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UP 2 SPEED

An SAE International at SJSU Newsletter for Sponsors, Professionals, Faculty, and Students

Vol. 3 Issue 4

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Happy Birthday Charles W. Davidson!

The SAE Student Chapter joined in celebrating Charles Davidson’s birthday at the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering. Mr. Davidson is the largest individual gift contributor to the to the California State University System, which also makes his donation the largest in all of SJSU’s history. Our SAE Team joined in presenting recent progress with the Concrete Canoe Team, showing Mr. Davidson how his support has enabled us to pursue our passions. We enjoyed listening to Mr. Davidson share some of his life experiences and the value of hard work.

Our vehicle teams are thrilled to receive continued support from San Jose State University College of Engineering supporter Don Beall. This donation, from the former Chairman and CEO of Rockwell, marks his second cash contribution to our program in the past calendar year. His support of our cause has made a very big difference in the development of our vehicles, both this school year and last school year.

Thank you Don Beall, we wouldn’t be making it this year without your help!

Don Beall Donation

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Joe Parisi, Owner of Therma, Corp, came to visit our shop this past January. Therma is a large mechanical contracting company based in San Jose. Joe gladly sponsored our Formula team with tube bending services for the construction of our chassis. We wanted to show him what our vehicle teams were all actually up to, so we cleaned up the shop and got the chance to exhibit our projects.

We loved meeting Joe in person and he enjoyed checking out our vehicle build progress so far this year. A tour of Therma’s facilities is in works to be within the next two weeks.

To learn more about Therma Corp, vist: www.therma.com

Joe Parisi of Therma Corp. Visits SAE International

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On Dec 14th, Spartan Racing visited Leo Vince Exhaust in Richmond, Ca. Leo Vince makes and develops motorcycle and scooter exhaust systems in addition to some motorcycle electronics. We met up with Manny Hauswith who gave us a facilities tour which included their warehouse, full of headers and mufflers, and the development center, which has an enclosed dyno and small scale shop for custom systems and testing. We were happy to leave with our questions answered and a box full of miscellaneous header pipe, two mufflers, and additional packing material.

Tour of Leo Vince Exhaust

The Rotary Club in San Jose held their latest “After Hours” event at San Jose State University and SAE International was invited. The event was held during International Week at SJSU and fitting with the theme Rotarians, were treated to a variety of displays made by international students from the International and Extended studies program.

SAE at SJSU was invited to attend to promote their collegiate design programs in hopes of finding potential sponsors. SAE members were able to network with Rotarians who were interested in our design projects while answering questions about SR-2 which was on display.

Rotary International is the world’s first service organization made up of millions of members worldwide. Rotarians work together to provide humanitarian services, promote goodwill and peace in the world, and abolish polio.

Rotary Club of San Jose’s

After Hours Social

To find out more about the San Jose Rotary Club visit: www.clubrunner.ca/CPrg/Home/homeS.asp?cid=3975

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As enthusiastic engineering students, we at SAE like to share what we learn in school, so we have decided to get involved with the A World in Motion Program. This program allows us to teach high school students about green engineering as well as complete an engineering related project with them. Members of the team will be going to Presentation High School, located San Jose, to both educate and engage students in a miniature car building activity. During the fall semester our SAE President, Jeff Yan, and Event Coordinator, Natallia LoCicero, worked with the faculty at Presentation to set up a six week program that will take place from January through February.

The first session took place on January 20th and we began with a lesson about the engineering process. Part of this process is to build knowledge about the topic needed to begin work on a project. The project the students are presented with is to make a toy vehicle for Mobility Toys Inc., but the challenge is to make the toy environmentally friendly. As a start to their knowledge building, we talked to the students about the basic parts of a car. To make this portion of our lesson plan more exciting we brought SR2 as a visual aid. The students enjoyed learning about the physics and the mechanics of the car as well as watching our team manager, Stefan Herkewitz, drive it around the school parking lot. Overall it was a successful first day and we look forward to working with them again this week!

To find out more about the A World In Motion Program, visit: www.awim.org

Keeping “A World In Motion”

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The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly:

Formula Hybrid updateI have some good news, bad news, and ugly news.

First, The Good News: Nike’s frame is now finished, pending the design judges decisions on our frame design. The diagonal pieces in the cockpit section is the only place that our Frame Lead, Brian Lai, is unsure of. So the frame will be totally finished once that is cleared up, but otherwise the frame is done, and we can start mounting stuff to it.

Another good news is that Stephen Sellick, our motorcycle expert, got us our race motor. HOORAY!!!

The Bad News: Athena’s fuel and cooling system is on fritz and needed to be fixed. The wheels were turning, then the cooling system decided to burst apart. Fortunately, Matt Mohr, another of our engine guys, fixed both.

The Ugly News: Sorry guys, with Athena-2.0(Testbed) unable to run, we have not been able to do any kind of testing our new suspension/drivetrain system. No video either.

For more Formula Hybrid updates, visit: www.engr.sjsu.edu/~sae/formulahybrid/index.html

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Our Formula SAE team is on the brink of rolling chassis! All the hard work is starting to pay off as the frame has taken shape and is now 100% complete. The team has been extremely fortunate for its chassis designer Robby Sampson, welder Viet Le, and suspension designer Morgan Crouch. These three have been the key players in the progress of the build over the past weeks. Our new 10” wheels are completed, tires are in the mail, and other final bits are coming down the pipeline. With the last pieces moments away from being available, the suspension system will be flying onto the car in no time. Having a car on wheels is just around the corner.

The composites team has tested many different material combinations, for their weight and strength properties, and they are soon undergoing a new project for SAE, carbon fiber shear panels to add rigidity to our chassis structure. And the powertrain team has intake and exhaust systems nearly ready to test on a recently acquired dyno test engine.

They are also on the verge of having our own in-house engine dyno fully functional. This is a great benefit for our program because we will be able to get clear results and data validations conveniently down the hall from our shop. A few of our powertrain teammates put their heads together and decided to override the existing controller for the eddy current dyno, building a more basic dyno control system. They have created a program through LabVIEW to collect data from the dyno.

Look for more results soon!

For more Formula SAE updates, visit: spartanracing.webfactional.com

So Close, Yet So Far: Formula SAE Update

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In the last segment here, I wrote about SR3’s wheel package and the benefits and constraints that came with our switch to 10-inch diameter wheels. While this is a big change for us, there is more to the suspension system than what resides within the wheels. Another big change for this year is the elimination of the rear box in the chassis. By moving the rear wheels forward relative to the driver, we have shifted more weight to the rear of the car. This balance, along with a 4 inch longer wheelbase, will result in a car that is more stable for the driver, yet more responsive as well. This also translates into more grip for our drivetrain, which will help us dominate the acceleration portion of the competition again this year.

Over the last month, the frame and suspension have begun to come together. It has been a physically and mentally intense month of design, redesign, emails, fabrication, G-code, and adrenaline. Scott Wigginton at ASW R&D Machining and Brian Jelich at JP Metal Fabrication, both in Santa Clara, have gone out of their way to courteously donate their time, effort, facilities, and expertise to help me get many of our diverse aluminum and sheet metal parts done. After our team has been left high and dry by other shops, these two have really pulled through for us. Mark Reuter of MDR Machine in Morgan Hill has helped us mill some of our parts as well, Pat Shue and Applied Industrial Technologies has sponsored our wheel bearings, and Sims Metal Recycling in San Jose has donated all of our aluminum and welding jig material!

The College of Engineering has been supportive and patient in the form of Neil Peters from the Materials Engineering department, and our Central Shop machinist, Craig Stauffer. Neil provided me access and assistance with the Materials Laboratory, which we used to heat treat our hubs, and has also provided much needed comic relief. The venerable Mr. Stauffer used his experience, talent, and many late nights to help us mill our uprights, and is continuing to help us with our hubs and wheel centers.

Finally, I want to thank all of my family and friends for their help and patience.

Morgan’s Corner: Second Apex

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The 2011 Baja vehicle has really begun to take shape in these last few weeks. With the first thermal forming test having been a success, great expectations have been set for the next test that will be done on the improved set up. In addition, the back half of the Baja is nearly complete and, with exception of the rear suspension, the frame is nearly done. The drivetrain is fully designed and the gears for the new gearbox should be arriving soon. The manufacturing of the new gearbox will then begin. The 2011 Baja is looking very promising; it’s shorter, lighter and quicker.

This should be a great year for Baja.

For more Baja SAE updates, visit: www.engr.sjsu.edu/sae/minibaja

Geared Up: Baja SAE update

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Feb 5 7:00 AM - 4:00 PMScience Extravaganza

Feb 7 Spring Student Organization Faire

Feb 7 7:00 PM - 9:00PMSpring Kick-off Meeting

Feb 8Pizza My Heart FUNRaiser

Feb 11Tire Testing and Modeling for Vehicle

Dynamics with Dr. Edward M. Kasprzak

Mar 15ASCE and SAE International Career Fair

Mar 23 6:00 PM - 9:00 PMBoeing B-1 Lancer Seminar with

Larry Rinek

More To Come....

For more events and updates please visit:

www.engr.sjsu.edu/sae/calendar.html

Check out our Facebook at: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000743110870

For more pictures please visit:www.engr.sjsu.edu/sae

and click on Media

Thank You to Our Sponsors Upcoming EvEnts

Newsletter StaffEditor:Simone GettyJeffrey Yan

Writers:Morgan CrouchRicky DelgadoManny MangrobangRyan SharpJohn WolfJeffrey Yan

Jeffrey Yan, PresidentSAE International SJSU

(415) 867-7153Jyan102@gmail.com

www.engr.sjsu.edu/sae

atSan Jose State University