HAWKS Racing e.V

University of Applied Science Hamburg

HAWKS Racing e.V is the Formula Student Team of the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. For the last 21 years, we have been developing and manufacturing racing vehicles to participate in Formula Student events – the biggest international design competition for students. The purpose of our association is to offer future engineers practical experiences within a workshop, prior to their graduation.

HAWKS Racing is distinguished by its multitude of innovations. We are particularly proud of our award-winning V2 combustion-engine concept with a gearbox layout we developed ourselves. Recently, however, we have started using an electric powertrain.

After participating in competitions for the first time with an EV last season with H17, we want to go one step further this season with H18 and participate in autonomous disciplines for the first time.

The H17 Team at FS-Spain

PCB´s for our car

In the following pictures we want to talk about the different PCB´s. We need the PCB´s for various usecases. But most of the ones we designed this year are located inside the accumulator container or our Tractive System Box.

Discharge PCB

The Discharge PCB is required to discharge our high voltage tractive system below a save 60V DC if the system is turned off. So if the TS is turned off manually or by any safety system the discharge PCB can discharge the voltage potential using a resistor.

Clamp PCB

The clamp PCB is located inside the accumulator container. More precisely on each cell stack. This PCB holds the cell tabs of each cell and connects them together in series. The AMS Slave PCB´s and temperature sensors are connected to this PCB to measure and manage each cell stack.

AMS Slave PCB

With out Accumulator Management System Slave PCB´s we can measure cell voltages and temperatures of alle the cells. Each cell stack has its own slave PCB. The connectors on the bottom side of the picture are used to connect the balancing boards.

AMS Slave Balancing PCB

There are two balancing PCB´s per cell stack. These PCB´s are used to balance the accumulator and are designed to be removed if the balancing is not needed to reduce risks of electrical failures.

TSAL Logic PCB

The Tractive System Active Light Logic PCB is needed to represent the logic behind the TSAL. So the PCB gets different voltages and signals as input. With these information the PCB can decide if and what colors of the TSAL should light.

AMS Master PCB

This is our Master PCB of the Accumulator Management System. The master communicates with the rest of the car over CAN-bus on one side and with each of the Slaves over SPI on the other side. The master is also able to calculate the state of charge of the accumulator.

PDU - Power Distribution Unit

The last PCB we want to show is the Power Distribution Unit. This PCB is used to distribute, switch and fuse many of our electrical systems in the car. We are able to use soft fuses that enable us to reset the fuse digitally.