Designing and Manufacturing a Dynamometer for Horizontal Shaft Engines
Problem statement
The Wisconsin Baja SAE team uses a small low-cost engine on its vehicles. With these low-cost engines comes a large variance in output performance. Through the use of an eddy current dynamometer, the team will be able to verify a particular engine’s performance giving themselves an edge over the competition. Previous solutions to this issue often involved a large amount of knowledge to use or contained many possible failure points. Historically, the Wisconsin Baja Racing team has attempted to create a hydraulic brake dynamometer (example shown in patent [2]). The hydraulic dynamometer is plagued by hysteresis issues which are a symptom of the physical nature of the system [1]. Eddy current and DC motor dynamometers offer various improvements, including one of our targeted improvements of responsiveness [3]. One downside to pursuing an eddy current dynamometer is the high upfront cost associated with them. However, these high costs are justified by their accuracy and ease of use. We intend to provide the Baja SAE team with a method to easily and accurately measure engine performance with little to no understanding of how the rest of the dynamometer works. Ultimately, our solution will provide an accurate and user-friendly experience for engine performance validation and other benchtop testing. [1] E. Corti, N. Rojo, M. Abbondanza, and L. Raggini, “Application of a model for optimizing steady state and transient control of hydraulic dynamometers,” Erode, India, 2019, p. 020052. doi: 10.1063/1.5138785.[2] ENGSTROM NILS G, ENGSTROM CHRISTIAN, and FARNLUND JONNY, “METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DYNAMOMETER TESTING OF A MOTOR VEHICLE,” US 2013/0283900 A1, Oct. 31, 2013 [Online]. Available: https://lens.org/033-120-897-586-070 [3] A. J. Martyr and M. A. Plint, “8 – Dynamometers and the measurement of torque,” in Engine Testing (Third Edition), A. J. Martyr and M. A. Plint, Eds. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007, pp. 144–169. doi: 10.1016/B978-075068439-2/50011-6.
Team members
Noah Baumgardt – leader
Corbin Neutgens – communicator
David Chadwick – accountant
James Hegge – admin
Client
Wisconsin Baja Racing, UW-Madison