Shell Eco Marathon OnShape Ed

 

During the ending of 2020, in November, we started using the program OnShape: a free website that the team used for 3D programming and creating our Shell Eco Marathon car virtually due to the pandemic. Each team member was assigned a part to create for the vehicle, my part was the body, to get started I found an aerodynamic chart that helped me create a body design.

The best body shape we picked for the Shell vehicle was the streamlined half-body. This shape had the least amount of drag and we needed are vehicle to go a long distance and the drag coefficient was an important role for prolonging the cars miles. 

I also took inspiration from past Shell Eco Marathon events and their vehicles to consider into the Shell Eco Marathon car on OnShape. I came across a vehicle like the one in the picture and wanted to make a tail like it to make maintenance on the vehicle fast and easy.

The first version of the car design was a round tip and a long front to give the driver space to fit in as well as every other team members parts. This first design was a challenge to get perfect due to the fact that the website didn't allow for certain capabilities to work with the design. 

After discovering what a canopy was and what we could make for the vehicle, I cut the body into two pieces, the canopy and the body which fit together after attaching them back together. I then added clips at the tip of the canopy and the inner point of the body to attach the two parts realistically. I also made the canopy see through to represent the glass. As well as, made a new design that had a different shape to the point and could possibly help the body.

The clips would attach together and you would have to push them in to undue the locking of the two. The next thing to due was to make a attachment between the body and chassis, so I added bars between the body that I later holed to make it able to show the placement of attachment as well as the place I would place screws to attach the body and chassis together. 

The new design had flaws that had to be changed so I created a new body version that would be a single curve in the front and have a bigger end to accommodate for the engine and other parts that didn't fit in the first or second version of the body. The new body had to also be attached to the canopy and clam shell with a hinge that I acquired from McMaster-Car. I found a strap hinge that would go on top of the body and canopy so it will open realistically when you used mate to connect everything.

The new canopy would also be attached to a frame that i would use to add things and keep the see through part of the canopy in place. The clam shell would be in the back and be used to work on the engine and anything connected to the bulkhead in the back.

After attaching the canopy with the frame and clam shell to the body, I added mates to the body and parts to move up and down to show the movement. The clam shell and canopy showed realistic movement and I also added a floor that would contain the driver and the pedals that I got from Grab Cad, to control acceleration and braking.

The floor was an requirement from the event organizers for the safety inspection. The floor held the bulkhead and went throughout the body to cover the bottom. https://youtu.be/6HfVGd7nXjE

I also cut some holes on the side of the body to give a space for the steering to go through. I also made the body transparent to show the parts inside. 

After finishing the body parts and fitting all the parts into the body, we made a video thanks to Mr. G our Advanced engineering class. He got us to talk about our parts and also showed the parts movements. in this video:

https://youtu.be/da5SAmk3q_0