Subteams
Business
The business subteam functions as the fiduciary to the organization securing funds through funding applications, outreach, and sponsorships. Acting on behalf of a check to the other subteams, business is responsible for ensuring working partnerships and responsible planning go into all the teams and capital investments to keep the team moving forward on progressing roadmaps.
Cockpit
Despite our best efforts we still require a human to pilot the car…this makes cockpit one of the most important subteams, as it is their responsibility to make sure that the driver feels comfortable in the car and is able to interact with the car in a consistent and controlled way. Seat position, the pedal box and brakes, and steering wheel all fall under their control every year and in the past they have brought huge performance upgrades including pneumatic paddle shifting. Moving forward they will be just as important in making sure that the driver feels connected to an even more capable EV platform, with new members getting involved with drive-by-wire and regenerative breaking research as well as manufacturing the current design.
Aerodynamics
The Aerodynamics subteam handles the design and manufacturing of all aerodynamic components and other various carbon fiber parts on the car. We split our subteam into four different subsystems: Front Wing & Nosecone, Rear Wing, Underbody, and Composites. Throughout our design phase, we iterate and optimize our aero package in CFD to produce as much downforce as possible while minimizing drag. We also analyze our components in FEA to ensure they can handle the aero loads and be within rules legality for deflection. Our manufacturing phase consists of making all of our molds and laying up our carbon fiber parts. Once cured and assembled, we run various real-world tests on the running car to validate our CFD simulation results.
High Voltage
The High Voltage subteam deals with the electrical systems of the batterypack and tractive system. Whether it involves making boards that manage the battery pack or facilitate the conversion of power from high voltage to low voltage, high voltage optimizes for reliability and simplicity. High voltage also integrates the service section with the rest of the car, ensuring that the accumulator is operated safely and properly. We also conduct thorough testing and simulations of certain boards like TSAL to validate our systems and ensure optimal performance.
Low Voltage
The Low Voltage subteam designs PCBs throughout the car from basic components. From solving electrical equations and simulating designs to assembling and testing boards, the team provides smart infrastructure throughout the car. The team designs the shutdown system for the car, an element vital to overall safety. Low Voltage also does the electrical design for the dashboard and vehicle control unit, which provide drivers control of the car and real-time responses from it. Low Voltage is also vitally important to our integration testing and mechanical optimization: dedicated data collection PCBs connect to the dashboard so telemetry can be used by the Vehicle Dynamics team to measure and optimize the vehicle's performance.
Marketing
The Marketing subteam is in charge of social media, merchandise, and livery. This team is dedicated to refining the branding and messaging behind BFR to attract those from all backgrounds wanting to join and company partners. Working closely with directors and other subteam leads, we are a very critical part of the team's non-technical function to help build support and rally around recent changes in BFR.
Chassis
The chassis subteam is responsible for creating the chassis, the frame of the car. We design the chassis to the FSAE rules and work closely with other subteams to ensure that their subsystems can be attached to the chassis easily. We perform FEA (Finite Element Analysis) on the chassis to ensure that it is strong enough to withstand the forces that it will be subjected to and to determine the torsional stiffness, the main measure of the strength of the chassis. We also are responsible for manufacturing the chassis, using a combination of in-house and out-house processes.
Vehicle Dynamics
Vehicle Dynamics (VD) focuses on design, analysis, and optimization of the car's overall performance. This includes working with CAD, manufacturing, and testing with our data acquisition and tuning team, analysis work in MATLAB with our tires and lap simulation teams, and defining of suspension geometry and load cases. VD is both its own unique subteam and a blend of supporting and integrating work for several other subteams, primarily suspension.
Suspension
The suspension team has the important task of creating a suspension that can transfer the loads, and therefore the performance, of the car into the tires and road. Suspension works closely with VD during the design and testing phase to tune the car for maximum performance. The suspension team machines more parts in-house than any other subteam so new members will quickly develop these skills, as well as prototyping and troubleshooting using 3D printed parts.
Drivetrain
The purpose of the drivetrain subteam is to design a drivetrain that can properly transmit power from the motor to the wheels; or in other words, make the car go. Thus, this system involves every component involved in that process including the motor, chain and sprockets, differential, and half shafts. The goal of our subteam is to reliably transmit this power while minimizing losses along the way. Without us, the car would just be a really cool looking wagon.
Wire Harness
The wire harness subteam is responsible for designing and building all wire harnesses for the car, ensuring that each component receives power and functions properly while providing necessary protection from stress and high voltage. Skills gained encompass creating wiring schematics, routing, crimping, sleeving, and shielding. Wire Harness works closely with Low Voltage, High Voltage, and Software to design Rear, Front, Accumulator, and Dash wire harnesses.
Powertrain
Powertrain is comprised of two systems, power storage and power delivery. Our main components are the accumulator, inverter, and motor. The accumulator includes our batteries and it's management systems, the inverter converts the DC from the batteries into the three phase AC that the motor needs.
Software
The software subteam is responsible for developing and maintaining the systems that enable the car to operate efficiently and reliably. This includes driving the car, logging performance data, and creating tools for data visualization. Key components include the Vehicle Control Unit (VCU), which manages torque control, regeneration, and safety checks, as well as the dash display, which logs and communicates sensor data. Our goal is to create a tunable and reliable system that minimizes performance issues and allows for real-time and post-race data analysis.