Final design report for National Go Kart Championship 2012

Nirmit sharma
Captain

Anurag Singh Patel

Driver & Co-Author

ABSTRACT
Mission Go is a competition to bring and enhance good engineering approach and practice for graduating and diploma students in engineering .This competition is basically to design and fabricate a Go-Kart in extremely low budget . Each team is competing to have its design accepted for manufacture by a fictitious firm. This time for MISSION GO 2012, the team AUTOKNIGHTS from BLDEAs college of Engg & Tech( Visvesvaraya Technological University, Karnataka ) are participating for the first time. The team consists of 15 members from the final & third year engineering students of automobile and mechanical background. Our teams approach towards this competition is to come up with a optimum design for a go kart vehicle in terms of technology, aesthetics, economy, safety, sports and comfort. The MISSION GO is a platform for the undergraduate students to improve interpersonal skills and to apply the principles of engineering science to expose their talent in automotive world.

focus of our design keeping in view standards to be met here, is on the robustness and durability of the components and various handling and working parts/systems of the vehicle. Our approach of design is based on the comparative study of the various systems and components of automotives which can be suitably applied to the best working of the intended use of this vehicle. Here we are conducting comparisons, going through their advantages and disadvantages. Few are best suitable for normal highway use and few for off-road use. Comparing between different suspension systems, braking systems, tires etc we are specifying our design. The roll cage of the vehicle designed and the FEA analysis of the roll cage is also given in our design. The team has focused on all the parameters for the development of all round design for a all terrain vehicle go kart and with such a approach the engineers can build very powerful machines with minimum cost. We are also planning to conduct a survey of costumer needs before coming with the final design report to incorporate both good technical design and high level of customer satisfaction.

INTRODUCTION
The various teams participating in the previous MISSION GO events have used several design approaches such as the case study of costumer requirements, collecting the design references from other institutes and going through modifications, comparison with the previous years designs, comparative study of the components, reverse engineering concept, trial and error methods and several other design approaches. Each teams goal is to design and build a prototype of a rugged, single seat, off-road recreational vehicle intended for sale to the nonprofessional weekend off-road enthusiast. The vehicle must be safe, easily transported, easily maintained and fun to drive. It should be able to negotiate rough terrain in all types of weather without damage. The events are static, dynamic and durability which consist of acceleration test ,skid pad test, auto cross test, endurance test ,fuel economy test etc, that has to be completed within given number of laps .So, the main

VEHICLE DESIGN
The design of vehicle includes some main features such as the roll cage, suspension, steering mechanism, braking system, transmission, tyres etc.

ROLL CAGE
The main component in the design of a go kart vehicle is its roll cage. A '''roll cage''' is a specially constructed frame built around the cab of a vehicle to protect its occupants from being injured in an accident, particularly in the event of a roll-over. Roll cages are used in nearly all purpose-built racecars, and in most cars modified for racing. There are many different roll cage designs depending on the application, hence different racing organizations have differing specifications and

regulations. They also help to stiffen the chassis, which is desirable in racing applications. The roll cage of our vehicle is designed in accordance with the limitations and specifications of the MISSION GO event. It is designed in order to provide protection to the driver in case of accident or vehicle roll over. It can also be considered as the main chassis of the vehicle on which all the other components and the engine will be mounted. It has the drivers cabin area where the seat will be mounted for seating of driver. The engine mounting compartment is provided at Side of driver. The roll cage is made narrower in front in order to provide more length for wish bone arms so that greater arch angle of wheel movement is obtained. For the drivers cabin enough width is provided for free movement of drivers legs and hands, and enough space is allotted in front to house the pedals. The portion in rear is made robust to house the engine and rear suspension. Extra members are provided to make it robust, strong to withstand impact loads. This design of roll cage provides the required protection to driver along with good aesthetic looks.

STEERING
The objective of the steering system is to provide a reliable method for controlling the direction of the vehicle that is capable of withstanding the high stress placed on it. There are no direct requirements for the type of steering method used or how sharp you must be able to turn. However there is a safety specification that requires all tie rods to be protected from a frontal impact. The goal of the steering design of our vehicle is to have the Ackerman geometry. This will allow for tighter, more aggressive turning. Ackerman Geometry The Ackerman concept is to have all four wheels of a vehicle rolling around a common point during a turn. This requires that the inside tire be turning at a tighter radius then the outside tire as shown in Figure 3: Ackerman Concept. This geometry transfers the weight to the inside front tire causing the inside rear tire to have lower contact force. This then allows for the buggy to turn into a corner instead of trying to push straight ahead.

Figure 2 - Ackerman Concept Figure 1: The roll cage of our vehicle ROLL CAGE MATERIAL SPECIFICATION Material Mild Steel (Automobile Grade) Youngs Modulus- 2.1e^5 N/mm2 Pipe Diameter 25mm Thickness- 2mm Poissons Ratio 0.3 We have used simple meachanical linkage system for our steering, but this is subject to a performance check and the analysis of that. The steering position is the centre steering that we have adopted.

BRAKING
The objective of the braking system is to safely stop the vehicle. It is required to statically and dynamically lock rear axle on both hard and loose surfaces .Our vehicle consist of only on disc . The hydraulic braking circuit adopted is the diagonal circuit with a single master cylinder to have a effective stopping and control.

DISC BRAKE- A disc mounted on sproket rotating along with it and two friction pads which are actuated by four hydraulic wheel pistons contained in two halves an assembly called caliper. The disc brakes are more suitable than drum brakes with following advantages over the later the friction surfaces are directly exposed to the cooling air, friction pads are flat where as curved surface in drum, there is no loss of efficiency due to expansion, has less weight, better anti-fade characteristics. Thus with these many advantages we have incorporated disc brakes. For the Brakes we are using TVS apache Disc assembly on Rear axle of go kart

ROLL CENTRE
The point in the transverse vertical plane through any pair of wheel centers at which lateral forces may be applied to the sprung mass without producing suspension roll. The roll-centre height may be used as a summary of the load transfer characteristics of a suspension found by a detailed suspension analysis, or as the input specification for a simple handling simulation. The rollcentre height is a useful concept as it defines the distance between roll-centre to centre of gravity, acting to over turn the vehicle.

DESIGN AND ANALYSIS

The designing of the vehicle is done using the CATIA software, which is a engineering design software.

TRANSMISSION
The transmission is required to provide high torque to the driving wheels at the time of starting ,accelerating , pulling a load and meeting other resistances. The transmission used in our vehicle will be the standard transmission as such used in Automatic Clutch with manual gear shift

TIRES
The tires used will be specially meant for Go-kart and on road applications with the best possible performance tread pattern. TIRE SIZE- The following size tires will be used. This specification depends on the availability in market. This is our plate with which our tyre is fitted

Here the design of the complete vehicle is shown along with the suspension, tires and the driver sitting in the vehicle. The width, length and height are within the prescribed limits by the organizers of the event. Various analysis were carried out on the vehicle model using the ANSYS Software, which is a FEA analysis software. The analysis report goes as mentioned below.

ANALYSIS
The material used for the roll-cage is the MS with the following properties. Density- 7.85e^-9 tonnes/mm3 Elements: 3D Elastic Beam Elements (Beam4) Line Elements DOF Material Properties: Linear, Elastic, Isotropic

Exy=2E5

All DOF=0

FRONT IMPACT TEST

Loading: F= mass*6G on Front Corner. Boundary Conditions: Suspension Mounting Points Uy=Uz=0 Rear Corner Points All DOF=0

Results:

Results:

Maximum deflection takes place at rear bottom horizontal plane bar and cabin side members. Max deflection is 5mm

Most of the front portion is subjected to least deflection of 2mm, this means the driver is safe from the beam structure. maximum deflection of 3mm is taking place at top inclined bars. Since most of the load is concentrated at front, some of the front top horizontal bars are subjected to high deformation. Max stress of 200mpa is taking place at mid horizontal member, which can be reduced when sheet floor structure is supported at bottom.

Max stress is at side support bar and this value is 200mpa, so we are going to use high strength material for side bar. The rear portion here is seen to be weak, but practically still engine is to be mounted and it will depend on engine mountings, also we are adding some members there for better strength

REAR IMPACT TEST

Loading: F= mass*5G on Rear Corner. Boundary Conditions: Suspension mounting points Uy=Uz=0 Front Corner Points All DOF=0 Top Front Corner

SIDE IMPACT TEST Loading: F= mass*2G on Front Corner. Boundary Conditions: Side impact member Uy=Uz=0 Rear Corner Points All DOF=0

Results:

Displacment Diagram
Maximum deflection takes place at rear bottom horizontal plane bar and cabin side members. Max deflection is 2mm

Most of the front portion is subjected to least deflection of 1mm, this means the driver is safe from the beam structure.

STRESS DIAGRAM

Knuckle
Design Max stress is at side support bar and this value is 260mpa, so we are going to use high strength material for side bar. The rear portion here is seen to be weak, but practically still engine is to be mounted and it will depend on engine mountings, also we are adding some members there for better strength ALL LOADING CONDITION result The suspension upright, or steering knuckle, in a front Aarm configuration, connects the upper control arm to the lower control arm and provides a mounting location for the wheel. In addition, it rotates about the axis between the upper and lower joints of the suspension arms, hereafter referred to as the steering axis. A tie rod is attached to the knuckle by a steering arm that controls the knuckle rotation and vehicle steering. Functionally, the knuckle must hold the spindle, mount the brake caliper, serve as a steering linkage, and orient the steering axis as desired. The knuckle must also be strong enough to support the loading scenarios encountered through driving. In order to produce negative camber through steering, the steering axis, defined as the axis through the spherical joints of the knuckle, must be inclined. The orientation of the steering axis is defined by the angles of castor and kingpin inclination, as illustrated in Figure Image from www.minimania.com

As castor is increased, the wheel effectively lays over as it is steered. At a set castor angle there is an optimal kingpin inclination which will produce the most camber within a range of steering angles.

When undertaking any design project there are several factors to be considered that are common to all engineering projects. A project must have a proper scope with clearly defined goal. Our team is participating for the first time in this event, so a comparative study of various automotive systems is taken as our approach. With such a approach, engineers can come up with the best possible product for the society. We are also planning to conduct a customer needs survey to improve the vehicle further more. Anything being done for the first time, few difficulties are sure to come. Further improvements and a detail design of all other systems of the vehicle will lead to competitive vehicle. We hope to come with the best possible final product so that we will be one of the noticeable competitors in this years competition.

REFERENCES
1. SAE TECHNICAL PAPERS . 2. Automobile Engineering by R. B .Gupta, Sixth Edition. 3. Automobile Engineering vol- 1&2 By Kirpal Singh. 4. Ackerman Steering Geometry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackermann_steering_geo metry.. 5. SAE Race Car Engineering article by Wm. C. Mitchell 6. How to Build and Modify SportsCar & KitCar Suspension and Brakes By Des Hammill. 7. www.carbibles.com

CONTACT
Nirmit Sharma Team Captain- AUTOKNIGHTS India Email : ronitsharma80@gmail.com Ph.No - +919591386200.

OVERALL DIMENSIONS WIDTH 44 LENGTH 72 GROUND CLEARENCE- 4.75

FULL VIEW OF VEHICLE

CONCLUSION