Creating Accessible Racing Team Engineering Projects Ford Wilson

Creating Accessible Racing Team Engineering Projects Ford Wilson Race of Champions in Community Service (CAR) Indianapolis, In Project Partner: Industry Advisor: Andrzej Wylenzinki, Wabash National Corp. Teaching Assistant: Anurag Kumra, Mechanical Engineering Graduate Student Team Members: Adam Merkel, Mechanical Engineering | Ellie Hathaway, First Year Engineering | Harvey Huang, First Year Engineering | Kamran Cheema, Mechanical Engineering | Kyle Hahn, Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering | Kyle Wurdack, Mechanical Engineering | Maisie Linker, First Year Engineering | Maaininee Gupta, Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering | Noelle Crane, First Year Engineering | Swati Garg, Computer Engineering INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND METHODOLOGY Project Partner The CAR team was formed in 2007 in order to create a derby car for children over the age of 8 with disabilities. The car will feature two seats, one for the child and the other for a safety driver. The child will have full control of the steering but the steering can be disengaged by the safety driver with the use of an override mechanism. This gives the child the complete thrill of driving a vehicle but allows for full control by the safety driver when needed. Upon completion, the derby car will be available as a kit car that families can buy and build with the child. The cars will cause children from around the nation to be able to experience thrill of driving. The team has been to multiple volunteering events that have derby races for children with disabilities. Through these volunteering events we were able to communicate with the children, families, and safety drivers to find potential design criteria for our design. In addition, the team was able to see the current design of the derby cars and gain ideas for our design. We have participated closely with the Ford Wilson Race of Champions for our volunteering activities. Then from these experiences we were able to go through the engineering design process to create ideas and test our ideas for our derby car. The Ford Wilson Race of Champions was founded in 1998 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The race was open to any children with a disability over the age of 8. This race give the children the thrill of driving a race car down a hill. The race grew from 28 participants in 1998 to over 100 children in 2010. The organization also grew from having 2 vehicles in 1998 to 6 vehicles currently, with 2 more vehicles being designed. “The experience from this race always will be a cherished moment for all of the families involved and is aimed to foster community awareness about the event and encourage participation in both the professional and local communities. ” [1] Specifications defined by the team 3 D prototype of car Current Override mechanism design IMPACTS From the completion of this project more children with disabilities will be able to compete in this race. The project will allow more races to occur nationwide where parents will be able to participate with their children, while maintaining not only an exhilarating experience but also keeping it safe for everyone. OBJECTIVES § § Our main challenge is to create a car that is going to be reliable and safe for everyone. Multiple testing procedures like Finite element Analysis, decision matrices, real world testing, and computer animation is being used to reach our objective. The project also provides a great experience for young engineers to gain hands-on experience and learn how many of their engineering principles are applied in a real world scenario. Lafayette SOAP Box Derby Challenger Division Give Children with disabilities the confidence and the thrill of driving Incorporate an override mechanism that can correct the child’s steering Provide the car as an affordable kit to be built by child and parents Have the option for the race to be available nationwide Prototype I ACKNOWLEDGMENTS REFERENCES [1] Ford Wilson Race of Champions. 2012. Web. 10 Oct. 2015. <http: //www. raceofchampions. org/>. REFLECTION & CONCLUSION Prototype III We would like to thank: Our project part: Ford Wilson Race of Champions Our team sponsor: GM Bruce “The Animal” Atkins, a safety driver for the Ford Wilson Race of Champions