Advanced Engineering Report

A vehicle platform that combines lightweighting, electrification and aerodynamics
The Lightweight Electric Vehicle Platform demonstrates Williams Advanced Engineering’s capabilities in light weighting, electrification and aerodynamics integrated into an innovative platform design. It also displays a number of technologies that have been assembled into one platform to deliver a compact and efficient structure.

The platform has been engineered to be modular for energy storage with a module concept flexible to incorporate multiple cell formats. Designed to form the basis of high performance electric vehicles, the platform can have a range of potential wheelbases, storage and power availability.

The platform gives standard rear wheel drive with optional 4WD. It has been designed around the incorporation of industry available powertrain components. The rear wheel drive system uses an Xtrac P1227 ILEV gearbox and two YASA P400C motor using a SEVCON invertor package to optimize the aerodynamic form. The front wheel drive system uses a single P400C YASA motor integrated into a compact Xtrac limited slip differential.
The platform integrates Racetrak and 223 approaches, into a single, highly integrated solution that addresses the challenges of effective, affordable electric vehicles.

Battery case cover 223

The 223 process was conceived as a cost-effective means of creating three dimensional composite structures from a two-dimensional form. It is ideal for box-like geometries, such as battery containers for electric vehicles, or potentially even complete vehicle monocoques.
223 is the process of creating an engineered hinge embedded in a simple composite preform.
This enables the formatting of 3D structures from 2D materials opening up the potential for production methods that have previously been cost and production rate prohibitive.

Racetrak

Racetrak is a novel process for creating very high strength structural members that link two or more points, such as automotive wishbones or the link arms of aircraft landing gear. The technique draws on a proven design concept, where a continuous loop of unidirectional material – in this case carbon fibre – provides extremely high hoop strength. This localization of very high embedded strength allows substantial cost reduction which, when combined with high levels of automation, allows an affordable component that is dramatically lighter than traditional alternatives.

More information: www.williamsf1.com

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An electric downhill tandem making it possible for everyone to enjoy mountain biking

Martyn Ashton is a former World Expert Biketrial Champion, he has also won several British Biketrial national titles, has been inducted into the Mountain Biking UK Hall Of Fame and is a Guinness World Record holder for the mountain bike high jump.

He worked with Nicolai Bikes, Fabric, Continental, Crankbrothers and Mojo Rising, to develop the Random Tandem, a downhill tandem bike. The bike was exhibited on National Composites Centre booth.

More information: www.nccuk.com

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A thermoplastic braided beam structure for railway industry

The structure was developed for the project “Brainstorm” (Braided novel beam structures with opportunities in railcar manufacture).

With extensive expertise and knowledge in rail, automotive, bus and aerospace, project partners TDI, Far UK, CBL and WMG provided a radical approach to rail vehicle light weighting, as well identifying significant opportunities for exploitation and creation of a UK-centric supply chain in this industry.

The design of braided beams can be tailored to suit a vehicle design and can be delivered as a modular system that allows flexibility in vehicle design to suit various applications. The use of carbon fibre composites within the railway industry has previously been expensive and complex due to regulations for traditional trains. Furthermore, a railway carriage needs to be tough for a long life in service, easily repairable when accidents happen and strong enough to protect the passengers on board.

The cost-effective approach developed consists of an underlaying tubular spaceframe chassis which provides the bodyshell with the required mechanical performance. In the demonstrator, the beams are all of the same outside diameter, but the wall thickness is tailored to give the optimum cost/weigh and performance balance. This keeps the tooling costs low and the joining is standardised. The tubes are then joined together through a combination of welding and adhesive bonding. In the case of significant damage and individual beam can be entirely replaced with a new one.

The braiding process is highly automated and with rates of over a mile a day, it makes components in a very cost-effective and repeatable way. Using advanced lightweight materials combined with rapid processing thermoplastics, the inherently recyclable result is an innovation within the railway industry. The whole moulding cycle has been shown to be capable of being reduced to less than five minutes, demonstrating the potential of this affordable process for high volume applications.

More information: www.far-uk.com – www.warwick.ac.uk

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Aston Martin Valkyrie fully assembled front wing made with prepregs from Toray

Toray Advanced Composites, previously known as TenCate Advanced Composites, is the composite technology partner of the Aston Martin Valkyrie program, supplying advanced composite materials for a broad range of end-use applications throughout the car, including structural, cosmetic, and high temperature components. Toray’s Expert Services team worked closely with Aston Martin to ensure the best possible composite material solution for the program, developing custom material forms where needed to best meet the unique application demands. As Aston Martin’s Valkyrie program technical partner, Toray Advanced Composites has the skillset and mindset to join in meeting the challenges of developing and producing the hypercar of its generation. Aston Martin set themselves extraordinary targets for Valkyrie, their first ever hypercar:

• No steel structural component
• 1:1 power-to-weight ratio
• As close as possible to an F1 car without being restricted to the track

The Aston Martin Valkyrie is built around a lightweight carbon fiber structure, boasting truly radical aerodynamics for unprecedented levels of downforce in a road-legal car.

More information: www.toraytac.com – www.astonmartin.com

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Scaled’s large 3D printed vehicle concept

Scaled develop large scale 3D printing technology and expertise to enable designers, engineers and manufacturers to:

• Think big in terms of scale and scope, with complete geometric freedom
• Accelerate innovation and development time with faster iterative optimisation
• Lower cost, streamlining process overhead and enabling sustainable manufacturing

With the ubiquity of carbon fibre derived materials to deliver light, stiff structures, tooling is becoming a bottleneck for both product development and manufacture. Scaled manufacturing techniques can transform tool manufacture to reduce costs and enable testing of both form and function of the final carbon component.

The ability to realise large-scale objects quickly and cost-effectively is helping automotive design customers avoid the traditional frustrations associated with long waits for panel and part prototypes and seating bucks. Simultaneously, increasing portfolio of printed materials that meet exacting performance requirements are enabling engineers to play with novel designs that leverage the advantages of AM. The company is now looking forward to printed production vehicle components in the very near future.

More information: www.scal3d.com

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A wheelchair suspension that reduces vibrations by up to 70%

Loopwheels are not just a wheel, they’re a suspension system with integral suspension, designed to reduce vibration and increase performance and provide greater comfort.

They give user a smoother ride. They are more comfortable than standard wheels: the carbon springs absorb tiring vibration, as well as bumps and shocks. They’re designed for everyday use and are strong and durable.

The wheel is made using material from Composite Braiding.

More information: www.loopwheels.com – www.compositebraiding.co.uk

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BAC Mono R made with composites parts from Pentaxia

Pentaxia worked with BAC as the main composite supplier for its supercar and showcased the Mono R on its stand.

The Pentaxia team worked closely with the BAC designers and were actively involved in decisions on how the car should be manufactured as the car was the first in the world to use graphene-enhanced carbon fibre in every panel. Through this collaboration, BAC was able to deliver a design that not only looks amazing but also contained an entirely new vehicle architecture with enhanced aerodynamics.

The Mono R is an exclusive supercar made with only 30 models being produced and already sold to existing Mono owners around the world. Pentaxia manufactured all 30 car sets and supplying parts fully finished and ready for assembly.

More information: www.pentaxia.com – www.bac-mono.com

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An all composite heavy duty two-piece wheel

Carbon Three Sixty presented a wheel made by RTM and is 40% lighter than forged aluminium equivalent without compromising performance, functionality or damage tolerance.

It is a direct replacement for a two part bolt together steel or alloy wheel used on many military vehicles.

More information: www.carbonthreesixty.com

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A braided fluid containment vessel

The ongoing challenge to reduce the weight of components for aerospace applications has led to a project examining the feasibility of a composite tank for containing pressurized fluids at high temperature in a space constrained fire zone.

The National Composites Centre has worked with a large aerospace company to use composite braiding to develop the tank with fire protection appropriate to the threat. 
Using a novel approach of tooling, the NCC has created a tank that weighs in at just 6kg.

This tank provides a significant weight saving on current metallic versions. The NCC teal were also able to recommend cost reductions for future manufacturing.

The NCC also exhibit a composite structure to fasten submarine pipes without any rust.

More information: www.nccuk.com

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Aesthetic carbon-fibre fabrics

Total Composite Solutions displayed panels with parts made with a large range of colored carbon fibre fabrics.

More information : www.totalcompositesolutions.com

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Carbon fibers chair with various patterns

Bamd Composites is a design, development and fabrication company, specialising in low volume composites manufacturing. The company exhibited carbon fibers chair with various fabrics patterns, made with SHD Composites prepregs.

More information: ww.bamd.co.uk – www.shdcomposites.com