hey guys m doing a uni project next year for my mecahnical engineering course

its called Formula SAE, basically a group of us build a small formula style car and race it on one day late in the year (next year) against other unis

anyway, we are considering use of a Constant Velocity Transmission (CVT) like found on snowmobiles and ATVs

we need to chase up as much info as possible and i was wondering if anybody has some documents, links or knowledge of these things and their opions

we are using a 2000mdl Honda CBR-600 motor, and were considering CVT vs. the sequential box the CBR is sold with

thanks for any help
cheers,
Michael

G'day michael,
Unfortunately I don't know anything about CVT transmissions, but I was wondering ifyou coudl just answer a few q's about the whole SAE cup thing. I go past the room everyday and have a bit of a glance in to see where the car is at! What is the process of joining the team? How do you choose your driver? How many are involved in the team?
Cheers
David

Do you go to swinny hawthorn or somewhere else? what course?

im not in the team building a car at the moment, im in the next one

anyone can join just have to ask right person, most do it as a final year project though, driver is choosen however the team decides to, we are gonna have go-kart days and stuff but are also considering other students who have high racing experience at the uni, i would prefer someone who worked on it to drive it but thats not everyones opion

as many who join are involved, usually has been like 15 but i think we have more like 30, which means we will have a lot more research and stuff, we also started earlier (as in the year b4 the competion we compete in not during that year) which usually isnt done

im getting pretty excited bout it actually, the team are not sure whether to use CVT or not, so we are going to get a secondhand one and use the rear end of a previous years car, just me and one of my mates will be experimenting with it as we please to test reliablity and basically feasability of the whole system, should be bloody good learning and fun, but id like to get some more documentation on the things

Yeah I'm doing the same course as you, only first year, long way to go yet! Thanks for the info. I think I'll be pretty keen to get in on the SAE cup later on. Biggest project we've had so far is the first year lego robot comp! It's just not the same.

[edit] never mind

Yep, its a great project and some really good machines have been put together. Not trying to be a smart arse but CVT=contiuosly variable transmission. These have been used in DAF's and volvos in europe but are from memory not the most efficient transmission system. They use a toothed chain belt and moveable gears to change drive ratio. I believe power losses are high from internal friction in the system but may be able to be improved.
Best part of the design is that you cam make your engine much more efficient and run it over a narrower rev range while being able to keep it on song.


I took this shot of the SAE exhibit cars at the Sandown 500 last Saturday 13/09/03

hey mick do you go to swinny do ya? What year mech eng. are you?
Im todds mate brendan, doing second year product design. engineering at hawthorn.

Honda in the US used one shortly not sure which car and Saturn currantly uses one thier front wheel drive VUE and ION infinitely adjustable gear ratios it uses two drums and a link belt.

im sorta mixed in my year, i will finish end of next year but am already doing final semester of final year now, then i go back to first semester of final year next year so yeah bit hard to say what year im in cause i went and worked in industry for 6mnths

anyway we should organise to meet up at uni one day