Election results are in!
May 14th
At today’s meeting, along with design team updates (check out the individual project pages for detailed information, accessible via the ‘Collegiate Design Series Projects’ menu above), we conducted elections for officer positions next year. There were many qualified candidates on our ballot, but the final results are in and the MSOE SAE board members for next academic year (and this summer) are:
Chairperson: Charlie Scanlon
Vice Chairperson: Patrick Comiskey
Program Coordinator: Caleb Nitz
Secretary: Michael Fricke
Senior Design Liaison: Rob Runte
Sponsorship Coordinator: Jim Day
Treasurer: Michael Rutas
Webmaster: David Doyle
Congratulations to our newest MSOE SAE board members for the 2012-2013 academic year! Thanks to everyone who ran for the various positions — our chapter could not thrive without willing leaders. Additionally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the current officers for the 2011-2012 academic year, especially those who are graduating and moving on to other endeavors. All of your efforts throughout the year are very appreciated and will not be soon forgotten!
TOMORROW! SAE Chapter Projects Showcase
May 11th
Tomorrow is the day! MSOE SAE’s Chapter Projects Showcase is TOMORROW from 10AM to 4PM in the MSOE Campus Center.
The event is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC! Stop by and see the Formula Hybrid vehicle, two SuperMileage vehicles and two Baja vehicles, enter the raffle and have a chance of winning great prizes including Milwaukee Tools, Brewers tickets and more!
We hope to see you tomorrow!
SAE Chapter Showcase Event Update
May 1st
We’re excited to announce that we will be hosting a raffle at the SAE Chapter Showcase Event on Saturday, May 12th!
Great prizes will include Milwaukee Tool products such as the brand new M18 FUEL 1/2” Drill/Driver and M12 Cordless Lithium-Ion Radio graciously donated by Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation, as well as excellent Milwaukee prizes such as Brewers tickets!
Bring your family and friends to this free event on Saturday, May 12th between 10AM and 4PM to get up close and personal with the student vehicles, meet the engineers, entertain your kids and enter this great raffle! Free admission to the event and it’s open to the public! We hope to see you there!
When: Saturday, May 12th from 10AM-4PM
Where: MSOE Student Life and Campus Center, Room CC130 (just enter the main building and go to the left)
Cost: Free and open to the public!
Directions: 1025 N. Broadway Ave., Milwaukee WI. Google Maps link: http://g.co/maps/3u7fp
SAE Chapter Projects Showcase
Apr 30th
MSOE SAE is hosting our first annual Chapter Projects Showcase event on Saturday, May 12th. This event, which is open to the public, is a great opportunity to come see the MSOE Formula Hybrid, Baja and Supermileage vehicles up close and personal and to be able to meet the teams who built the vehicles.
We’ll also have snacks available for purchase and plenty of activities available for kids, such as word searches, car drawing challenges and pictures in the Baja car!
So stop by the MSOE Campus Center (1025 N. Broadway Ave.) between 10AM and 4PM on Saturday, May 12th and check out what our SAE students are up to!
Paul Harder of Trek Bicycles Delivers Presentation on Bicycle Aerodynamics
Apr 29th
Although our speakers generally come from automotive or aeronautical fields, we were glad to take a detour into the world of competitive cycling. Paul Harder of Trek Bicycles discussed in fascinating detail the ins and outs of designing aerodynamic wheels and frames as well as the new seat tube pivot design used in some of Trek’s road bikes.
Trek is one of the largest frame builders in cycling, and has sponsored some of the best athletes to grace a bicycle. Among their great partnerships in competitive cycling, they helped Lance Armstrong achieve his amazing 7-win streak at the Tour de France. As Paul explained, creating a bike on the cutting edge of technology is no small task. Paul and the team at Trek worked tirelessly conducting wind tunnel testing and CFD analysis to develop a frame and wheel set that cut through the air better than the competition. The results of their long hours provided them with a fresh look at airfoils; the one they selected, Trek calls the ‘KVF,’ or Kammtail Virtual Foil. A depiction of this design is displayed below (figure taken from Trekbikes.com).
Harder also explained the design of a new frame technology known by Trek as IsoSpeed. This is a pivot that is placed at the intersection of the top tube and seat tube, which aids in rider comfort over rough sections of the road. Below is a link to Trek’s promotional video of the design.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yel3yhN_vy4
Paul’s presentation was a huge success and gave everyone in the audience a new respect for what we used to think of as simple technology. Just the frame incorporating the KVF tube design has a retail cost of over $2,600. After seeing the effort put into creating such a machine, we can see it’s worth every penny, especially for cyclists like Lance Armstrong who are seeking out that competitive edge.
Milwaukee SAE Student Chapters Participate in Milwaukee St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Mar 18th
Since Saint Pat is the patron saint of engineers, it was only natural for us to get involved and bring our vehicles down to the parade. We teamed up with University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and brought both our Supermileage vehicle and their Baja vehicle down to the parade.
With signs on the Supermileage vehicle proclaiming that a trip to Dublin would take 5 gallons of gas, plenty of people were excited to see the vehicle drive around.
Although the Supermileage vehicle was continuously beaten, multiple drag races were also arranged between the two vehicles Oh well, good luck getting 758MPG in the Baja vehicle!
Overall the event was a huge success, drawing up a lot of interest from the visitors. For those who attended the parade, don’t forget that we have our spring event coming up shortly, where you’ll be able to get an up-close view of the vehicles. Be sure to check back soon for additional details on this event!
Product Engineering: Modine
Mar 12th
We had the pleasure of hosting Tom Grotophorst, a Modine representative, this afternoon. He presented on the background of Modine and its products and discussed the challenges of designing heat exchangers, specifically exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) coolers as they apply to the automotive industry. This was great insight into the types of problems and solutions that exist in the heat exchanger market.
When it comes to EGR coolers, each is a new challenge as it must fit the size, weight, pressure drop, temperature, strength, cost, and reliability specifications for a specific engine. This requires a focused engineering approach and can require great attention to detail on material selection, wall coatings, cooling fin geometry, exhaust flow, coolant flow, and vibrations. Tom explained how coolant boiling, melting aluminum, and high pressure forces can be overcome in design using modern engineering tools. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite element analysis (FEA) are used extensively at Modine to simulate the real world and maximize the performance of their products. Vibrations and reliability testing is also an important part of the engineering process because the automobile heat exchangers need to survive decades of use.
Click here to check out Modine’s website.
MSOE SAE Spring Event
Mar 11th
The MSOE SAE Chapter will be hosting an event this spring that will be open to the public in order to showcase our SAE collegiate design series teams. Visitors can get up close to the vehicles, meet and talk with the team members, and see the vehicles driving around (weather permitting).
There will also be raffles and activities for children in addition to being able to see the cars.
We’re shooting for the event to occur in early May, but are still working out logistics of the event. Please check back in a couple of weeks for the date/time and additional details on the event.
Design Team Updates
Feb 14th
Every quarter, our SAE chapter holds a meeting showcasing our design teams. This meeting provides a fantastic update that allows students to see what Formula Hybrid, Baja, and SuperMileage have been, and are planning on doing. On top of the prominent challenges like time constraints, funding, and working around school, each team has different engineering challenges that make them quite unique. Each team has to push through the hardships to accomplish their goal and this meeting was all about exhibiting their achievements.
Formula Hybrid has made giant strides as they continue to build a car from scratch. There are a whole slew of difficult tasks to overcome when building a new car and it all starts with its backbone. The new chassis that they have designed is not only stronger than last years, it saves weight as well. The team also acquired a dirt bike and have been stripping it for its engine, salvaging what they can. Overall, this new car fixes some of the flaws that plagued the last car and improves performance. Baja has been hard at work maximizing everything they possibly can about last years car. They have already been to one competition and plan on going to another one very soon. They are using everything that works perfectly from last year and improving on those that didn’t. Main fixes include changing the front suspension, the whole drive-train system and turning radius. Like Formula Hybrid and Baja, SuperMileage has been hard at work and have been developing great solutions to squeeze everything they can out of as little fuel as possible. The main changes for the SuperMileage car include a new drive-train, flywheel, intake manifold, and an engine control unit.
You can understand what each team is doing more in depth by hovering over the “Collegiate Design Series Projects” tab and clicking on your team of interest.
Goal Achievement and Overcoming Engineering Obstacles with David Royce
Feb 10th
Our MSOE SAE Chapter was recently graced with the presence of the President of National AutoSport Association Midwest, Inc. and motorsports racer, David Royce. Royce presented on the importance of brainstorming, goal setting, and planning in an engineering project using his own experiences in racing. In his presentation, Royce recounted an engineering challenge he and a team of engineers had in the Bonneville Salt Flats. He and his crew were faced with the task of modifying a Cadillac CTS in order to reach the highest speed without changing the car’s body.
As he walked through the procedure for planning how the team would set the record for the CTS, he highlighted the obstacles they had to overcome throughout the construction of the new car. Royce often called out to the students in the audience to propose ideas as to how they would solve the problems his crew of engineers had encountered. As some students worked out solutions aloud and others pondered quietly, one could see the wheels spinning in the minds of the engineering students in the audience. Royce touched on turbo-charging the CTS engine, dealing with the inability, per the rules of the competition, of utilizing aerodynamic modification techniques on the original CTS body, using ballasts to counteract lift force (which was a bigger problem than the team had originally anticipated), lowering the body of the car, and many more engineering alterations. After concluding his presentation on how to execute the engineering process and goal achievement, Royce shared the video of him driving the Cadillac CTS in the Bonneville Salt Flats, which was well received by everyone in the audience.
A special thanks to David Royce for sharing his racing and engineering experiences with MSOE’s SAE Chapter!
