Suspension General Meetings

Owned by Winters Xia
Last updated: Jan 10, 2025 by Richard Wang
5 min read

FALL 2024 MEETINGS

September 14, 2024

Notes:

Talk to formula or baja

Bell cranks optimal for both rear and front

Mount shocks vertically?

Applied force changes? Calculations?

CG (centre of gravity) bounding box 40% front 60% back

Target Weight of Car: 300kg

welded tabs for both front and rear

 

Teams:

Front: Winters, Michael, Nathan, Josh, Chloe

Rear: Richard, Alex, Kumo, Louie, Max, Nolan, Sam

 

Tasks:

Spec out Wheels

Spec out Shock

Revise calcs for MS16 application

 

Due:

Space claim by end of week

More solid space claim by end of month

Tire specs by end of month

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October 26, 2024

Notes:

Bell crank underneath the UCA and possibly sticking out from chassis

Shock angled upward from bell crank toward centre of chassis

 

Tasks:

Nathan will redo nodal to have lower roll centre and also allow Caleb to add steering attachment point

Michael will start matlab script for cases

Josh will add bell crank and push rod to nodal

Winters ask matt and ben about adding fsu to bild

 

Due:

 

 

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November 7, 2024

Notes:

Once bild is set up we want to base FSU changes on Caleb’s steering nodal

Discussed integrating our bell crank system into FSU

 

 

Tasks:

Find out distance between bottom of aero body and chassis tube

Have meeting on Saturday after leads to discuss integration with steering nodal

RSU:

Look at knowledge transfer videos

Try and do force calculations for new loading cases

 

 

Due:

FSU:

Calcuation need to be done asap

Caleb would like them done soon

 

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November 14, 2024

Notes:

FSU:

Bell crank push rod system we have a working nodal

Are looking into optimizing, but we want to apply loading cases before any more optimization

Figuring out where shocks will mount on car

Matlab code progress is good, 2/3 function/classes finished

Need to input system of equations

Caleb is handling spindle, upright

Will work on it together for lca

ETA beginning of December

 

Tasks:

Find out distance between bottom of aero body and chassis tube

Finish matlab code

Apply loading to nodal and make changes where needed

 

RSU:

Short meeting, mostly wanted to touch base and get a direction for us to move forward.

  • Discussed MS15 nodal, investigated how varying parameters such as arm length has an impact on performance

  • Went over design constraints for MS16

  • Looked into a good location to place the global system datum: settled on using one of the welded tabs, this might change later but will be locked in soon.

Tasks:

Work on creating a new parametric nodal diagram based on MS15’s RSU. We will make adjustments to this as needed for MS16.

  • The key is to move the part origin to where we want our system datum to be, i.e. if we want it on the welded tab for the shock, make the origin up there.

  • Make use of as many equations as possible (make it parametric) so it’s easier to adjust later

 

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November 21, 2024

Notes:

  • Space claim meeting to discuss possible changes to wheelbase due to unreleased regulations.

  • Soft locked more parameters such as ride height, front wheel displacement, space occupancy, and battery pack location.

FSU:

  • Ride height is set at 110mm with 10mm for a safety factor (there were issues with MSXV because the weight was more than anticipated)

    • Aero body fabric is roughly 3mm thick and it is in contact with the lower chassis tube; therefore, there is 113mm from bottom of chassis tube to the ground.

  • Wheel base is extended 0.6m because of the likely possibility that regulations change from MSXV.

  • More space is claimed for FSU above the top chassis tubing. We claimed all the way up to the top aero body (this is determined by max wheel displacement under compression).

    • This allows us to likely implement a bell crank system above the top chassis tube.

Tasks:

  • Continue to work on improving nodal

  • Nodal has to be changed because of the determined new ride height. This may cause changes in height of the chassis box. To be determined by the weekend.

  • Pushrod/bell crank nodal continues to be reworked. Once the new geometry for the UCA and LCA are set, the 3 positions of the bell crank can be integrated into the overall nodal. By this time, the shock will be soft locked and MATLAB calculations can begin.

 

RSU:

  • Reviewed rough nodal diagram created and discussed path moving forward

  • Set a fixed assembly origin

  • RSU team is interested in setting up a meeting for a more focused knowledge transfer

Tasks:

  • Redo nodal with variables to define arm length, shock angle, etc.

  • Set up meeting with Jonathan for a more focused knowledge transfer

  • Create configurations to define stationary, max compression, etc.

 

WINTER 2025 MEETINGS

FSU

 

RSU

01/09/2025 MEETING DEBRIEF
Short meeting today, we synced some discussions between mech members regarding potential options for MS16 RSU improvements, highlights of the discussion are listed below:

  • Optimizing force paths to minimize reaction forces thereby reducing stress

  • Accounting for increased car mass for MS16 due to increased aerobody size and increased chassis size; this means there is a good chance we CANNOT reuse the same shocks

  • Our goal as discussed previously is to reuse as much infrastructure as possible from MS15 while still meeting MS16 requirements to minimize our workload

  • Long story short we gotta haul ass this term. we need the nodal and calculator done asap and it needs to be as parametric as possible to accommodate any changes from other systems. things that will affect us the most are the car's CoG, mass, and chassis design

  • We need to have some forces asap so we can start speccing out a shock to replace the current RSU shock. Best case, our numbers work out well and we can reuse the FSU shocks.

DELIVERABLES + TASKS
By January 25th, ideally sooner, we should aim to have the following items complete

  • Fully completed nodal, literally just copy the MS15 RSU nodal but make sure it's as parametric as possible. The main purpose of this is to get something set up that you guys are familiar with and comfortable tweaking before we dive into making changes

  • Fully functional MATLAB script, we can use Jonathan's spreadsheet to double-check results. MATLAB is much more readable and easier to understand/edit than an excel sheet (sorry Jonathan) so it’s a good idea to get this set up and completed

  • Anyone not working on those items can do some research on how we can reduce our reaction forces and stress on components

Next Thursday is W25 first general meeting so no dynamics meeting. I'll do a working session next Saturday (18th) where we can grind out some stuff. if you're down to come to the bay, awesome. if not, no worries.