is preferred for our vehicle.

Figure 12. Ackermann Geometry.

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 i. Steering Calculation PARAMETER FRONT REAR

Wire Dia 11mm 11mm

Mean Coil Dia 91mm 91mm

Free Length 390mm 390mm

No. Active Coils 8 8

Travel 40mm 60mm

Stiffness(N/mm) 16.5 N/mm 16.5 N/mm

i. Wishbone Analysis

Figure 13. Understeer and Oversteer.

V. Suspension Subsystem Design

A Double Wishbone Suspension system was chosen for
both the front and rear as it provides better stability, it is
light in weight and it ensures constant alignment. They also
provide increasing negative camber gain all the way to full Figure 14. Stress analysis of wishbone.
jounce travel. Other suspension systems such as MacPherson
Strut and trailing Arm were not considered because of less
stability and weight considerations.

Front suspension type: Double Wishbone

Rear Suspension type: Double wishbone

The centre of gravity was calculated to be 13” using design

softwares. To obtain a ground clearance of about 16” the
wishbones were attached accordingly. For better stability and
to avoid rolling during cornering the camber angle was set to
-2 degree at front and 0 in the rear. For straight line stability
the caster angle was set to 0 degree at front and 0 degree at
rear. To avoid wear of the tyres the toe in and toe out was set
to 0 degrees for both front and rear

Figure 15. Deformation of wishbone.

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 ii. Tyres used in practical day-to- day applications and to promote
electrical mobility in our society to encourage the use of
Hub Diameter = 125mm Hub Material : CI (Front) Al (Rear) greener technologies for a better, sustainable future.

Tyre Dia = 26“ References

Tyre : Polaris (MAXXIS) ATV Tyres 1. (a) Design and Development for Roll Cage of All
Terrain Vehicle IJTRE , Volume 2 , ISSN : 2347-4718.
Rim: 12”
2. Fundamentals of Vehicle Dynamics, by Thomas
Tread: Biased Gillespie.
Thickness: 7” at Front ; 7” at Rear
Contact Information
1. Ashwin Sathya
Conclusions Email : ashwinsathya1995@gmail.com
Ph : 9884837122
Along with performance and the aspect of creating an eco 2. Pramod Peter
friendly vehicle , safety is also an important aspect of our Email: peterisonand@gmail.com
design. We aim at providing a safe utility vehicle that can be Ph : 7373358697

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