Lightweight Design of Integrated Hub and Spoke for Formula Student Racing Car 2024-01-2080

In the racing world, speed is everything, and the Formula Student cars are no different. As one of the key means to improve the speed of the car, lightweight plays an important role in the racing world. The weight reduction of unsprung metal parts can not only improve the driving speed, but also effectively optimize the dynamic of the car, so the lightweight design of unsprung parts has attracted much attention. In the traditional Formula Student racing car, the hub and spoke are two independent parts, they are fixed by four hub bolts or a central locking nut, the material of these fasteners is usually steel, so it brings a lot of weight burden. In order to achieve unsprung lightweight, a new type of wheel part design of Formula Student racing car is proposed in this paper. The hub and spoke are designed as integrated aluminum alloy parts, effectively eliminating the mass of hub bolts or central locking nuts. After proper iterative optimization, the part achieves a weight reduction of more than 25% compared to the traditional solution. The part uses CATIA software for structural modeling design, and uses ANSYS software for finite element analysis. In order to further verify the design effect, the design was applied to the 2023 race car of the WUTE team of Wuhan University of Technology and participated in the Formula Student Electric China (FSEC). Through simulation and real car running tests, it is proved that the part is safe and reliable, and prove that the parts can be lightweight at the same time meet the requirements of the car running condition.