Welcome to the February edition of the FE UWindsor monthly newsletter! Throughout February, both the electrical and mechanical teams continued pushing projects forward as we moved closer to manufacturing and testing. From battery development, PCB testing, preparing the chassis and manufacturing the suspension, it’s been another productive month for the team
ELECTRICAL
The electrical side of the Tractive Battery team has finalized the design of the new battery system and is ready to begin rewiring once the wiring and boards arrive. The electrical Powertrain team is working on motor CAD designs and running Simulink simulations for the motor inverter. The Low Voltage team is constructing the wire harness and has also designed and improved a PCB through a second revision. This month, the Electronics team continued PCB development and tested highvoltage boards under load to reduce heat sink size while maintaining a strong safety factor. Team members are also continuing their Altium training, and the next round of PCB orders is scheduled. Meanwhile, the Embedded Systems and Software team has made progress on offloading car data onto a drive stick for analysis, gathered team feedback through surveys to improve the analysis software, and is working on simulating the lowvoltage logic to identify potential faults.


MECHANICAL
The Chassis team has finished all of their required manufacturing training and has fully sandblasted the chassis to remove the old powder coat. Right now, they are removing the old mounts and frame members while the new replacement parts are being produced. The mechanical Powertrain team has been doing a lot of CAD review and modelling to finalize the powertrain layout and complete the full assembly. They also 3D printed the new mounting plates to test fitment, check clearances, and help visualize how the drivetrain will fit inside the chassis. The Suspension team has completed their CAD design and started manufacturing. This month, they are mainly focusing on machining processes like CNC, waterjetting, and welding for the new design. They are also working on manufacturing new front hard-point tabs with a custom jig, front and rear control arms, the steering clevis, and the wheel-application system. The mechanical Tractive Battery team has finished their designs and will be picking up materials in the next few days to start waterjetting, bending, and welding aluminum parts. Lastly, the Driver Interface team is finishing the final revision of the dashboard before it goes into manufacturing, including the final finishes.


Thank you for following along with our progress this month. As we move into March, the team will be focusing heavily on manufacturing and continuing development across all systems of the car. We’re excited to share more updates in the next newsletter. We also want to thank our sponsors for their continued support in helping make these projects possible.