One of the many memorable speakers at this year’s Zuken Innovation World Italy was from the Firenze Race Team. We caught up with Team Leader Caterina Lotti to ask her about her team’s ambitious plans to make an autonomous racing car using E3.series.

Established in 2000, Firenze Race Team is the official Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) team of Università degli Studi di Firenze (University of Florence), where Formula SAE is doing much to mirror Formula 1 racing by holding events around the world. But a key difference is that the teams are made up only of students in active education; briefed to develop a Formula-style race car.

Most design rules relate to safety aspects and the combustion engine employed. Otherwise each team has a free hand when it comes to things like weight, suspension and aerodynamics, enabling them to make compromises to achieve an overall win, as vehicles will be judged on criteria that includes design and manufacture aspects, cost, performance (such as acceleration, fuel economy and endurance) and the quality of a presentation event.

As with Formula 1, big-name sponsorship adds to the excitement and glamour; and for Formula SAE Zuken is proud to sponsor teams in the EU and the US. The sponsorship with Firenze Race Team includes use of E3.series and CADSTAR, plus training and guidance during the design and manufacturing stages of the motorsport building project.

Firenze Race Team is currently working on a single-seat car to compete in 2019 that will have autonomous capability. We spoke to Caterina Lotti, Team Leader, to find out more.

What made you want to join the team?

The wide variety of disciplines involved in the project fascinates me. It has always included traditional forms of engineering such as, mechanical and electrical design, but recently we have welcomed engineers from other faculties, such as automation and computer science engineering, as well as business studies and economics. In total there are 37 students involved on our current project, and we hope to increase this number over time by encouraging more students to register.

How did you hear about the event?

The activity of the Firenze Race Team is always highlighted by our university during promotional events and during lessons. Our university encourages involvement because it’s a great way for us to put into practice what we’re learning in our studies. No less important, is the passion most of us have for motorsport. It drove us to join the team.

What’s the structure of your team?

We have a management team that comprises a leader – yours truly – and two Technical Directors (who are also Project Integration Managers). Most groups have between two and six people; the largest of these being the Electronics and Control group. They have individual leaders who report to the management team and pass executive decisions down. The opinion of every team member counts. The level of collaboration within the entire team is great and we’re able to make informed decisions quickly.

How do you fit FRT around your studies?

Time management is crucial, and that also includes time for social and family events. The fact of the matter is that we do need to prioritize things and make sacrifices, but I see that as a valuable life lesson. Also, there’s a positive attitude within the team that no matter how constrained we are, important and practical educational experiences are being derived from the project.

What aspects of the project give you the most satisfaction?

The proof that hard work pays dividends. We commit ourselves 100% and the results, both for the team and for us as individuals, are considerable. There’s also the excitement of racing and that we’re pushing the technology boundaries by introducing autonomous driving. It’s cutting-edge stuff.

How challenging is the project?

Extremely. We decided to create a new car that integrates in a completely new way for both manual driving and in an autonomous mode. But it’s not just about technology. Nor is it just about performance during the events. Or cost control. It’s about the optimization of all three aspects to produce an overall win. On the plus side, as students, we cannot help but ‘learn by doing’ which means we get to make informed decisions based on our studies and practical experiences.

How easy to use was Zuken’s software?

Our electronics team found the software extremely intuitive because of the classic Windows look and feel; pull-down menus, shortcuts, right-mouse-button commands etc. It’s really good. Also, the team received a great introduction to E3.series that included access to some superb step-by-step tutorials. We also had the opportunity to increase our knowledge of the software through our collaboration with a local Zuken software user as part of a railway project, so that made it very ‘real world’ and aided our activities.

How is your team doing this season?

At the beginning of this academic year, we decided to undertake a two-year project path because of the very technical challenges we’ve set ourselves. It’s a totally new and innovative project, and for this reason we decided to take our time to get it right.

What would you say to someone considering embarking on a similar endeavor?

It’s very rewarding. The varied experiences, rising to the challenges, the team work, the emotion you feel when unveiling your car – it’s all amazing – and when your design gets to go around the track its performance is a reflection of your own strengths.

Any last thoughts?

The transition from a traditional car, with its relatively simple wiring, to a car with an Advanced Driver-Assistance System (ADAS), which requires far more sensors and actuators – and by extension more wiring – really highlighted to us the power of E3.series.

The post Under the Hood of an Italian Student Motorsport Team using E3.series appeared first on English.

So I have to admit to being more than a little excited when I started working with motorsport companies years ago. Though we can’t usually mention individual companies because of confidentiality agreements, Zuken is well known for working in this area and word of mouth means we are regularly approached by companies working in motorsport who are interested in moving into digital electrical design.

I’d estimate that far more than 50% of teams racing with wheels (including MotoGP) use E3.series for their complete electrical design or relevant areas including many Formula 1 teams.

Of course, this is a huge responsibility with no margin for error

It can be nerve-wracking on a race weekend when we’re following the teams we’ve worked with. There is a great atmosphere in the Milan office on a Monday when things have gone well, and it’s certainly a great motivator to have this passion and focus within our team.

I’m often asked by colleagues what it’s like working in motorsport

I’ll admit that it’s challenging – motorsport customers push us to the limit. They really do keep us ‘race fit’ in our work. Because of the racing calendar, companies have a limited window of opportunity to implement new functionality, upgrade software, or make changes to libraries. This means that when decisions are made, engineering partners like Zuken need to be ready in their own ‘technical pitstops’ with their tools and teams primed for action. We have to be 100% reliable and responsive. My perspective is that it’s good for us to have some adrenaline in our jobs, and it drives us to be the best we can across all areas of our work.

To meet the response times and flexibility demanded by motorsport

Zuken has recently developed a dedicated E³.series component library for motorsport. This typically means companies can cut they time they spend creating their components by 75%. Like defense, motorsport components are sector-specific.

E³.series takes a unique, object-oriented approach to component creation, so you can find graphics, tables, and metadata all within a single component. Instead of simply being a symbol, E³.series components are purchasable parts. In practice, this means a component can flag the connector it needs to mate to – avoiding mating errors. The library contains comprehensive information for all relevant component data: connectors, backshells, terminals and terminal seals.

Here’s an example of the punishing timescales found in motorsport

One well-known prestigious motorsport brand went from our first site visit to their first completed design using E³.series in 10 weeks. It went like this: 2 weeks to make a purchase decision; 4 weeks to build a custom parts library (this was before we had launched our custom library); and 4 weeks for electrical design. That’s speedy!

Motorsport use the right-the-first-time approach as default

Like the aerospace and space sectors everything is checked and rechecked, so that once the car gets on that track everything works as intended – no compromises. Of course, there might be a mechanical failure because of the harsh operating conditions, but it always works perfectly beforehand.

There’s a positive knock-on effect from working in motorsport that spills over into our work in other sectors

We often hear from prospective customers going through the electrical tool selection process that knowing about our work in motorsport gives them confidence during what can be a stressful time. They recognize that if we can compete and deliver solutions for the elite world of motorsport, we can meet their needs too.

• Find out more about E3.series

• HURRY! There’s still chance to rub shoulders with the engineers behind some of the most successful F1 teams, and the Zuken team supporting them, at Zuken’s global innovation conferences.

  • ZIW Italy – 12 June

  • ZIW France – 14 June

  • ZIW Switzerland – 20 June

  • ZIW UK – 19 September

The post Why Working with the Best in Motorsport Keeps Us ‘Race Fit’ as Engineers appeared first on English.

Last year Techno MAP realised it was time to prioritize ECAD/MCAD integration, reducing duplicate data entry and achieving time savings, among other requirements. Christophe Vergneault, CEO of Techno MAP, explained: “We were losing a lot of time on manual processes, communicating between electrical and mechanical engineering on details such as the length of each wire harness branch, then doing manual checks involving yet more back and forth between the different departments. It was one person’s job just to check the length of each wire harness branch. We realized E3.series would give us the end-to-end workflow process that we needed.”

Christophe Vergneault explained that E3.series’ reputation, and hearing about other companies in his sector who had recently adopted the tool, played a part in their decision. “We knew that M-Sport has similar requirements to us, so hearing they had made the switch to E3.series gave us extra confidence.”

Techno MAP describes itself as a team of around 45 professional enthusiasts. They design and manufacture “global electrical architectures” – harness designs, adapted, sized and qualified, to ensure the distribution of electrical power and electronic data throughout the vehicle.

Based in Dieppe, France, they have four main areas of expertise:

• Design and manufacture of harnesses and on-board intelligence for all types of vehicles
• Mechanical, electrical and electronics design and development for concept-cars and prototypes
• Instrumentation for validation and reliability of engines, innovative subassemblies and vehicle performance.
• Performance research for large public and sports vehicles.

Techno MAP’s customers include motorsport companies such as Renault Sport Racing and Arion Racing Team; car manufacturers such as Renault, Nissan, Peugeot, Citroen and Daimler; engineering companies such as Group Bertrandt and Akka Technology; and Aeronautics companies Safran Electrical & Power.

Christophe Vergneault is extremely positive about the business benefits of their new system: “E3.series will allow us to increase the quality and performance of our harness designs for manufacturing. And because E3.series is aimed at specialists in electrical architecture it supports our overall design process, right up to the generation of production orders.

We’ve recently started using E3.series for harness flattening – one of many capabilities that we’re still discovering. With the time we’re now saving using E3.series, we have freed our electrical engineer from routine tasks and he is able to work on important design detail.”

The post E3.series Offers French Motorsport Company Liberation from Design Admin and Increased Turnaround appeared first on English.