Qut Motorsport QEV-3 FSAE Project

QUT Motorsport is an Australian Formula SAE team competing in the Formula SAE-A competition. Our Team is composed of students from a diverse field of degrees with a strong presence in engineering and business. Our project is to design, manufacture, manage, and market a single seater, electric race car for the FSAE-A competition.

(QUT Motorsport Team at the 2019 Formula SAE Australasia Competition)

QEV-3

Each year our team designs, engineers and builds an electric race car for competition. Currently being developed is QUT Motorsport’s 2020 electric race car, QEV-3. Our members have been working hard throughout the year developing all aspects and ensuring the highest possible standards are met across the electrical, mechanical, software and business sides of our team. The vehicle runs off four 15kW electric brushless hub motors to provide control over all four wheels of the car. This drivetrain is powered by 720 LiFePo4 battery cells in a 30s24p configuration. This battery pack is capable of outputting nearly 3000A at a fully charged voltage of 108V. All of this is controlled by a series of custom PCB’s that are designed and manufactured by our team members.

Our Boards

Many of our boards are custom designed to ensure a high degree of control over the functioning of our vehicle. Development of custom PCB’s, with industry standard software, also allow our team members to develop useful skill sets necessary in the electrical engineering workforce. The following are some of the major boards for our system:

Accumulator Management System (AMS)

The Accumulator Management System (AMS) is the main control board for our vehicle’s battery pack (Accumulator), and tractive (High Voltage) systems. This board takes in shutdown and fault signals from the rest of the car to ensure the battery pack is disconnected from the rest of the car in the event of an emergency. The board is designed in such a way that if any of the safety systems on the car trip, the Accumulator isolation relays will be forced open and cannot be closed again without resetting the car.

(QEV-3 Accumulator Management System)

Battery Management System (BMS)

The Battery Management Systems (BMS) is a set of 12 boards that record temperature and voltage readings from each of the 12 segments of the Accumulator. If the temperature or voltage is found to be outside of set parameters, the BMS boards can send a fault signal via CANBUS to the AMS to shutdown the car. The BMS’ are also designed to transmit this data

to an SD card on the AMS so that it can be analysed for improvement of the car’s tractive systems.

(QEV-3 Battery Management System)

Shutdown System

The Shutdown System is made up of a series of boards containing relays that are designed to open if any of the safety devices on the car are triggered. The opening of these relays cause the AMS to shut down the tractive system of the vehicle. Being designed in a modular way, it is very easy for the shutdown system of the car to be expanded, and more safety systems to be added.

(QEV-3 Shutdown System)

Chassis Controller

The Chassis Controller, also commonly known as an ECU in most vehicles, collates all of the sensor data from the vehicle, and uses it to control its four individual motors. By adjusting how the car responds to certain inputs, we can implement features such as torque vectoring and traction control to ensure a controlled and enjoyable driving experience.

(QEV-2 & QEV-3 Chassis Controller)

Power Distribution Module (PDM)

The Power Distribution Module (PDM) is in essence a very advanced fuse box. It is made up of specialised transistors that automatically open up if a certain system on the car draws too much current, or if the voltage of the General Low Voltage (GLV) system drops too low. This ensures safe usage of the car and prevents any potential failures in the system.