Remote torque and speed data logger

Description

Baja SAE is an intercollegiate design competition hosted by SAE International, previously known as the Society of Automotive Engineers. At each event, more than 100 teams compete to design, build, and race light off-road vehicles. The British Columbia Institute of Technology is represented by its SAE-affiliated team, BCIT Racing, which has competed in four SAE events since 2015, and is in the early stages of designing and building a third-generation race vehicle. This paper describes the design, function and use of a wireless torque and rotation data logger device, which attaches to a vehicle’s drive axle for the purpose of observing drivetrain loads. The project was proposed by BCIT faculty member Adam Marciniak, in his role as BCIT Racing’s faculty supervisor. Upon completion, the data logger prototype will be used by BCIT Racing to determine peak force loads in the gearbox and drivetrain of the team’s Baja SAE race vehicle. This data will be used during the design of the team’s third-generation vehicle. The data logger project can be divided into three functional components: the housing, electronics, and software. The housing provides protection for sensitive electronics and sensors, and the software is used to gather sensor data and transmit it to a mobile phone application. At the time of this report, all sensors have been validated, and data is being successfully captured and stored. Recommendations for future work will be included in the report conclusions.