View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by UMP Institutional Repository FRONT AND REAR SUSPENSION DESIGN FOR SOLAR CAR MOH DZOHAIRY BIN MOHAMMAD MOHSAN Report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering with Automotive Engineering Faculty of Mechanical Engineering University Malaysia Pahang DECEMBER 2010 ii UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA PAHANG FACULTY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING I certify that the project entitled “Front and Rear Suspension Design for Solar Car“ is written by Mohd Dzohairy Bin Mohammad Mohsan. I have examined the final copy of this project and in our opinion; it is fully adequate in terms of scope and quality for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Engineering. We herewith recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering with Automotive Engineering. DR. RIZALMAN BIN MAMAT Examiner Signature iii SUPERVISOR’S DECLARATION We hereby declare that we have checked this project report and in our opinion this project is satisfactory in terms of scope and quality for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering with Automotive Engineering. Signature : Name of Supervisor : ZAMRI BIN MOHAMED Position : LECTURER Date : 06 DECEMBER 2010 iv STUDENT’S DECLARATION I hereby declare that the work in this report is my own except for quotations and summaries which have been duly acknowledged. The report has not been accepted for any degree and is not concurrently submitted for award of other degree. Signature : Name : MOHD DZOHAIRY BIN MOHAMMAD MOHSAN ID Number : MH08011 Date : 06 DECEMBER 2010 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First I would like to express my grateful to ALLAH S.W.T. as for the blessing given that I can complete my final year project. In preparing this paper, I have engaged with many people in helping me completing this project. I am grateful and would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Mr. Zamri Bin Mohamed for his germinal ideas, invaluable guidance, continuous encouragement and constant support in making this research possible. I appreciate his consistent support from the first day I applied to graduate program to these concluding moments. I am truly grateful for his progressive vision about my training in science, his tolerance of my naïve mistakes, and his commitment to my future career. My sincere thanks go to all my labmates and members of the staff of the Mechanical Engineering Department, UMP, who helped me in many ways and made my stay at UMP pleasant and unforgettable. Many special thanks go to member engine research group for their excellent co-operation, inspirations and supports during this study. I acknowledge my sincere indebtedness and gratitude to my parents for their love, dream and sacrifice throughout my life. I acknowledge the sincerity of my parents- in-law, who consistently encouraged me to carry on my higher studies. I cannot find the appropriate words that could properly describe my appreciation for their devotion, support and faith in my ability to attain my goals. Special thanks should be given to my committee members. I would like to acknowledge their comments and suggestions, which was crucial for the successful completion of this study. The next category people who help me to grow further and influence in my project are my colleagues who always help me in order to finish this project. I really appreciate the idea and information given. vi ABSTRACT Suspension is a necessary system for solar cars because it protects the frame and other on-board components from large jolts encountered along highways. If the suspension is too soft, energy is wasted by absorbing the motion of a car as it travels over bumps. For increased efficiency, most solar cars use a suspension that is stiffer than normal. For this project, the solar car has two front wheels and one rear wheel. The front wheels provide turning, so the front suspension needs to let the wheels turn. The suspension also allows the wheels to move up and down as the car runs over bumps. The type of front suspension for this project is a double wishbone system. It has a pair of an A-frames, one above the other, mounted to the top and bottom of the wheel hub. A separate spring until then sits between either the hub itself or one of the wishbones and the body to control the wheel movement. Lastly, this car uses a trailing arm on rear suspension. This kind of suspension has only one link (arm) on each side which puts greater structural requirements on it. Strong bending forces in all directions (especially during cornering) must be withstood by this suspension and as well as breaking, camber and steer torques. Nevertheless trailing arm suspension has been used in many vehicles as a rear linkage, because it requires little space to be accommodated. vii ABSTRAK Suspensi adalah sistem yang diperlukan untuk kereta solar kerana melindungi frame dan bahagian-bahagian on-board lain dari goncangan besar ditemui di sepanjang jalan raya. Jika suspensi terlalu lembut, tenaga terbuang dengan menyerap gerakan mobil saat dihantar melalui benjolan. Untuk meningkatkan kecekapan, kebanyakan kereta solar menggunakan suspensi yang lebih kaku dari biasanya. Untuk projek ini, kereta suria mempunyai dua roda depan dan satu roda belakang. Roda depan memberikan berputar, sehingga suspensi depan perlu membiarkan roda putar.Suspensi juga membolehkan roda bergerak naik dan turun ketika kereta berjalan di atas benjolan. Jenis suspensi depan untuk projek ini adalah sistem wishbone ganda. Ia memiliki sepasang A-frame, satu di atas yang lain, mount ke atas dan bawah dari hub roda. Sebuah pegas berasingan sampai kemudian duduk antara baik hub sendiri atau salah satu wishbones dan tubuh untuk mengawal gerakan roda. Terkini, kereta ini menggunakan lengan sisa pada suspensi belakang. Suspensi semacam ini hanya memiliki satu link (lengan) di setiap sisi yang menempatkan keperluan struktur yang lebih besar di atasnya. kekuatan bending yang kuat di segala penjuru (khususnya saat menikung) harus bertahan dengan suspensi ini dan juga melanggar, camber dan mengarahkan torsi. Namun demikian trailing suspensi lengan telah digunakan dalam banyak kenderaan sebagai penghubung belakang, kerana memerlukan sedikit ruang untuk diakomodasi. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TITLE PAGE i EXAMINER DECLARATION ii SUPERVISOR DECLARATION iii STUDENT DECLARATION iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT v ABSTRACT vi ABSTRAK vii TABLE OF CONTENTS viii LIST OF TABLES xi LIST OF FIGURES xii LIST OF SYMBOLS xiv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xv CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Project Synopsis 1 1.2 Problem Statement 2 1.3 Objective 2 1.4 Project Scope 2 1.5 Project Planning 2 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction 4 2.2 Mechanical Systems of Solar Car 4 2.3 Suspension Alignment 5 2.3.1 Toe Setting 5 2.3.2 Camber Angle 6 2.3.3 Caster 7 2.3.4 Thrust Line 8 ix 2.3.5 Scrub Radius 9 2.3.6 Set-Back 10 2.3.7 Set Back By Design 11 2.3.8 Roll Centre 12 2.3.9 Roll Axis 13 2.3.10 Bump Steer Geometry 14 2.4 Suspension Systems 15 2.4.1 Active Suspension 15 2.4.2 Passive Suspension 16 2.4.3 Semi-Active Suspension 16 2.5 Suspension Types 17 2.5.1 Beam Axle 17 2.5.2 Trailing Arm 18 2.5.3 Split Beam 19 2.5.4 MacPherson Strut 20 2.5.5 Wishbones Suspension, Equal and Parallel 21 2.5.6 Wishbones Suspension, Non-Equal and Parallel 21 2.5.7 Double Wishbones Non-Equal and Non-Parallel Suspension 22 2.5.8 Multi-Link Suspension 23 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction 25 3.2 Summary of Suspension Selection 27 3.3 Material Selection 28 3.4 Computer Aided Design Drawing 29 3.5 Finite Element Analysis 33 3.5.1 A General Procedure for Finite Element Analysis 33 3.5.1.1 Preprocessing 34 3.5.1.2 Solution 34 3.5.1.3 Post Processing 34 3.6 Aluminum Welding 35 3.7 Suspension Bushes 36 x 3.8 Ball Joint Selection 37 CHAPTER 4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Introduction 41 4.2 Analysis of Natural Frequency 41 4.2.1 Result of Natural Frequency on Front Suspension 42 4.2.2 Result of Natural Frequency on Rear Suspension 49 4.3 Analysis of Material Model on Stress 54 4.3.1 Result of Stress on Front Suspension 54 4.3.2 Result of Stress on Rear Suspension 60 4.4 Final Design of Suspension 66 4.4.1 Front Suspension of Solar Car 66 4.4.2 Rear Suspension of Solar Car 67 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 5.1 Introduction 69 5.2 Conclusion 69 5.3 Recommendation 70 REFERENCES 71 APPENDICES 72 A Gantt Chart 72 B Designs of Front Suspension for Solar Car 73 C Designs of Rear Suspension for Solar Car 74 D Examples of Front Suspension 75 E Examples of Rear Suspension 76 xi LIST OF TABLES Table No. Title Page 3.1 Aluminums Alloy 6060-T5 Material Properties 29 4.1 Result Analysis of Natural Frequency on Front Suspension 48 4.2 Result Analysis of Natural Frequency on Rear Suspension 53 4.3 Result Analysis of Stress on Front Suspension 60 4.4 Result Analysis of Stress on Rear Suspension 66 xii LIST OF FIGURES Figure No. Title Page 2.1 Four wheel versus three wheel 5 2.2 Toe setting 6 2.3 Camber angle 7 2.4 Caster angle 8 2.5 Thrust line and angle 9 2.6 Scrub radius 10 2.7 Set back 11 2.8 Set back by design 11 2.9 Roll centre 12 2.10 Roll axis 13 2.11 Bumper steer 14 2.12 Active suspension 15 2.13 Passive suspension 16 2.14 Semi-active suspension 17 2.15 Beam axle suspension 18 2.16 Trailing arm 19 2.17 Split beam 19 2.18 MacPherson strut assembly 20 2.19 Equal and parallel A-arm 21 2.20 Non-equal and parallel A-arm 22 2.21 Non-equal and non-parallel A-arm 23 2.22 Multi-link