Leveraging IoT in Formula SAE Contests: A Case Study of Cal Poly Pomona Formula SAE Team

The Cal Poly Pomona Formula SAE (CPPFSAE) team, a student-run team participating in the Formula SAE® contests, faced a significant challenge in their quest to be among the best in the competition. Each year, the team sought to apply new materials and technologies to improve their race cars. However, the introduction of new materials such as composites created new requirements and design and development challenges. The team's goal was to leverage the advantages of each material, such as lightweight design or stiffness potential, but each material had to be designed individually. A specific challenge arose when the team decided to design and optimize a new wheel shell. They needed a software tool that would allow them to create a composite laminate design. They encountered difficulties in getting the carbon fiber laminate prepreg to conform to their mold, which they attempted to solve by increasing the number of debulking cycles and switching to hot debulk. A post machining process on the wheel was also necessary.

The Cal Poly Pomona Formula SAE (CPPFSAE) team is a student-run team that competes in the Formula SAE, an international collegiate design competition. The competition is one of the largest of its kind worldwide, attracting students from dozens of countries. The CPPFSAE team members invest hundreds of hours in hands-on engineering as they design, build, and test their race car from scratch, all while being full-time students at Cal Poly Pomona. The team interacts with industry professionals and competes against top international teams. With over 20 years of competition experience and more than 30 team members, CPPFSAE is one of the top teams in the world. The experience gained by team members makes them highly sought after employees in many of the world's top automotive companies.