What it is
UBC Supermileage is an engineering student design team that builds full sized vehicles with the pursuit to maximize fuel efficiency. We have 3 vehicles on the team. A gasoline prototype vehicle, a battery electric Urban Concept vehicle, and a hydrogen fuel cell prototype vehicle that is currently in the making. The Prototype category vehicles are the ones that truly maximize fuel efficiency while the Urban Concept category vehicle has some limitations and restrictions that make it more closely resembled to vehicles on the road. In 2019 we place 2nd in our competition achieving a fuel efficiency 2229 mpg. While in 2022, we brought our hydrogen fuel cell vehicle to its first competition ever, and became the only fuel cell team to make it out onto the track
I am currently an Electrical Division Lead on the team where I develop the project plans for all of the electrical projects this year. In addition I mainly work on prototyping circuits, designing PCBs and developing firmware for controlling our outputs to the hydrogen fuel cell. We mainly use Kicad and Arduino based code for our systems.
In previous years I was a project lead in the Powertrain division where I work on projects related to the drivetrain such as selecting an efficient motor for our new fuel cell vehicle, determining chain and sprocket configurations, and designing light weight mounts and guards for the motor and the chains. Our parts are modeled using Solidworks and we often machine the parts ourselves using machine shop tools such as waterjet, 3D printer, lathe, mill.
Project Highlight
The fuel cell control board is the most recent project that I worked in this team. The purpose of this project is to monitor the operation of the fuel cell and control outputs to improve the overall performance
A system diagram of how the different components fit in to each other
Version 1 of the control board consists of a multiplexer for the circuit which goes through a resistor divider into an analog pin of an Arduino for monitoring the voltages. Not shown in the diagram above, are MOSFETs that control the outputs to the safety board as well as the pumps to the fuel cell
A rendering of our Fuel Cell Control PCB
Overall control logic of the first iteration of the firmware
Version 2 is currently being developed at the moment. Some things we plan to incorporate into this iteration is:
- Higher voltage monitoring accuracy
- Current sensors
- Optical link for communication with the safety board and telemetry
- Re-routing of power distribution to go through the board
- Add additional safety feature to the system to cut off voltage to capacitors if a certain limit is exceeded
A fuel cell emulation board is also in the development to allow us to test the control board without requiring the use of the fuel cell
My full journey throughout the team
In my first year of engineering, I joined a student design team known as UBC Supermileage. During that time I learned how to design and model using solidworks as well as run FEA simulations and learn more about mechanical design in general. I also got hands-on experience using tools for fabrication and assembly of our parts. At the end of my first year, I was invited to attend both of the major team competitions: the Shell Eco Marathon Americas and SAE Supermileage.
In my second year, I was promoted to a powertrain project lead where I worked worked with others to design a new drivetrain from scratch for our new fuel cell powered vehicle. Some of my projects include on selecting an efficient motor, determining chain and sprocket configurations, assisting new members with their projects and assisting the division leads team with administrative tasks such as recruitment and purchasing.
In my third year, I continued my work as a project lead in the powertrain division developing mounts for drivetrain components, spec-ing new motors and gear ratios to be used on the car for a new flatter track, and assisting with fabrication. Our goal was to finish building the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle and have it ready to run by the end of the school year. As most of the school year happened during the Covid-19 pandemic and there were tight restrictions put into place about working in the shop, it was very challenging for us to basically build an entirely new car from scratch. When restrictions were loosened in the summer about 3 weeks prior to our scheduled track day and more people were allowed to be in the shop at the same time, it felt like we were working a second full time job on top of our summer internships. While it was very tiring and stressful at times, we all felt like one big family and in the end it was all worth it to see our fuel cell car run for the very first time.
In my 4th year on the team and I decided to switch over to the Electrical division because I am more interested in going down a career path related to Software and Electronics and wanted to gain more experience in that field. In addition, I am also the webmaster for the team, developing our website in HTML, CSS and JavaScript. In the Electrical division, I have developed the first iteration of our fuel cell control board PCB which monitors voltages in our fuel cell and controls the oxygen pump based on the voltage readings. We assembled the PCB and developed and tested the firmware on the board. We entered our Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicle into it's very first competition at the Shell Eco Marathon and it successfully passed technical inspection and made it out onto the track. Unfortunately, due to weather and some technical issues, we were unable to complete a valid run, however it was still a huge success to get where we got with that vehicle considering that it was its very first competition. We now have plans for next year on what changes need to be made to improve its efficiency and complete a run. After the Shell Eco Marathon, we shifted focus to our Gasoline vehicle where I led the efforts of integrating the electrical system together.
In my 5th year on the team and I have stepped up to being an Electrical Division Lead. It's really interesting to plan out projects, while also recruiting and onboarding new members, leading tutorials, and assisting members with their projects as needed. We were able to improve upon the fuel cell vehicle operations but this new emerging technology is still in development with more improvement to go.
This is my 6th year on the team. I am currently studying abroad in Denmark so I'm acting as an advisor to support the leads and team members on technical guidance. As well as supporting the team on administrative tasks such as recruiting, project budgets, timelines, and PR.
One of the most exciting parts about being on the team, is that I was given the opportunity to drive our prototype vehicle. From first hand experience, I can definitely say that it is very interesting and a completely different feeling from driving a normal car. When driving this car, you wear a fire suit, fire shoes and a certified drivers helmet for safety measures. You need to be lying down on hard chassis (with no cushioning because that adds weight to the vehicle making it less efficient) with your neck craned at a 90 degree angle to peer through the window in front of you
I also wanted to explore my creative side throughout my time on the team so I've been making the most recent videos and graphics for the team as well.
A photo of our battery electric urban concept vehicle
A photo of our gasoline prototype vehicle at our 2020 track day
A picture of our team on track day as we prepare to test out our vehicle
A picture of me with a fire suit and a drivers helmet as I get ready to test drive our vehicle
A finite element analysis simulation of our Motor Mount in Solidworks used to verify the strength and durability of the design
A series of parts we designed and sent to the machine shop to fabricate for our fuel cell vehicle during the Covid-19 Pandemic
Our soldering session for the Fuel Cell Control PCB
A video I created that highlights moments from the Shell Eco Marathon 2022