Oakland University & École Polytechnique deMo ntréal Team Up with Solid Concepts for Formula SAE Competitions

Category: Newsletter Spring 2010

Oakland University & École Polytechnique deMontréal Team Up with Solid Concepts for Formula SAE Competitions

Attracting over 140 schools annually, the Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) has become world renowned as one of the most prestigious student engineering competitions. The competition requires each student team to use their creativity and engineering intellect to design, fabricate, fund and compete with a small single seat racecar. The Formula cars are then judged as a possible production product in numerous categories including design, innovation, reliability and performance.

In 2009 Solid Concepts Inc. paired with two Formula SAE teams, Oakland University in Rochester, MI and École Polytechnique de Montréal in Montréal, Canada. While the two teams needed to build fundamentally similar racecars,
each used Solid Concepts’ capabilities in a unique way. Oakland University enlisted Solid Concepts to help produce their Formula-style car body. Solid Concepts created four CNC molds from tooling board for layup molds. The molds were then used to create the carbon fiber panels that composed Oakland University’s car body. École Polytechnique de Montréal sought out Solid Concepts for the construction of numerous parts for their car’s engine and dynamometer. Since eleven of the team’s geometries needed to withstand varying degrees of heat and vibrations, Solid Concepts’ Project Engineers worked closely with the team to select the ideal process and materials to meet each of the geometry’s requirements. Ultimately, Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) was used to produce the parts, utilizing the exceptional properties of both the glass filled Nylon 12 GF and carbon fiber filled Nytek™ 1200 CF materials.

During preliminary tests on a flow bench, the team found that the new intake system made by Solid Concepts’ SLS material produced a 15% increase in air flow compared to the old systems.

This article was provided courtesy of Solid Concepts, providing rapid prototyping, custom manufacturing and production parts to a wide range of industries. Learn more at www.solidconcepts.com