newsletter June 2020
VEHICLE DYNAMICS & CONTROL SYSTEMS AT REVOLVE NTNU Text: Kristian Sandaa Photo: Marion Christine Løkkevig
Vehicle Dynamics & Control Systems is the glue that ties all the individual groups together and makes sure things come together to form a single product. VD&CS is also the only group in Revolve NTNU with members working on both vehicles. Our job is to find and decide key vehicle parameters to ensure optimal track performance. This includes suspension points and geometries, weight balance, dampener behavior, tires and lots more. In addition to this, the group develops most of the control systems running on both the electric and driverless vehicles, ensuring optimal grip throughout, all tasks critical in our mission to become the best Formula Student team in the world. The group is thankfully also highly independent and self-driven, as it is directly under joint leadership by myself and the Chief Mechanical Engineer, Colin MacDonald.
Tonja Joseph State Estimation
After a year abroad as an exchange student, Tonja rejoined us from team 2018’s Embedded Electronics team to do her master’s thesis in cybernetics in Revolve NTNU. Spending her third year as a student, designing and developing our vehicle control unit, she has now broadened her knowledge vastly as she took on the enormous task of completely redesigning our driverless state estimation system. In a place where accuracy and robustness are key, Tonja’s pursuit of perfection has really come in handy. Always with a smile on her face and countless social initiatives, her persona seems to function as the glue that holds the group together.
Christian Trandem Adaptive Dampers
Having spent last season as the group leader for the Monocoque group and with a solid background from his studies in Mechanical Engineering, Christian is an essential part of the Vehicle Dynamics & Control Systems group. Along with Marius, he makes up the second half of the adaptive dampers team and his primary responsibility is to design and produce the hardware of the dampers. In addition to this, his mentoring and expertise has been well utilized in every other mechanical group in Revolve NTNU, as he gladly helps out with both design and production of aerodynamic devices, suspension components and the chassis. In fact, he volunteered to help out with monocoque production and spent multiple weeks in Kongsberg for that exact reason.
Torbjørn Smith Vehicle Dynamics
As a fresh member of Revolve NTNU for the 2020 season, Torbjørn had a steep learning curve ahead of him as a part of the VD&CS group. With a background in Mechanical Engineering and now studying Cybernetics, he turned out to be a perfect fit for this theory heavy, multidisciplinary group. The vague title of “vehicle dynamics’’ combined with his unwavering high standard, he quickly assumed the role of watchdog of the mechanical office. Not even the smallest error would pass through his scrupulous CAD checks, and may God help you if your design is not compliant with the rest of the car when he checks it. He has also put blood, sweat, and tears into multiple suspension components with designs that facilitate new levels of mechanical tuning not before seen in Revolve NTNU. Rumor even has it that he is joining for another season as well.
Jacob Dahl Torque Vectoring
Technical leader Wire Harness, aka technical leader Torque Vectoring, aka Sharkboy is a second year member that transitioned from our Driverless team as responsible for the wire harness and processing unit to assume responsibility for the torque vectoring algorithms that drive our electric vehicle. In addition to this daunting task, the entire state estimation system for the electric vehicle falls upon him. With such critical control systems under your wing, experience is the key to success and a guy like Sharkboy, studying Cybernetics, has a thought on everything. From his corner desk in the mechanical office, Jacob sees and hears everything - and just like Torbjørn, he will gladly share his opinion on the topic at hand.
H책vard Fager책s Control Systems & Torque Vectoring
As a third year student in Cybernetics, H책vard joined our Driverless team as responsible for a large portion of our control systems right from the beginning. Tasked with the challenge of developing, testing and maintaining the torque vectoring, speed profile and simulators used in and on the driverless vehicle, he has been nosedeep in bugs and weird physics issues all year. With his curious head and concentration of steel, nothing could ever distract him as he patiently hunts down issues, one at a time. As it is a lot of work taking a vehicle out driving, combined with the winter season that effectively denies us the opportunity, the upgrades done to our simulators by H책vad this season is absolutely priceless.
Marius Hamre Nordrik Adaptive Dampers
Centrally located in the mechanical office sits a mythical figure. With a black T-shirt and a man bun loosely tightened at the back of his head, he has his fingers in almost everything technical going on around the office. Should you have a question about, well, just about anything - this is your guy. Chances are, he will have in-depth knowledge of most topics and subjects you didn’t even know existed. Marius is a second year alumni who spent his first year in, as the group leader of said group. This year, his primary responsibility has been the development of our adaptive dampers and suspension geometry, though he has spent perhaps most of his time helping out others with their issues. His desk can with certainty be described as the busiest and constantly most crowded place in the office - of which we all are grateful.
Christine Sääv Borg Control System
Another second year alumni is Christine. Spending 2019 on the development of our torque vectoring system, she was on familiar ground when she took on the task of developing a brand new model predictive controller, aka MPC, as her Master’s thesis for our driverless vehicle Atmos. On a path paved with challenges and obstacles, her background and experience have turned out to be invaluable. The challenging task has shown all that she is a fighter that will never quit and her relentless pursuit of the perfect control system has not been fruitless. Out of all of us, she is probably the one looking most forward to autumn testing and a chance to see the system in action on a driving vehicle.
KICKING OFF THE SUMMER Text: Lars van der Lee Photo: Lars van der Lee
After sitting at home for several weeks, working hard with digital exams, master theses and new car concepts, it was time to start the summer break. In normal years, this would have been an evening with team building, a barbeque and a beer, before starting the Test Crew period. However, there won’t be any night shifts this year and no testing either. But that doesn’t mean we can’t go out and have a good evening! To continue development through the summer, and perhaps make some big changes for next year’s car, we have replanned the summer. A Summer Crew has been set up, where almost 30 members have signed up for some specific task forces throughout the summer. These range from marketing and software development to advanced electronics and suspension design. Most groups work in Trondheim, and meet up in small groups to keep the communication as good as possible. A barbeque is also a good arena to get the communication off to a flying start.
A Revolve NTNU barbeque is a bit different from your standard evening. Not only do you have to prepare a crazy amount of hot dogs, but you also need some tires in order to play Flunkyball. This game, usually played at night during competitions, is an important contributor to a Revolve member’s physical condition. Throwing the tires and running after to collect them is a good workout, even with Nova’s relatively small wheels. This, combined with a few beers, a very strict judge and Kubb-like game mechanics make it a favorite, not just in Revolve NTNU but in the entire Formula Student community. The evening was really great, with several completed games of Flunkyball, introducing the new group leaders for next year and even getting a little sun, marked a great start to the summer and will hopefully lead to good concepts for next season’s race cars!
SUMMER CREW Text: Johan Ludvig Holst Photo: Johan Ludvig Holst
It’s the end of June. Midsummer just passed, and the sun is lingering in the sky for a wonderful 21 hours every day. For all of us, this semester has really been an odd one. In Revolve NTNU, so much of what we do is defined by the ultimate product, having the ability to show the world what we can do. We are used to fixing things, dividing complicated systems into individual problems, solving one at the time. Making race cars isn’t really a hobby, it’s a lifestyle more than anything. If we can’t fix a situation we have not in control over, we make sure we secure the goalpost and go back to work again; The Summer Crew is our answer to vacation. It’s our way of turning an unfortunate situation into something great. The Formula Student design cycle is fast-paced, intense and gives very rarely room for margin. Every year, Revolve
NTNU introduces a new team of students to the world of automotive and autonomous engineering with the expectation of a finished design in three months, and a complete, working race car within just four more. This time, we are faced with an exciting opportunity; a two-season design cycle gives us room to explore solutions that previously have been out of bounds due to crazy-tight schedules. The Summer Crew is the kickstart of try two. We now get to go over every aspect of the design, from top-to-bottom, question every assumption and dive deep into initiatives previously dormant. The setting of the overall vehicle concept is pivotal in any year, this season we have been given double time. Throughout the whole summer, members are part of
specific teams working within dedicated domains - everything from technical, organizational, logistical and outreach. We can’t enter our offices, so we work together in living rooms all across Trondheim, and in weekly online meetings to review our current findings. Every Monday, we combine all our efforts into a large summary. During this time, we are faced with a few priorities. Our Aerodynamics group is among those with the most constrained time budget. This group uses computer modeling and high-performance processing of computational fluid dynamics at close to a million CPU hours to optimize the airflow past the car, with the aim of extending the wheel grip as much as possible. The more time at hand, the more time we have to optimize the aero elements, and
the better the performing vehicle. Unfortunately, most of the work aero does is dependent on the other systems, which means essential parts of the car, like the carbon-fiber monocoque chassis, needs to have its final geometry locked down before the aerodynamics team really can get to work. Here, weeks can be of crucial importance, and even days can be significant! By lining up the work so we can get aero going as fast as possible, we give ourselves a solid starting position for all the design work to come. Summer Crew is not only hard work, it is also hard fun. NTNUs campus is placed on top of the most beautiful hill, with the perfect park for afternoon BBQ and race car-inspired activities. It’s a great place to let new group leaders get to know the
people of Revolve NTNU. Last weekend the new board arranged what we call Bootcamp-light, a condensed, mini version of the intense two week introduction all new members get at the beginning of the fall. This is a time to drill in what it means to be a revolver and facilitate the transfer of knowledge that enables us to build on a decade of experience instead of starting from scratch every year. The new leaders were challenged to three intense days of workshops, lectures and a night in hammocks by a beautiful lake in the outskirts of Trondheim. First principles-based team building and collective struggle against ever present, bloodthirsty mosquitoes are essential to making a great team. And that, I am certain, it will be!
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