Dear friends, dear supporters and dear fans!
We are back with a new update from the development and manufacturing period of EDGE14.
Our move
At the end of last year our team was faced with another challenge - we suddenly had to move. Around Christmas we received the news that we had to move out of our old hall in the 3rd district and into a new one in the 20th district. Since the move happened around the holidays and we are all students, this was not an easy task, as many of us went/wanted to go home for the break. However, with a lot of team cohesion and almost as much motivation we also mastered this challenge and we arrived well in our new home before the new year had started. Now, at the beginning of February, we have finally finished setting up and putting away all of our stuff. Our new hall offers a lot - we have more office space and the long corridor from the kitchen to the hall, where everything happens around the production, is good to practice a few new tricks on the skateboard if you ever forgot something in the kitchen or the offices.
Rules Quizzes: Qualifying for the competitions
Before the summer semester starts and the competitions move closer, we had to face the so-called Rules Quizzes of Formula Student. These important exams took place at the end of January and are among the most important dates for the team in the winter semester. By participating in the Rules Quizzes, a team can qualify for the competitions in the summer. On the one hand, the members have to prove their knowledge of the Formula Student rules, on the other hand their technical and economic skills. We have recorded our preparation process in our blog post.
ESO Training
As every year, we are training new Electrical System Officers (ESO) this season to ensure safe working with our 600V battery and car. It has almost become a tradition that every year our workshop is the location for the external training, which is why we were pleased to welcome all Austrian teams as well as several German teams for the first time this year, just like last year.
According to the Formula Student rules, this training is mandatory if you want to work on the battery. It is shown which dangers one has to expect if one works carelessly on the battery and the car. The participants were first introduced to the basics of working with high voltage in a theoretical part. After this introduction, they were familiarized directly with the car and the battery in the practical part. The expert organizers showed them how to work safely on the components and what to pay particular attention to. With a final written examination, all participants finally became officially certified Electrical System Officers and are now allowed to work on high-voltage components both in the workshop and on the race track.
Manufacturing the Monocoque
The individual parts of the carbon tooling from last season could be used again this year with one exception. So, despite the move, we managed to start the production of our monocoque at the beginning of January. The preparation for the lamination and the tooling molds was finished in the middle of January, so we could start directly. So we worked 12 hours a day with 3-5 people for a week and a half to produce the first of three cycles of our monocoque, the largest component of our car. In the autoclave, the first skin cured at 135°C and 6 bar overpressure for four nerve-wracking hours. Fortunately, everything went well and all the work was definitely worth it.
We will be able to admire our finished laminated monocoque in March. At the same time, we prepared ourselves or rather our crash dummy for its crash test to physically check whether it meets the requirements of the current regulations.
HP
Designing components, analysing strengths, simulating airflows and rendering images. All this is part of our daily activity and requires immense computing power. For several years now, we have had the performance workstations Z840 from HP at our disposal, with which all necessary calculations can be carried out in realistic resolution and in a short time frame.
In order to put our designs on paper and, above all, to simplify the production of blanks for urgently needed carbon parts, HP has also been providing us with a DesignJet T2530 plotter since last season.
Thank you HP for the great support!
