Development of Baja SAE Powertrain

Presenter Information

James Carsten, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Nicholas Gaines, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Location

CSU 201

Start Date

5-4-2010 1:00 PM

End Date

5-4-2010 3:00 PM

Student's Major

Automotive and Manufacturing Engineering Technology

Student's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Mentor's Name

Craig Evers

Mentor's Department

Automotive and Manufacturing Engineering Technology

Mentor's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Description

Every year, students in the Automotive Engineering Technology program participate in the Baja SAE competition, an event sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers. The competition tasks participants to design, build and prepare a plan to market an off-road vehicle similar in size to an all terrain vehicle. This includes a full roll cage frame, suspension, and drivetrain designed around a 10 hp engine provided by Briggs & Stratton. At the same time the design must consider overall weight, driver ergonomics and reliability. For 2009-2010, the Baja SAE team’s main focus was to develop an efficient and robust drivetrain. Research was directed towards a design that included components that were efficient in delivering power to the drive wheels, was compact and cost effective. A design was chosen that met the team’s design requirements.