News for the Members of SAE
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Update August 2006 News for the Members of SAE Detroit Section gets chance to see Jeep like no other DaimlerChrysler racing He said the task of putting 420 hp (313 kW) the manager of a successful dirt-track Sprint engineers show off vehicle, and 420 lb·ft (569 N·m) to the ground in a ve- car team. hicle designed to perform like a road racer, But managing the Grand Cherokee’s speak at May meeting. rather than a mountain goat, was solved prodigious power also included beefi ng up through driveline innovations. the brakes (four-piston Brembo calipers front “Good Lord, the thing weighs 5000 pounds, SRT modifi ed the electronic controls of the and rear), 20-in wheels and engineering a and we had to make it into a sports car!” Mercedes-designed W5A580 fi ve-speed au- stout, lowered suspension, said SRT Vehicle exclaimed Dick Myers about the genesis of tomatic transmission. “Basically, we took the Dynamics Senior Specialist Steve Lyman. Jeep’s SRT-8 Grand Cherokee. electronic management out as much as pos- Cornering grip was a major development Myers is Product Engineering Specialist in sible,” Myers noted. Then the team found focus, Lyman said. “This vehicle is capable DaimlerChrysler’s Street-Racing Technolo- the key to its traction and handling bogeys: of exceeding 1 g in a launch, and has 0.94-g gies (SRT) group, and he and his colleagues the MD146 single-speed, active transfer case. cornering capability,” he said. clearly had fun presenting their latest high- Developed in conjunction with Magna According to Lyman, 0-to-60 mph (0-to-97 performance niche vehicle at the SAE Detroit Drivetrain, the MD146’s electrically acti- km/h) acceleration on a dry surface comes in Section’s May meeting in Troy, MI. vated wet clutch design controls torque to 4.5 s; 4.6 s on a wet surface; and 7.0 s in snow. While SRT previously focused on inject- the front and rear wheels independently. Lyman said the team’s top speed target ing Dodge and Chrysler passenger cars and By sensing the speed delta between the was 155 mph (249 km/h), but the produc- trucks with copious amounts of horsepower, front and rear wheels, the system can shut tion SRT-8 can actually achieve 161 mph speed, handling, and racer-inspired styling, off drive to the front wheels when needed, (259 km/h). building a super-sports Jeep vehicle was a making the SRT-8’s driveline function like a John Sgalia, Product Design Director in totally new challenge, Myers told the audi- rear-drive sports sedan’s. DCX’s Jeep studio, outlined the SRT-8’s ence at the San Marino Club. A controller-area network (CAN) bus elec- unique exterior treatment and SRT Market- “The Grand Cherokee comes with a high trical architecture is the brains of the SRT-8’s ing and Product Planning Manager Mike center of gravity, but drag-race cars also powertrain, using vehicle speed, steering Stephens detailed the marketing and adver- have a high cg, and they transfer a lot of Dick Myers and his SRT teammates presented angle, yaw, throttle position, and gear ratio tising program for what Jeep insiders simply torque to the rear wheels,” said Myers. “That the fi rst Jeep designed to accelerate, handle, to ensure balanced power delivery, said My- call “the beast.” was what we had to solve, because we’d and hold the road like a sports sedan at a ers, who in addition to his DCX day job is have the 6.1-L Hemi V8 under the hood.” meeting of the Detroit Section. Collegiate Design roundup Big things planned for General Aviation RMIT fi nds winning Formula Technology Conference Australian school tops fi eld at Formula SAE; Some of the aerospace industry’s biggest OSU takes two Baja events. names turn out for this month’s event. A team from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) captured 887 points out of a possible 1000 to top More than 600 aviation industry representatives involved in the fi eld of 119 competitors at the 26th annual Formula SAE the design, manufacturing, and implementation of aircraft— competition, May 17-20 at the Ford Proving Grounds in Ro- including corporate executives, engineers, researchers, and meo, MI. RMIT placed fi rst in the endurance and third in the production personnel—will attend the SAE 2006 General design portions of the multi-segment competition. Aviation Technology Conference and Exhibition, August 29- Penn State University fi nished in second-place overall with 31, at Century II Convention Center in Wichita, KS. Oregon State University fi nished in fi rst place at both of 768 points, earning the top spot in the design and accelera- May’s Mini Baja events—Mini Baja West, May 11-13 in The event will focus on key issues facing the aircraft in- tion events. PSU was the only U.S. team to fi nish in the top Portland, OR, (shown) and Mini Baja Midwest, May 24-27 dustry, including: composite material fabrication; very light fi ve for the design competition. in Elkhorn, WI. jet manufacturing; structural design engineering; testing A second-place fi nish in the acceleration event propelled and fabrication; and current manufacturing techniques and the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor to a third-place proving grounds. It had been held for the past dozen years engineering developments. overall fi nish. The University of Kansas–Lawrence broke into at the Silverdome parking lot in Pontiac, MI. See BIG THINGS PLANNED, p. 10 the top 10 for the fi rst time with a fourth-place fi nish, and Helsinki Polytechnic closed out the top fi ve. Mini Baja Defending champion Cornell, seeking a record 10th title, The Oregon State University Beaver Racing Team won fi rst fi nished in 35th place. place overall at the SAE Mini Baja West competition in Port- Texas A & M University-College Station paced the fi eld in land, OR, on May 11-13, edging 84 other teams from 22 coun- the autocross event, posting the three fastest runs. The team tries. The OSU vehicle then took the top spot again at the is believed to be the fi rst to use a supercharged one-cylinder SAE Mini Baja Midwest competition May 24-27 in Elkhorn, engine in competition. It was also one of fi ve teams to use WI, where 141 teams competed. ethanol. The OSU team, composed of 30 student members, spent The competition was moved this year to Ford’s Romeo months testing and fi ne-tuning its vehicle. See COLLEGIATE DESIGN, p. 7 Update Editorial Message from the President Super mileage indeed SAE Motorsports—What do you think? With today’s sky-high fuel costs, perhaps no Collegiate If you tuned in to July’s U.S. Grand Prix at the Indianapolis engaged in motorsports. I certainly Design Series event is as timely and important as the Super- Motor Speedway, it probably would not surprise you to learn can tell you that our society is held mileage competition. The recently completed event, held that there were a lot of events surrounding this race. in high regard for its technical for the 27th consecutive year at Eaton’s proving grounds in I was lucky enough to take part in the Motorsport Industry prowess and credibility throughout Marshall, MI, featured 41 schools competing in a challenge Association’s annual meeting during Friday’s practice day. the racing industry. In the coming to build a one-person fuel-effi cient vehicle that employs a Among the groups this forum brought together were associa- months, I will be working with standard four-cylinder engine. tion executives, Formula One team members, and motors- more members in the SAE com- This year saw another stellar performance by the Universi- ports-equipment manufacturers. Topics ranged from OEM munity to help set and refi ne our ty of British Columbia, winner of four straight Supermileage participation to F1 news—to Formula SAE. direction in this area. competitions. Going into this year’s event, UBC set a goal of In fact, Formula SAE was mentioned by four speakers Motorsports is a very attractive reaching 2500 mpg. It easily surpassed that goal on its way before I even was interviewed, and it became a recurrent activity for many of our members, to posting a new track record of 3145 mpg (1337 km/L). That theme throughout the entire day. As you know, the basis of but we must always remember that nearly doubles its winning score from last year of 1608 mpg. the Collegiate Design Series is an educational experience that it must also be treated like a business and must complement To put these numbers into context, consider that this vehicle complements higher-education curricula, and it was lauded our fundamental purpose. Other motorsports sanctioning could make the 2800-mi (4500-km) trek from New York City at this event as an especially relevant prerequisite to the bodies are, among other things, standards organizations. to Los Angeles on less than 1 gallon of gas. highly technical nature of professional motorsports. SAE has one of the richest heritages among standards orga- During the competition, however, each team takes just six I was proud of SAE—its student members, faculty advisers, nizations. Also, SAE’s other core competency, life-long learn- laps around Eaton’s 2.6-km (1.6-mi) track. The mpg fi gure volunteers, sponsors, and SAE staff. The Collegiate Design ing, appears to mesh nicely with the pace of motorsports as is then calculated by measuring the remaining gas from Series you have made left a favorable impression and is held its technology turnaround is perhaps the fastest anywhere.