Having the opportunity to compete at a race in a single-seater vehicle is amazing in itself, but racing in a car thought up, designed and developed by your own team is truly extraordinary. University teams from around the world participate in this tremendous challenge at the Formula Student Spain, an annual event held in Montmeló (Catalonia), where every year a surprise or two amazes and delights the engineering and automobile sectors.
In such a demanding environment, we at Aritex found that the way we understand engineering in the automobile sector has found its twin in e-Tech Racing, a group of over 40 students at the East Barcelona School of Engineering (EEBE) of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC). We found common ground in that we face each new challenge with passion, rigour, commitment, dedication to engineering, love of perfectionism and an enormous desire to overcome limits.
This year the team took on the challenge of a total make-over of its electric single-seater, the ETR-X, which involved designing and making their own electric motors. On its journey to find the perfect design, the team also worked on a new geometry for the monocoque, along with a new electronic architecture, aerodynamic package and a totally new approach.
Providing and ensuring the necessary resources to enable the young students of e-Tech Racing to develop all their talents was our main aim when we decided to sign up as their sponsors for the race. At Aritex we constantly seek to increase knowledge to enable the electric automobile sector to achieve perfection in everything it does. We talked with the team to get a closer glimpse of the technical advances they’ve made in this year’s event and how they got there.
Table of contents
Techniques applied to a real-life environment
Different engineering disciplines all play a role in the e-Tech Racing team: Electrical, Industrial and Automatic Electronics, Materials, Energy, Mechanical and Biomedical.
Each member has their own motives for participating in the team and competition, but they all share one thing: what drives them most is to put their knowledge into practice. Their passion for engineering is the factor that most closely connects them to the spirit of Aritex.
Although they acknowledge that, as undergraduates, their strategies are not as sophisticated as the ones used in companies, they do use high levels of organisation and planning. They also have different levels of responsibility, which enables them to exert a lot of control over the working process. At the highest point of the chain of command are the chiefs or heads of department. These supervise the project as a whole, direct the departments and make sure that the team works in line with the objectives. The sub-departmental heads combine technical and management work to assist the chiefs. Finally, the rest of team members carry out technical work and are in charge of design and manufacture.
With this level of organisation, the e-Tech Racing team amply demonstrates their overarching potential and a capacity to adapt to real work settings. The rigour and coordination shown by this young team is very close to what happens on a daily basis in an international company like Aritex. Understanding the challenges of the project and assigning tasks to different departments, bearing in mind the strengths of each member, are just some of the key factors that enable the team to deliver high quality work on time. A lesson that e-Tech Racing has taken on board for its first real working experience.
Complete make-over of the e-Tech Racing competition single-seater
This year was definitely a challenging one for e-Tech Racing. They opted for a complete make-over of their electric single-seater, the ETR-X, starting with the design and manufacture of their own electric motors. Andreu Senis, chief of the electronics department, explained to us that although the design of the new motors has been completed this year, they’d been researching on them for some time.
The manufacturing process was a very challenging one, as the team had to deal with their own inexperience in designing an electric motor. To reduce its size and enable a more dynamic response, they devised a water jacket to provide the motors with liquid refrigeration. “We applied several techniques to the design to optimise the rotor geometry, reducing several sources of electromechanical losses, such as cogging torque and harmonics. Also, we designed a flow concentration geometry or Hallbach array to improve power density”, said David Salinas, the person responsible for motor design.
Marc Vilella, head of the department of motors and inverters had more to say about the IPMSM (internal permanent magnet synchronous motor). He commented that they used Neodymium N52SH permanent magnets, which greatly improved the magnetic output, and 0.56 diameter copper in the winding. “The stator and rotor are made of M270-50A sheet packing to reduces losses from eddy currents and hysteresis”, he said.
The ETR-X battery, made up of LG HE2 cells, is also a remarkable innovation. Inass Himmiche, chief of the powertrain department, proudly commented on its performance, with a maximum voltage of 588 V and 6.7 kWh power, along with other features such as the configuration of 144 cells in series and 5 in parallel (144s5p). It is also divided into 5 equal segments, each one at 28s5p. “It also has a battery management system – likewise designed by the team – that can calculate the load status and the energy available in the battery”, she explained.
The battery is an essential element in any vehicle. Making a lighter battery, increasing its power, giving it more availability, and ensuring safety and integrity in the event of a crash are all key factors for an engineering team. Here at Aritex, our experience in integrating projects for electric vehicle manufacture, where the battery is the central element, has given us the skills and know-how to eliminate excess battery weight with lightweight, highly resistant materials combined with sophisticated joining techniques.
And as we saw, this search for technical perfection is just as present in the e-Tech Racing team. This year in particular saw the team improving performance, along with a better control over load management. The geometry of the monocoque was modified to optimise the centre of gravity, the structural stiffness and the aerodynamics, while the overall weight was reduced by 25%. “Several technical changes were implemented with the new geometry”, told us Alba De La Hoz, head of the body and composites sub-department. “One of the most important changes was to reposition the anchor points of the suspension and other components, which obliged us to redesign the hardpoints to optimise the distribution of the applied loads”.
Key for success: a will for constant improvement
There were many moments to remember this season. “I remember the day when the monocoque arrived after the final curing step; up till then I’d only seen it on the computer screen for months on end”, said Jordi Monlleó, chief of the mechanics department. However, nothing compares to seeing the single-seater competing at Montmeló. “The effort and sacrifice made for the project all go towards the time when you see it race, that’s why we’re here. The first few seconds are a mixture of tension and joy, but when the car really takes off, you just go wild and you see that if you work hard you can go a very long way, and that fills you with hope”.
Going from the virtual prototype to the physical parts is a long arduous process of fine tuning to ensure feasibility and safety. At Aritex, we know that that feeling of pride when you see that this phase has been passed with flying colours never goes away. Aspects of our job, such as making assembly tools and customised and made to measure work, connect us to the challenges met and overcome by e-Tech Racing. In our experience, constant improvement and always setting new goals are vital to growth and consolidation in the automobile sector. That’s why the priorities in integration processes for the automotive industry are to meet deadlines, and comply with quality, safety and cost criteria, with a high level of commitment and a capacity for self-analysis.
The e-Tech Racing team’s evaluation for 2024 was that it was a tough year because of the many changes made to the vehicle: new motors, new monocoque and updated electronics, all of which had to be done with limited resources. At the same time, however, making that leap to meet and overcome such difficult challenges like reinventing the single-seater and getting it all done on time is a great source of pride for all the team members. The fact that a team of undergraduates can recognise the importance of meeting deadlines and organising in phases, is a notable sign of the experience that they’re acquiring when dealing with the world of work.
This redesigned version of the single-seater opens up a new phase that focuses on optimising the vehicle for an improved classification in Formula Student Spain. Their new objectives include reaching the top 5 in the national race and beating their local competitors. They’d be overjoyed if they qualify for the race in Germany.
Next season will not only bring new challenges but also new teammates. Emma Oliva advises future students of the EEBE to not miss the opportunity to participate in e-Tech Racing. “You don’t just learn to tighten bolts, you’ll also learn to deal with people and work under pressure, without any help or downtime. It makes you grow as a professional and as a person”. And if a potential applicant thinks any special skills are needed, Oliva left no doubts: “The most important thing in forming part of the team is the willingness to work hard and not be scared of making mistakes or getting your hands dirty with whatever needs to be done.”
One thing that all companies operating in engineering integration are highly aware of is that people are the key factor for success. At Aritex, we have more than 250 employees around the world; a team that’s not only international but also multidisciplinary and intergenerational. The curiosity and cutting-edge techniques from our young talent combined with the experience of our senior profiles are the melting pot where constant innovation is created.
What we share with e-Tech Racing are values such as enthusiasm, passion, professionalism and commitment: essential characteristics for forming part of a team that focuses on total excellence. In our constant search for talent, we discover highly valuable profiles, and together we go on to be leaders in the engineering sector applied to the automobile industry.
Discipline and passion from undergraduates with a highly professional touch
e-Tech Racing considers it essential to have a good working atmosphere and communication to make the team a success. Unforeseen issues are inevitable, but with good time management and support from the whole team and its collaborators, they always manage to overcome them, no matter how tough they may be.
Many members see the team as a second family where quiet moments are combined with more demanding ones, especially when phases like parts manufacturing coincide with their end of course exams. They all point out that participating in Formula Student means making sacrifices in areas such as leisure time or studies. For example, they may reduce the number of course subjects. “But, really, it’s so worth it! It’s crazy to think that you can be in Montmeló presenting your project to experts in the sector instead of sitting in a lecture on statistics”, says Carmen Unió. “It’s a sacrifice that’s worth it, because all that effort prepares us for the future, and that will definitely bring its own rewards”.
With an impressive working philosophy and values based on discipline, hope, effort, humility, generosity and, above all, a deep passion for shared engineering, we at Aritex are more than convinced that the sky’s the limit for these young engineers.
