Newsletter March 2019

newsletter March 2019

Putting the Pieces Together

Putting the Pieces Together Text: Martin Berger & Eirik Bodsberg Photos: Ă˜yvind Ingebrigtsen, Bo Willem Woelfert & Martin Berger

Everything is coming together right about now. Let me explain.

Last semester was all about the designing of the new race car and through meticulous communication, we ended up with a good design. This semester has been dedicated to crafting all the different parts of the race car.

Producing them in their physical form and manufacturing something tangible from all the ones and zeros. Seeing the parts of the race car take form has been an amazing journey and it is going by really fast.

The first major part made was the monocoque. During the last month, it has also gotten some shine and colour. The final looks

of the car have been decided and rendered digitally. In its physical form, the car is starting to look more and more like the speedy vehicle that is going on competition in the summer. As time flies away, more and more parts are being finished. To name a few this month, most of the aerodynamic parts have been produced; cells have been welded to the PCBs and are ready for testing; brackets have been glued onto the monocoque; battery cells have been welded, and here I think we will stop because the list goes on for a while.

The upcoming month all of the parts have to be finished and they have to fit in their planned spot. Exactly as intended and as designed this autumn. It is going to be really fun, but a bit hectic as well. Being able to see something with so much passion and dedication put into it assembled and finished.

That feeling is going to be great! I am sure!

Producing high performance Aerodynamics Text: Erik Brettingen Johansen Photos: Øyvind Ingebrigtsen & Martin Berger

Several hundred thousand CPU hours at NTNU’s supercomputer VILJE are used to optimize the aerodynamic design. Finally, the production of the parts has started at its full extent. The aerodynamic package is known for giving about 40% increased grip at moderate speeds, making it critical for shaving off seconds in a race. To ensure the maximum strength to weight ratio, the elements are made of carbon fibre composite with foam as core material.

The aerodynamics group is currently in the process of producing more than 50 aerodynamic elements that all have to be finished and mounted on the car before the unveiling 2nd of May. The process of preparing, layering, molding and sanding the elements is a rather sophisticated, long and difficult process as minor mistakes can ruin the whole mold. Luckily the members learning curve is steep, and they are getting more efficient for every mold and every part they cast.

“The layering and preparation for the oven used to take over 12 hours, but now we can do it in under 4 hours at best” - Vegard Skjefstad, Group Leader Aerodynamics.

The smaller molds are made in-house, but the bigger ones are made by sponsors like Molstad Modell & Form, Shape Norge and Sintef Ocean from the MDF-plates we get from Fritzøe Engros. The foam in the middle is milled by Djuvik. So there is a lot of hard and skilful work going into the making of these crucial parts.

“Carbon fibre composite production is some of the most important work we do to have a lightweight, competitive car. Lightweight carbon fibre composite productions is rare in the Norwegian industry, and the experience and competence we are left with is unique” - Vegard Skjefstad

Transforming to a Driverless car Text: Jacob Dahl Photo: Martin Berger

If I gave you a race car right now and told you to make it autonomous, how would you do it?

Your first instinct would probably be to make the most incredible and groundbreaking AI-software known to mankind. And that’s of course an important and exciting part of it, but at one point you have to realize «How is this hunk of carbon fiber and some tires supposed to obey the commands of a computer running some software?». This is Revolve’s answer to this question.

A good place to start when you’re making a driverless car is to just replace all the biological parts of a driver with some machine. The driver brakes and accelerates the car with the pedals, so we add an actuator and we are good to go in that part! The driver sees with his eyes so we add cameras! The driver thinks with his brain so we add a computer, easy! Here is the issue though; Fitting all these new components into a tiny and light race car while also keeping it possible to be driven manually. Add 130 pages of rules that the car needs to abide by and that is a great challenge!

All our new additions to the car need to be small, but also of the highest quality. For the car to be safe and effective in its mission to drive fast, it needs a short as possible delay between the computer unit and the actuation.

The way we achieve this is to connect all the new and old components to our CAN bus.

Similarly, to our own nervous system, the CAN bus is responsible for sending signals and commands between all the entities in the car; our actuators, computers, circuit boards, cameras and sensors. With all this information available at an incredible speed, we’re able to make up a nearly complete picture of the car’s state and surroundings which we use to make the car as quick as possible.

If there is one thing our «autonomous overhaul» has shown it is the challenge of autonomy. To go from a finished and successful formula student car to a driverless one doesn’t seem so big on paper, but the devil is in all the details. Miss one and your car will never drive by itself. However, it also shows the potential of autonomy. If you get it right and get the system running you can see that the future of technology is autonomous.

And it starts here, with Revolve NTNU.

Wiring Inside of ATMOS

The Continuation of the Project Text: Erik Brettingen Johansen Photo: Ă˜yvind Ingebrigtsen

After a tough screening and selection process, the new board to lead Team 2020 has been chosen. In the coming months, they will recruit group leaders, set the overall plans and goals, and learn from Team 2019 competing. The new board consists of the following members: Project manager After an impressive job as Group Leader for Software in Team 2019, in addition to his position as Driver’s responsible and union representative we believe Lars van der Lee is the right person to shape Revolve onwards. His passion for the entire organisation and for the technical work that he has shown is of great value, and we are excited to see where he directs the Board and Team 2020.

Deputy Project Manager Lars studies Renewable Energy and is both reflected about, and motivated for the position as Deputy Project Manager. With his experience from the army and other volunteer student positions, it makes us confident that he has a lot to give to the position and can be of great value to create a strong Team 2020. He will be working closely with the project manager and focus on recruitment, team building, HSE routines and more.

Head of Marketing Caroline studies 2nd grade Industrial Economics and Technology Management.

Her main responsibility will be to execute the marketing plan and to coordinate communication towards students and sponsors. In addition, she will be responsible for the execution of the RevolveDay and the Unveiling for Team 2020.

Head of Economy Ole Jørgen Halvorsen studies Social Economics and has a lot of experience with leadership and teamwork after multiple years in the army. He will be the main responsible for bookkeeping, reporting of the economic activity and securing that laws and rules are being followed.

Chief Mechanical Engineer Colin Ringdalen MacDonald has done a great job as group leader for Accumulator & Housing in Team 2019, and we believe the interdisciplinarity and experiences from this group will serve him well as a Technical Leader. His first task will be to evaluate this years project with a focus on the technical solutions, and then determine the overall goals and plans for the next year.

Chief Electrical Engineer Viktor Korsnes has so far managed the Embedded Electronics group, one of the biggest groups in the team, with good leadership and responsibility. The position allows him to work with everything from advanced battery technology, via design and production of complex circuits to the development of software, both for embedded design and stand-alone programs. With lots of aquired knowledge he is surely ready for new challenges.

Chief Driverless Engineer Kristian Sandaa studies to become a civil engineer in mechanical engineering with project management as his specialisation.

He will be responsible for all the technical aspects of the Driverless project and will plan the 2020 season together with the group leaders within the Driverless team.

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