IAB Baja Special- The all Girls team - El Conquistador from IGIT, Delhi

11/01/2009 - 18:49 | ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,   | Harish Kumar

TEAM EL CONQUISTADOR- THE CONQUERORS..

Indira Gandhi Institute Of Technology(IGIT),

Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University(GGSIPU)
Team Captain- Garima Chanana-3rd Yr ,Mechanical & Automation Engg(MAE)
Faculty Advisors- Mr.Ajay Singholi, Mrs.Deepti Chabbra

Team Members-
1. Harveen Talwar        3rd Yr (MAE)
2. Guneet Kaur Bhatia   3rd Yr (MAE)
3. Sonam                     3rd yr  (MAE)
4. Alankrita Singh         3rd Yr (MAE)
5. Gursimran Kaur        3rd Yr (MAE)
6. Arpita Upadhayay     3rd Yr(MAE)
7. Divya Mittal              3rd Yr (MAE)
8. Yashika Taneja         3rd Yr(MAE)
9. Kanika Tandon         2nd Yr Electronics and Communication Engg (ECE)

Designing and manufacturing an all-terrain vehicle is an immensely thought provoking and mind boggling task. Moreover, the number of students entering into the field of automobiles is continuously dwindling. As far as women are concerned, most of them still refrain from opting into this field considering it tough and out of their reach.

However, participating in such an event as an ALL GIRLS’ TEAM is a great high in itself. It also serves as an
important initiative in this field.With best intentions in mind, we would like to bring a positive change in such a mindset of the society. This would be a great energy boosters for young enthusiasts like us and hence we have decided to accept this challenge and dedicate our energies towards making our dream of designing and manufacturing a one of its kind vehicle, a reality.
We are starting from level zero and learn till the completion of the task. Our marketing skills, sportsmanship and team spirit as well as our ability to endure sheer pressure within the given time frame have developed during the course of this event.

The success of this project would change the vision of the feminist section of the society and also inspire millions to step out and do something different for themselves and contribute their level best to the mechanical and automation field.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited, India's largest Auto manufacturer is the official sponsor of Team El Conquistador

Following are the specifications of our vehicle:

TYRES

In the beginning, we zeroed upon the tyres suitable for a terrain like ours. We chose tyres with stiffer sidewalls and bigger tread block patterns that suffice to the needs of an all terrain vehicle as they serve the purpose of gripping the dirt well.
Dimensions chosen for this purpose are-
21* 7 *10 - Front
22*11*10 - Rear

SUSPENSION SYSTEM

A good suspension is vital to the performance of an off-road vehicle.
The suspension must keep the tyres on the ground at all times to ensure optimum traction and grip as the vehicle transverses rough terrain. The main goal of our team was to have a simple and light weight suspension system with an optimum wheel travel and shock absorbing and which is compatible with the steering and easily adjustable at the same time. Keeping in mind all these things, unequal A-arms were used in the front and rear that give good control over the wheel angles.

STEERING SYSTEM

The purpose of the steering system is to direct the wheels in response to the driver inputs and hence provide directional control over the vehicle. Along with simplicity in design and light weight, the main concern was quick steering response. Due to these factors, rack and pinion steering arrangement following the Ackerman geometry was used.

BRAKES

Objective of brakes is to slow or stop the motion of a vehicle and to keep it from starting again. Outboard brakes were incorporated due to their better heat dissipation and better directional stability. Our main concern was to lock the wheels together and not compromise with the driver’s safety.
Disc brakes on all the 4 wheels is used. For the sake of weight reduction, the material used for the fabrication of chassis was such that it has high yield strength and low weight.

An FEA (Finite Element Analysis) of the chassis was done to optimise the weight and strength of the chassis.
Fibre seat is used that further reduces weight.
Suspension arms were made triangular in shape instead of a ‘U’ shape inorder to reduce weight.

The thing that makes our vehicle stand out from the rest of the vehicles is that extra care has been taken in the designing phase itself to ensure that vehicle is fabricated only after completely designing the various subsystems and testing them. Also, our vehicle has undergone a month of rigorous testing thereby giving us enough time for modifications and fine tuning along with rectifying the problems faced before the actual race!

“Winning isn't everything...it's the only thing..."

This is what Team El Conquistador strongly believes in and are working towards..
Our primary goal is to abide by all the regulations set forth by SAE and to build a vehicle that will trek through outdoor terrain with ease and will endure the four hour long endurance race. We are confident of posing a tough competition for the rest of the teams and hopeful of emerging victorious!

IAB Comment- Watch out guys!

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