Drivetrain: Please See Appendix For Detailed Calculations

Drivetrain
For a majority of the design and fabrication phase last year, the drivetrain consisted of a Comet
CVT, a fixed-ratio two stage gearbox, and Polaris CV-axels. The CVT reduction ranged from 4:1
to 1:1, and the gearbox reduction was 12:1. This gave the drivetrain a 48:1 reduction during
initial acceleration, and 12:1 at top speed. The design provided a decent balance of low end
torque and high end speed. Unfortunately, the gearbox was plagued with failures during harsh
testing, so a new design had to be considered.
At the end of last year, the decision was made to replace the gearbox with a chain drive of the
same 12:1 ratio. The rational behind the design was that the slight elastic properties of the chain
would absorb most of the sudden impact loading which claimed the gears. Additionally, the chain
engages about half the teeth of each sprocket at all times, so the stresses are distributed over
multiple teeth (as compared to one or two teeth with the gearbox design). The chain box design
worked flawlessly during competition, so it will be used again this year.
Extensive calculations were performed last year to aid the design process. Working backward
from the final desired reduction, the sprockets and shafts were properly sized. The shaft
materials were selected based on the calculated strength requirements. Although the design
survived competition, the original chain drive calculations were executed in haste just a few
weeks before competition. As a result, there were a number of errors and poor assumptions
made.
To justify this years design, thorough failure analysis was conducted on the shafts and chains.
The first step of this process was determining the maximum torque each shaft would experience,
which directly correlates to how much torque the engine can produce. Briggs & Stratton does not
publish the torque speed curves of our specific engine, but a maximum value can be estimated
since peak horsepower and RPM range are known. This calculation is shown in the appendix.
Once the torque values are known, chain tension is obtained simply by dividing torque by the
radius of the sprocket. The factor of safety can be determined by dividing this value by the
chains breaking load. For example, the torque on the output is the torque from the engine
multiplied by the total gear ratio (CVT plus chain drive). Dividing this value by the radius of the
output sprocket gives the load on the second stage chain2,272 lbf. Since the breaking load of
the double-40 chain is 8600 lbf, the factor of safety of the second stage reduction is about 3.8.
Please see appendix for detailed calculations.
The second step of the analysis is to determine the location and magnitude of each bending
moment on each shaft. Below is a sketch of the output shaft free body diagram:
Using simple statics, the maximum bending moment can easily be determined. Given maximum
torque and bending moment in a shaft, the von Mises stress can be evaluated. Similar to the
chains, the von Mises stress can be compared to the yield strength of the shaft material to find
the shafts factor of safety. The same method can be applied to the mid shaft to find its factor of
safety. Unfortunately, the input shaft is statically indeterminate, so another approach is required.
Using Matlab for finite element analysis is a desirable option, especially since there is a step in
the shaft which cannot be ignored. The code can calculate shear stress, bending moment, and
deflection along the shaft between the outermost bearings, as shown on the next page.
The results indicate the maximum bending moment to be -329.55 in*lbf. Using this information
along with the torque from the CVT, the von Mises stress and factor of safety can be computed.
Please see appendix for complete detailed calculations. The final results of the drivetrain failure
analysis are summarized below.
Component Factor of Safety

Input Shaft 3.981
Mid Shaft 2.529
Output Shaft 1.326
Stage One Chain 5.930
Stage Two Chain 3.786
The calculations confirm that the drivetrain can withstand the maximum possible load. It is worth
noting that these computations are relatively conservativethe assumption that the maximum
torque occurs at the peak horsepower and engine speed is incorrect, but errs on the side of
safety. Additionally, the driven wheels would have to stop completely without affecting the engine
torque output in order for the maximum torque to reach the shafts. Due to the limits of the CVT
and tire grip, this is somewhat unrealistic. The important thing is that the drivetrain would survive
regardless.
One of the teams goals this year is to lighten the car wherever possible. Since the chain drive
had to be designed and fabricated in the last three weeks before competition, very little attention
was given to its weight. In fact, it was significantly heavier than the gearbox. This was addressed
in the new model by removing a large amount of material from the bearing plates, which had
been made of solid 3/8 inch aluminum. Below is a comparison of the old and new bearing plates.
The new design is about X pounds lighter than the previous. Another addition this year is
adjustable chain tensioners. Although the fixed tensioners performed well last year, the chains
stretched quite a bit following hours of intense operation. The new adjustable tensioners will
eliminate the possibility of chain stretch becoming an issue. These are made of aluminum and
plastic, so they are also lighter than the steel ones from last year. To date, the chain box is
almost completed. Covers still need to be made, and the larger sprockets may be drilled out to
remove some more weight. Below is a rendering of the current design.

Drivetrain: Please See Appendix For Detailed Calculations

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Drivetrain: Please See Appendix For Detailed Calculations

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Drivetrain: Please See Appendix For Detailed Calculations

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Drivetrain

Component Factor of Safety

You might also like