About Us
Formula SAE
Formula SAE is a student design competition organized by SAE International (Society of Automotive Engineers). Every year, student design teams are tasked to develop a small formula-style race car for a fictional manufacturing company. During the competition, the prototype race car is evaluated regarding the following aspects:
Acceleration
Skid-Pad
Autocross
Efficiency
Endurance
Business Presentation
Engineering Design
What Does Each Sub-Team Do?
Our team is divided into six sub-teams to manage the challenge of designing and building an all-electric formula-style race car. Through the division of labor among the Chassis, Aero, Electrical, Suspension, Powertrain, and Business sub-teams, our team is prepared to design, engineer, manufacture, manage, compete and connect engineering to the public.
Aero Team
Responsible for the design and fabrication of the vehicle's wing elements, undertray, and cooling ducts. This work aims to maximize downforce while minimizing drag, allowing our team to find a sweet spot between cornering ability and fuel efficiency. The team's work involves rigorous analysis in ANSYS Fluent, as well as hands on experience working with carbon fiber
Chassis Team
Responsible for the design and fabrication of the main structural component of the vehicle. Engineers must prove their design meets strict safety and performance metrics, while minimizing the weight of their design. Involves extensive finite-element analysis as well as hands on work with welding and carbon fiber composites
Electrical Team
Responsible for the design and fabrication of the vehicle's high and low voltage components, as well as the programming of control and sensor systems. Engineers have the opportunity to design a high energy density 300V battery pack and custom PCBs. Students work on data and signal processing related problems with the various sensors used in our vehicle, and we are also looking to start a project related to autonomous vehicles
Powertrain Team
Responsible for designing a system that gets power from the motor to the wheels as efficiently as possible. Works closely with the electrical team in design choices, and work involves extensive finite element analysis and Simulink models
Suspension Team
Responsible for the design of a system that optimizes vehicle handling characteristics. Engineers are also responsible for the design of the braking subsystem. This involves problems in vehicle dynamics, and design involves work in CAD and proprietary simulation software
Business Team
Responsible for acquiring funding, professional networking, marketing and managing public relations in order to support the team during the research, design, and production of the car. The team combines the world of engineering and business to represent both the team and the car at the hghest level.
Pushing the Limits
IIT SAE continues to push the boundaries of race car technologies. The following are just a few innovative technologies IIT motorsports use to edge out the competition.
Hub-mounted in-wheel direct-drive motors
4-wheel independent electric drive
Regenerative braking
The previous car weighed 567.6 lbs and had a 0-60 time of x seconds. This year the team aims to improve efficiency and ease of user experience with an all new torque vectoring system and active aero implementation the team hopes to beat its predecessors. A new interactive dashboard will be implemented to visualize car data, record race-time information, and easily troubleshoot the car.
Achievements
2021: 1st Place SAE Chicago Virtual Design Competition
2020: 4th Place Engineering Design Presentation
2018: 5th Place overall electric
2017: 4th Place overall electric
2015: General Motors Best Engineered Hybrid System Award
2015: First Chrysler Innovation Award
2012: 2nd Place Ford efficiency award
2012: 2nd Place overall electric
2010: 1st Place GM Best Engineered Hybrid Systems Award
2008: 3rd Place overall hybrid via Scarlet Hawk