Momentum - April 2020 - 4

STUDENT
FEATURE

GENERATION

FOCUSED ON DESIGN

Annie, the name of Missouri S&T Racing's Formula
SAE entry, in action at Formula SAE Lincoln 2019.

For Missouri S&T Racing, knowing why a system was designed in a particular
way is as important as knowing how it was designed.
"IF YOU WANT TO GET OUT of the hole, the first thing you want to do is
stop digging," said the head design judge in his design review with our
team at Formula SAE Lincoln 2019. What he meant, and what he later
said, is that he had been "giving advice [to our team], me, and other
judges, and it's ignored. There is a kind of disinclination to learn from
your experience..."
He had just given us a 2 out of a possible 25 points in his scoring of
our car's suspension design, and he spoke with us for over an hour.
The feedback was harsh, and some of it was confusing. It's debatable
whether or not all of it was deserved, but much of his feedback was valid.
While we as a team may disagree that we have a "disinclination to
learn from experience," we are self-aware enough to see where this
judge was coming from. Missouri S&T Racing, at least in recent years,
has had a history of bringing a very fast and capable car to competition,
only to fall short of expectations in the Design event. At Lincoln 2018,
we finished 9th overall at the competition and 4th in the Autocross event,
but received a 50 out of a maximum possible 150 points in Design. This
past year, we finished 4th overall, with 70 points in Design. We had been
continuously improving the performance of our car, but our engineering
process was flawed. It became clear that improving the efficiency and
intelligence of our general design progress stood to gain us more points
than any other subgroup of the car.
Going into the 2018-2019 competition season, design was one of our
top team goals. And we targeted several areas for improvement. The

4 April 2020

2004_SG_4-13.indd 4

most tangible area for improvement was data acquisition
(DAQ): Zoe, our 2018 car, had a completely bare-bones
DAQ system, with only a few sensors required for
such parameters as vehicle speed, oil pressure, and
fuel pressure. As a result, we had very little real-world
validation of our designs. This was easy money in terms
of design points, not to mention necessary to improve
the car. During the 2019 season, our team collected much
more data on the car, adding 13 sensors for parameters
including tire temperatures, brake temperatures, engine
and radiator temperatures, and several other data points
we did not have before.
But the other area we knew we needed to improve
was understanding. Many of our project engineers, while
having a deep working knowledge of their system, lack
an in-depth understanding of the engineering principles
behind its design. Many teams suffer this problem of
"knowledge without understanding." If a team is well
run, both knowledge and understanding are carried from
year to year. However, one bad year can break this cycle,
and recovery is extremely difficult.
Imagine this scenario: An experienced, capable team
member takes over a system and completely reworks it.
He puts in the time, puts in the effort, and the system is

MOMENTUM

3/19/20 11:25 AM



Momentum - April 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Momentum - April 2020

Momentum - April 2020
Start a new SAE Chapter in your life
BENEFITS U
Focused on design
Taking the classroom to the racetrack
Great moments happen due to the work of many
ONE-ON-ONE – Emily Kerr
Sticking to the schedule
BRIEFS
GM deploying electricals of the future in new architecture
Myers Awards winners named
SAE 101: Industry Leadership Award
Dossier: Justin Lange of John Deere
Focusing on the ‘E’ in STEM
Momentum - April 2020 - Momentum - April 2020
Momentum - April 2020 - Cover2
Momentum - April 2020 - 1
Momentum - April 2020 - Start a new SAE Chapter in your life
Momentum - April 2020 - BENEFITS U
Momentum - April 2020 - Focused on design
Momentum - April 2020 - 5
Momentum - April 2020 - 6
Momentum - April 2020 - Taking the classroom to the racetrack
Momentum - April 2020 - 8
Momentum - April 2020 - Great moments happen due to the work of many
Momentum - April 2020 - ONE-ON-ONE – Emily Kerr
Momentum - April 2020 - 11
Momentum - April 2020 - Sticking to the schedule
Momentum - April 2020 - 13
Momentum - April 2020 - BRIEFS
Momentum - April 2020 - GM deploying electricals of the future in new architecture
Momentum - April 2020 - Myers Awards winners named
Momentum - April 2020 - SAE 101: Industry Leadership Award
Momentum - April 2020 - Dossier: Justin Lange of John Deere
Momentum - April 2020 - 19
Momentum - April 2020 - Focusing on the ‘E’ in STEM
Momentum - April 2020 - Cover3
Momentum - April 2020 - Cover4
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