somaiya.edu
The winning formula for engineering students at K. J Somaiya College of Engineering
Date
14th January 2016
Area of Interset
Extracurricular
Institution(s)
K J Somaiya School of Engineering
The winning formula for engineering students at K. J Somaiya College of Engineering
After consistently performing for the past 9 years, the engineering students of K.J. Somaiya Vidyavihar College of Engineering unveiled their new prototype – ‘RIGEL’, the car to participate in Formula Student India 2016. It will compete with 50 teams and 2000+ students from all over the country. The talented bunch “Orion Racing India” (ORI) also aims at participating in Formula Student Germany 2016 along with 120 teams from around the world to showcase their design, engineering and project management skills.
The dream team comprised of 60 members. They started the initial designing in January 2015 which took around 4 months to finish following which they started the manufacturing the parts. The car was assembled and ready for testing in October 2015. After extensive testing, the car is now ready to compete in the international competitions. As the ORI 2015 team had won the competition last year, this year the car is positioned at No.1.
Neel Thakkar, Team Captain Orion Racing India said, “We received tremendous encouragement and support from the college management and faculty during the course of the project. It was a very enriching and fulfilling experience as the team members were exposed to various manufacturing techniques. This year simplifying manufacturing and assembly of the systems were the basic design requirements. We’ve switched to a KTM 390 cc single cylinder engine from a Honda CBR 600cc and a 10inch wheel package To get vital engine working parameters and fuel map values a brake dynamometer was made in-house using the remnant of a bike chassis. The team worked on with the intent of achieving better interfacing between man and machine with a lightweight and reliable design. The target set was to make a reliable and lighter car as compared to the previous prototype. Simplifying manufacturing and assembly of the systems were the basic design requirements. "The lighter the car is the lighter it can be", this ideology let to a car which weighs around 175 kg which is 65 kg lighter than our previous prototype”.
Principal Shubha Pandit, K.J. Somaiya College of Engineering said “We encourage our students to participate in these competitions, as they learn more about practical aspects of engineering, as well as of implementing innovations. They also learn teamwork, organisation skills, marketing and working under stress & deadlines.”
Features: Orion Racing Car
Single-seater formula style prototype race car
· Engine: KTM Duke 390
· Weight of the car: 175 kg
· Acceleration: 0 to 100 kmph in 4.5 sec
· Lateral Acceleration: 1.6 g
· Incorporation of carbon fibre prepregs for manufacturing bodyworks and diffuser under tray
· Use of Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) method for manufacturing our Airbox