0 Appreciate Project

NITKRacing Electric FS Project

ABOUT THE PROJECT

NITKRacing is the official Formula Student team of the National Institute of Technology, Karnataka. The team that started back in 2010, manufacturing combustion Formula Student (FS) racing cars, and which recently evolved to an electric FS car team

We have participated in various national and international formula student events, including FSAE Michigan, FS Hungary, FS China and FS India, and last year, we achieved various laurels in formula student competition under the electric category:

We stood 1st in Software Intelligence and Integration at FSEV 2021 sponsored by Ather Energy.
Bagged the 2nd place in Business Plan at Formula Bharat Virtuals 21-22
Stood 4th Overall and in Engineering design at Formula Bharat Virtuals 21-22

Our upcoming electric FS car for the season 2022-23, i.e., the NR23, is being manufactured and features:

Dual Motor Setup
7.8kWhr Battery Capacity
A Peak Power of 40kW
A Peak Torque of 240N
Wireless data transmition for analysis during operation

THE CIRCUITS

Pre-charge

The precharge PCB ensures the DC link capacitor of the motor controller charges before actually closing the accumulator isolation relays, which protect the accumulator isolation relays from being damaged by the high inrush current drawn while starting the motor. The PCB has both LV and HV circuitry designed on the same board by following proper isolation between both circuits.

Discharge

The discharge circuit ensures safe discharge of the DC link capacitor of the motor controller after the car stops to prevent any unusual activity. We have designed a PCB for discharge. It discharges within 3 seconds after the car stops. This PCB also has both LV and HV circuits designed on the same board by following proper isolation between them.

Shutdown circuit

This board acts as a hub for all the safety circuits present in the car. It takes fault signals from VCU, BMS, IMD, and BSPD and opens the shutdown path, and accumulator isolation relays get opened in case of any fault that stops the car. Additional to this this board also has connectors to which Tractive system master switch, low voltage master switch, inertia switch and other shutdown buttons are connected. This board will be directly connected to an LV battery.

Tractive system active light(TSAL)

This board indicates the active status of the tractive system. I.e., if the voltage of the tractive system is greater than 60 V, the red LED flashes continuously. If the tractive system voltage is less than 60 volts and all the accumulator isolation relays are open, a green LED glows continuously.

VCU Circuit Board

This board acts as a shield that is placed directly on top of the I/O pins or the board. The board allows secure mounting of the CAN BUS controller and DAC breakout boards to save space. The board also facilitates the secure mounting of inputs and outputs required for the working of the VCU. The shield also contains a LDO that is used to step down the 12V input to a 5V supply for use in the various breakout boards and external modules. Pull-down resistors for the APPS are also soldered directly onto this PCB.

Brake System Plausibility Device (BSPD) Circuit

The BSPD is a circuit with an external relay that opens the shutdown circuit of the vehicle when hard braking occurs while the power to the motor is greater than 5 KW. It has on-board circuitry to ensure that the circuit is opened only if the fault persists for a duration longer than 500 ms. The PCB takes inputs from a current sensor and a brake pressure signal.