Development of a Carbon Fibre Composite Ultra Lightweight Vehicle Structure for the Aero-Stable Carbon Car - Fastframes Centre for LightWeight Composites, SIMS, Cranfield Univ

Format:

Conference/Event

Author/Creator:

Mills, Andrew, author.

Conference Name:

SAE 2002 World Congress & Exhibition (2002-03-04 : Detroit, Michigan, United States)

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Warrendale, PA SAE International 2002

Summary:

The Aero-stable Carbon Car (ASCC) was the first full vehicle structure project of the UK government DTI program Foresight Vehicle'. The project investigated the limitations to maximising fuel economy in a lightweight car manufactured in carbon fibre composite (CFC). The EPSRC Integrated Manufacturing initiative / industry funded project FastFrames is developing design understanding and materials / manufacturing technology for lightweight vehicle structure and components.Current lightweight composite vehicles such as racing cars use a monocoque, stressed skin design approach for both weight and manufacturing cost reasons. For passenger cars with large cut-out' areas for access, the approach of a space-frame supporting fairing panels offers the opportunity for a more efficient structure. It also offers the potential to incorporate localised loads from suspension, engine and door mounting, seats and seat belts more easily than for a thin section stressed skin approach. Manufacturing the space frame using carbon fibre composite materials provides a very lightweight structure. With current manufacturing approaches, the problems of labour cost for material lay up and bonding sections preclude the use of the framework approach. For this project a novel design and materials approach was conceived and developed. The approach uses a novel form of textile preform laminated to form a single piece integrated frame structure. Lightweight panels are bonded to the assembled frame after systems fitting. The approach should result in a total body weight of 125 kg, which compares to around 320 kg for a similar size steel car

Notes:

Vendor supplied data

Publisher Number:

2002-01-1121

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license