1. Write short notes on i. Axles: An axle is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear.

On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to its surroundings, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In the former case, bearings or bushings are provided at the mounting points where the axle is supported. In the latter case, a bearing or bushing sits inside the hole in the wheel to allow the wheel or gear to rotate around the axle. Vehicle axles Axles are an integral component of a wheeled vehicle. In a live-axle suspension system, the axles serve to transmit driving torque to the wheel, as well as to maintain the position of the wheels relative to each other and to the vehicle body. The axles in this system must also bear the weight of the vehicle plus any cargo. A non-driving axle, such as the front beam axle in Heavy duty trucks and some 2 wheel drive light trucks and vans, will have no shaft. It serves only as a suspension and steering component. Conversely, many front wheel drive cars have a solid rear beam axle.

ii. iii. iv. v.

Braking: Anti Roll Bar: Suspension Systems: Steering Gear Box: The steering gear box provides the driver with leverage to enable him to exert a large force at the road wheel with a minimum effort, and to control the direction of the wheel. Turning effort on the steering wheel is multiplied through the steering gears to turn the front wheels, even when the vehicle is at rest. Therefore, the steering gearbox has two main functions. It produces a gear reduction between the input steering wheel and the output drop arm (Pitman arm) and it redirects the input to output axis of rotation through a right angle. The overall angular gear ratio between the steering wheel and the road varies from about 12:1 to 30:1, depending on the road wheels and the type of steering. The lower ratio is for the light small vehicles and the higher ratio for heavy vehicles. As the ratio is lowered, a more number of turns are required to move the wheels from lock to lock making it difficult for a rapid change in vehicle direction. The various types of steering gearbox include: i. Screw and nut. ii. Rack and pinion. iii. Cam and peg. iv. Worm and roller. v. Worm and sector. vi. Re-circulating ball.

vi.

Understeering and Oversteering: While taking a turn, the wheels are not always pointing in direction in which the vehicle is moving, due to the distortion of tyre tread. The angle between the wheel inclination and the path taken by the wheel is known as slip angle. When the angle is greater at the rear than at the front, the vehicle tends to oversteer, than is to turn into the curve more than the driver intended. When the slip angle is smaller at the rear than at the front, the vehicle tends to understeer. Of course, the understeer is opposite to voersteer and is preferred because correction by the driver involves rotating the steering wheel a little more in the direction of the turn. It is to be noted that the slip angle is affected by the road camber, side winds, tyre inflation and variations in the load on either the front or rear axle. 2. Explain the following Principles: i. Ackerman Steering: To achieve true rolling for a four wheeled vehicle moving on a curved track, the lines drawn through each of the four wheel axes must intersect at the instantaneous centre. The actual position of the instantaneous centre constantly changes due to the alteration of the front wheel angular positions to correct the steered vehicles path. Since both rear wheels are fixed on the same axis but the front wheel axles are independent of each other, the instantaneous centre lies somewhere along an imaginary extended line drawn through the axis of the rear axle. The Ackerman principle is based on the two front steered wheels being pivoted at the ends of an axle-beam. The original Ackerman linkage has parallel set trackrod-arms, so that both steered wheels swivel at equal angles. Consequently, the intersecting projection lines do not meet at one point. If both front wheels are free to follow their own natural paths, they would converge and eventually cross each other. Since the vehicle moves along a single mean path, both wheel tracks conflict continuously with each other causing tyre slip and tyre scrub. Subsequent modified linkage uses inclines track-rod arms forming a trapezium so that the inner wheel swivels about its king-pin slightly more than the outer wheel. Hence, the lines drawn through the stub-axles converge at a single point somewhere along the rear axle projection. ii. Pascal Law: Pascal's law or the principle of transmission of fluidpressure states that "pressure exerted anywhere in a confined incompressible fluid is transmitted equally in all directions throughout the fluid such that the pressure ratio (initial difference) remains the same." The law was established by French mathematician Blaise Pascal. Mathematically,

Where,

is the hydrostatic pressure ,or the difference in pressure at two points within a fluid column, due to the weight of the fluid; is the fluid density; g is acceleration due to gravity; is the height of fluid above the point of measurement, or the difference in elevation between the two points within the fluid column. Application of Pascals Law in Automotive Brakes: Pascal's Law deals with the way fluids act in a closed hydraulic system. Without this closed hydraulic system, no pressure can be developed in the brake system. iii. Law of Friction: The elementary properties of sliding (kinetic) friction are expressed as three empirical laws:

1st Law: The force of friction is directly proportional to the applied load. 2nd Law: The force of friction is independent of the apparent area of contact. Coulomb's Law of Friction: Kinetic friction is independent of the sliding velocity. FRICTION IN DRIVING A CAR: The Friction laws applies to a car's tires: if they were perfectly smoothand, to make matters worse, the road were perfectly smooth as wellthe vehicle would keep moving forward when the driver attempted to stop. For this reason, tires are designed with raised tread to maintain a high degree of friction, gripping the road tightly and dispersing water when the roadway is wet. The force of friction, in fact, pervades the entire operation of a car, and makes it possible for the tires themselves to turn. The turning force, or torque, that the driver exerts on the steering wheel is converted into forces that drive the tires, and these in turn use friction to provide traction. Between steering wheel and tires, of course, are a number of steps, with the engine rotating the crankshaft and transmitting power to the clutch, which applies friction to translate the motion of the crankshaft to the gearbox. When the driver of a car with a manual transmission presses down on the clutch pedal, this disengages the clutch itself. A clutch is a circular mechanism containing (among other things) a pressure plate, which lifts off the clutch plate. As a result, the flywheelthe instrument that actually transmits force from the crankshaftis disengaged from the

transmission shaft. With the clutch thus disengaged, the driver changes gears, and after the driver releases the clutch pedal, springs return the pressure plate and the clutch plate to their place against the fly-wheel. The flywheel then turns the transmission shaft. Controlled friction in the clutch makes this operation possible; likewise the synchromesh within the gearbox uses friction to bring the gearwheels into alignment. This is a complicated process, but at the heart of it is an engagement of gear teeth in which friction forces them to come to the same speed. Friction is also essential to stopping a carnot just with regard to the tires, but also with respect to the brakes. Whether they are disk brakes or drum brakes, two elements must come together with a force more powerful than the engine's, and friction provides that needed force. In disk brakes, brake pads apply friction to both sides of the spinning disks, and in drum brakes, brake shoes transmit friction to the inside of a spinning drum. This braking force is then transmitted to the tires, which apply friction to the road and thus stop the car. iv. Tractive effort and traction:

The force available at the contact between the drive wheel tyres and road is known as tractive effort. The ability of the drive wheels to transmit this effort without slipping is known as traction. Hence usable tractive effort never exceeds traction. The tractive effort relate to engine power as follows.

When the tractive effort F>R, the total resistance on level road, the surplus tractive effort is utilized for acceleration, hill climbing and draw-bar pull.

7. Why is differential used in automobiles? Explain its principle.

The Problem Statement

Suggest your method of approach /procedure to obtain the final design of BAJA. Design, analyse and simulate the following systems for BAJA vehicle 1. Power train sub assemblies(transmission system) 2. Roll cage Assembly 3. Steering system 4. Braking system 5. Suspension system 6. Vehicle ergonomics and safety etc

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS ENGINE

o Bore x Stroke : 84 mm x 64 mm, Single cylinder, Air Cooled o Swept Volume : 338 cc o Rated Power : 8 kW @ 4400 rpm o Max Torque : 19 Nm @ 3000 rpm o Weight of Engine : 30.5 kg

About gear box, we have 4 forward and 1 reverse gear box with built in differential and universal joint. As engine and gear box are given to us, thus we have little choice while working on transmission. If configuration of our vehicle is rear engine rear wheel drive, to keep the maximum speed of the vehicle at 45 km/hr as the vehicle is not about larger speed but greater torque and stability. For attaining this speed, the only thing we can vary was the outer diameter of the driving tire. For 45 km/hr O.D. of the tire came out to be 16 inch. This diameter is too small as ground clearance decreases. Hence in order to counter this problem options available are: 1. Manipulation of power transmission outside the gear box using gears, sprockets and chain. 2. Engaging the reverse gear lever while driving in all the forward gears and using the first gear in forward as reverse gear. For Transmission we have 2 options: A manual transmission (4 or 5 speed): This system would allow the driver to select the right gear from the available gears allowing more control over the vehicle. This is seen on most manual cars with a standard H pattern. A sequential transmission: This is similar to the manual transmission, but the H pattern is eliminated and replaced with a different shifting pattern. For example ina race car, the motion of the shift lever is either push forward to up shift or pull backward to downshift. These transmissions are usually found in either motorcycles or all terrain vehicles.

To find the speed of the vehicle for corresponding gear ratios the formulae used is,

Velocity on road = 2 NR60 (1000G) Km/hr Where, G=gear ratio N=revolutions per minute R=outer radius of the tire in meters. Some of the calculations are tabulated as follows:
Final Gear Ratios Speed (km/hr) D=22 inch 0.65D 1.109D 1.82D 2.82D 0.38D 14.5 24.4 40 62 10 D=24 inch 15.8 26.6 43.6 67.7 9 Speed (km/hr)

First Second Third Forth Reverse

31.45:1 18.70:1 11.40:1 7.35:1 55.08:1

BRAKING SYSTEM: Hydraulic Braking System: Braking Force:

Braking Force:

r Aw 2 ( Rp f + Fb) R Am Brake Force Calculation Symbol Key

Using this basic model you can calculate the brake force at each wheel of a vehicle F. f Rp Fb Am Aw 2 r R is the force applied by the drivers foot is the pedal lever ratio is the booster assist force is the area of the master cylinder is the area of the front caliper piston is the coefficient of friction of the lining because there are 2 linings in a caliper is the effective radius of the caliper is the loaded radius of the tire.

Calculating Dynamic Weight transfer:

For designing the braking system , calculate the weight of our vehicle in static condition as well as in dynamic condition as per the deceleration and stopping distance.

The dynamic load on the front tires Wdf can be calculated by taking the sum of the moments about the front tire to road contact point. Front axle dynamic load = w1 + ( g) W (H L) Where, W1=Weight on the front axle in the static condition. g = Acceleration due to gravity. W= Total weight of the vehicle. H=Height of center of the gravity. L= Length of the wheel base. Deceleration of the vehicle is . As you can see from this equation the front dynamic weight is equal to the front static weight W1 plus the product of the total vehicle weight W times the height of the C.G. (H) divided by the wheelbase (L) and multiplied by the deceleration (). Then, of course, the dynamic rear weight is just the total vehicle weight minus the front dynamic weight.

Now all you we to do is design a brake system that has a front to rear torque distribution that changes with vehicle deceleration. The proportioning valve reduces the pressure to the rear brakes above a certain pressure to partially compensate for the dynamic weight shift. Naturally there will be more deceleration at higher pressures since the total torque of the front and rear brakes will be higher and the mass of the vehicle has not changed. This brings us back to go old F=MA.

r Aw 2 ( R p f + F b) R Am