This week the uprights for the DUT11 arrived at our workshop. The upright is the structural part of the suspension inside the wheel. The NLR who is responsible for the production of the uprights, was earlier responsible for the spindles and outer inserts. The spindles are the axles to which the wheels are connected. This year the spindles are designed out of aluminium instead of steel which results in a significant weight safe. The outer inserts are aluminium parts that connect the carbon fibre wishbones to the uprights. With all these parts, the NLR is responsible for a large part of the production for the suspension of the car.

Next to the aluminium parts that are made by the NLR, also cooperation is set up for the production of carbon fibre geometry brackets. These brackets connect the wishbones to the chassis of the car. Previously these parts were made out of aluminium, but this year we attempt to make these parts out of so-called ‘chopped fibres’. Chopped fibres are short fibres which are pressed with pressure and temperature into a mould together with an thermoplastic resin. Because the use of chopped fibres is a quite new process, the cooperation is very educational with the NLR, who already is experienced with this production process.

The idea behind chopped fibres is that eventually waste material can be used. Because of this, it is a very interesting production process for the new electric car, since this year also points can be won in sustainability. Besides it is expected that chopped fibre brackets are much lighter compared to the current aluminium ones.

This week, the prototype of our first home-made single piece full carbon rim is produced. The rim is entirely designed and produced by team members of DUT Racing for an exercise at the Master Design & Production of Composite Structures.

The rim is produced with the VARTM (Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Moulding) method, that our team knows well. The monocoque, intake and fuel tank are also produced with this method. This method is very cost efficient in comparison with other production methods. The rims are a lot more stiff than the old ones, whilst staying at the same weight.

We especially want to thank professor Adriaan Beukers of the TU Delft Faculty of Aerospace Technology for supporting this project by sponsoring the production of the moulds.

The past week our team has produced our insert for the suspension geometry. More than half of the car is going to be monitored by using strain gages at the inserts. With these strain gages, we can read all the forces in our suspension. This allows us to improve our car set-up, understand our tyres better and further improve our design for next year’s car.

The strain gages were sponsored by and applied to our inserts at NLR, one of our key sponsors. We, again, want to thank NLR for this opportunity and the help and knowledge they supply. To the right you can see one of our inserts, complete with strain gauges.