IIT Madras Students Develop Electric Formula Racing Car
IIT Madras students have created an electric formula racing car, which is a vast advance over the former combustion-powered racing vehicle they created.
Any of the many open-wheeled single-seater motorsport disciplines known as “formula racing”—the most well-known of which is Formula One, with yearly Grand Prix events hosted in locations across the globe—is referred to here. For more than a year, Team Raftar, an interdisciplinary group of 45 students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, worked on the design, production, and testing of the RF23 vehicle.
With the new vehicle, Team Raftar claims it anticipates a noticeable improvement in acceleration, speed, and lap time.
“This car is three times more powerful. Earlier, we had a 33KW engine. Now, we have a 109KW motor. Other than that, the new car has been designed for acceleration,” said Karthik Karumanchi, a fourth-year BTech student.
Another goal of the research is to put an end to the regular battery fires in electric cars.
“We made sure our battery pack is modular and developed a robust cooling system that doesn’t overheat even under heavy battery loads,” said Arvind, another member from Team Raftar, who is doing his BTech in Mechanical Engineering.
IIT Madras Director Prof. V. Kamakoti responded to NDTV’s inquiry on the effectiveness of such a sophisticated vehicle in terms of its use by a larger population by saying: “For instance, the issue of battery fires now exists. That is as a result of issues with thermal management and the battery. It will work perfectly if we test this system in a car travelling at 160 km/h for 30 minutes on a race track, then install the same system in a passenger car.”
Team Raftar intends to participate in the prestigious Formula Student competition in Germany in August and the Formula Bharat in India in January of the following year.
The team stated that one of its long-term goals is to create an autonomous racing vehicle.
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