Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Date of Degree Completion

Spring 2020

Department

Mechanical Engineering Technology

Committee Chair

Dr. Craig Johnson

Second Committee Member

Professor Roger Beardsley

Third Committee Member

Professor Charles Pringle

Abstract

An ongoing project for the Electric Vehicle Club is to build a fully working Electric Vehicle that can be used for any of the Electrathon America races across the country. Like most cars, the vehicle would need safety equipment that would allow the driver of the vehicle to drive the course both safely and efficiently. The event has specific requirements for the safety equipment that require the driver to be able to see behind them or when another driver is approaching from behind. Therefore, this project objective was to design and manufacture a set of mirrors that satisfy this requirement. The device is made from ABS Plastic, 18-8 (304) Stainless Steel Screws, and acrylic mirrors. These materials were chosen for the project due to the lightweight of the materials and corrosion resistance. This allows there to be minimal weight increase for the entire vehicle. The design of the project was chosen based of thorough calculations of forces on the mirror with a safety factor of 2. The device will be tested using visual assessments. The project result is expected to allow for the driver to see up to 200 feet behind the vehicle while maintaining a drag coefficient of .4.

Keywords: Drag Coefficient, Electric Vehicle, ABS Plastic

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