Hill Climbing Vehicle Design and Analysis

This assignment delves into the design and analysis of hill-climbing vehicles. It examines the crucial role of engine selection and its power output in overcoming steep inclines. The impact of gear ratios on vehicle efficiency is analyzed, considering different scenarios. Furthermore, the assignment explores performance characteristics, such as torque curves, and how they influence hill-climbing ability.

Vehicle Engineering 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Two types of vehicle regarding fuel efficiency and emission..........................................3
1.2 Statistics for the fuel burnt and emission.........................................................................5
1.3 future of electric cars and conventional cars....................................................................6
PART 2............................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Suitable engine.................................................................................................................6
2.2 Transmission system......................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

PART 1
1.1 Two types of vehicle regarding fuel efficiency and emission
There are two kinds of vehicle, one which is driven by battery packed power and the
other ones are the conventional one which are driven by gasoline products like petrol and diesel.
Both are having significant role in the process of internal combustion engines (Jin and et.al.,
2016). The battery packed vehicle which are also known as electric vehicles, are used to reduce
the carbon emission and to protect the environment.
As far as the look is concerned, electric vehicle looks exactly the same like the petrol
vehicle but there will be no tail pipe or exhaust pipe in electric car as they are not giving exhaust
but the petrol car will be having exhaust pipe as these vehicles are burning fuel and producing
exhaust. Apart from these, conventional cars are having a tank specially for the storage of petrol,
but in electric car there will be a battery storage system that will supply the required electricity to
move the engine. The conventional vehicles are having engine which consist of piston cylinder
arrangement, and by generating the power from this arrangement, the vehicle is moved, but in
electric vehicle the power to move the vehicle is generated by the electric motor.
Electric vehicle are having two batteries which are either lead-acid battery or lithium-ion
battery of 24 v each, and these batteries are connected in parallel, so that they can get the
maximum power output (Poullikkas, 2015). These batteries are charged by electricity and can be
used after that. Nowadays the batteries are made in such a way that they can get charged faster
and can run for longer duration of time. The main advantage of having electric vehicle is that
they are carbon emission free, as in those vehicles no combustion process of fuel is taking place,
so no carbon emission, but the disadvantage is that they can not take the heavy load, because of
the size of the battery. The size of battery is smaller so that it can be fitted in place, that's why
these vehicles are not made to carry heavy load but they can use in protecting the environment.
Conventional vehicles are the one which are driven by either petrol or diesel. These
engines are the internal combustion engines as the combustion process is carrying out inside a
cylinder. These vehicles are made in such a way that they can carry heavy load and with greater
speed. The combustion process is very fast, because only a small spark is needed to ignite the
fuel and to run the vehicle (Dunn and et.al., 2015). These vehicles are emitting carbon, as the
fuel which is burnt might be having some un-burnt particles left inside and which contains

carbon, and after the combustion process, these particles are thrown out to the environment and
that is very dangerous. Nowadays the fuel companies are purifying the fuel which is having very
low Sulphur percentage so that it will release fewer gases which may contain un-burnt particles,
and the emission of the carbon will be low, but at the same time some percentage of carbon can
still cause the damage to the environment (Onat, Kucukvar and Tatari, 2015). Traditional
vehicles are having a primary advantage is that they can carry more load as compare to the
electric vehicle, and to the long distance with the speed which is higher than the electric vehicle.
Traditional vehicle can either be a petrol vehicle or a diesel vehicle. Diesel vehicle are more
strong and robust than petrol vehicle and these vehicles can carry more load than petrol vehicle.
But the carbon emission in diesel vehicle is more due to the knocking effect. When the
combustion in the engine does not start correctly than it produces sound and that is known as
knocking. Due to knocking effect the carbon emission is more in diesel engines. Electric vehicles
are very good and they do not harm the environment but to carry more load and to travel more,
people always prefer the traditional vehicles (Xie, Lin and Nealer, 2017).
Though, people now prefer conventional vehicle more, but they realized that electric
vehicle are more easy to use and to run. Conventional vehicle need a lot of maintenance, and it
will start from the first month after buying the vehicle. The maintenance like changing the oil
frequently, and the exhaust system repairs, all these things should be taken care of and that too
with precision and accuracy. Electric vehicles are having less moving parts as compare to the
conventional vehicle, so they will require less maintenance. Electric vehicle are very cheaper to
maintain and these vehicles are more energy efficient also, so the owner of that vehicle can save
a lot of money over the period.
There are some advantages and disadvantages of having an electric car and conventional
car, some of them are as follows;
 The range of the electric car is lower and it can only goes up to 100-200 miles and if the
car is conventional then it can go up to 500-600 miles without refuelling.
 In conventional cars, the refuelling can be easily done by going to the pump, but not the
case with electric car, because you have to wait for the car to be charged but this can take
long time (Kihm and Trommer, 2014.).
 No carbon emission or any type of noxious substances are released in electric car, but in
conventional car, the emission occurs due to the combustion process.

 Electric cars don't have a gear box, or they only have single speed gear box, so this will
reduce the human effort as no gear shifting will take place but in conventional car, gear
box is present.
 The average speed of the electric car is lower but the acceleration is much faster, but in
conventional cars, the average speed is on the higher side but the initial acceleration is
comparatively low (Taymaz and Benli, 2014).
1.2 Statistics for the fuel burnt and emission
The carbon emission and noxious gases emission is shown in the image which is clearly
showing that the carbon emission from the electric car is very low or we can say that it is almost
negligible as compare to the conventional cars. The noxious emission is also very low in electric
cars. Fuel efficiency is totally based on the fuel economy and fuel consumption. Fuel economy is
nothing but a measure which can check how far the vehicle travelled in a gallon of fuel. This can
be measured in miles per gallon (Tie, and Tan, 2013). The fuel consumption is exactly opposite
of the fuel economy. It can be described as the amount of fuel which is consumed in driving
certain distance, it can be measured in gallons per 100 miles.

The conversion of chemical energy to kinetic energy can be defined as the efficiency of
fuel, or in simple words, the energy engine uses form the petroleum product to convert it into
useful work is known as the fuel efficiency. Electric car after full charging drive about 80 miles,
tesla is exception which will go more than 250 miles on full charge but they are very costly.
These cars are perfect to the environment as they don't produce emission and very easy to drive,
but the drawback is that they require a lot of time in charging and it can take up to hours
(Manzetti and Mariasiu, 2015). The conventional cars are a little dangerous for the environment
but, these cars can run up to miles without refuelling it, and it can get refuelled within few
minutes. These cars are more fuel efficient but can cause higher carbon emission.
1.3 future of electric cars and conventional cars
The future of the electric and conventional car lies in their fuel efficiency and emission.
As stated earlier, electric care are having zero carbon emission and are one of the best cars to
drive, at the same time conventional cars are having certain percentage of carbon emission which
is dangerous to the environment but those cars are more fuel efficient and generate more power.
Electric cares are very sound proof, as they run very smoothly without knocking effect, electric
car are more energy efficient, as in traditional cars, out of 100% energy, only 15% energy is used
to drive the vehicle but in electric car 90% of energy can be used to drive the vehicle. Nowadays
people starts using more environment friendly things so they are gradually shifting from
conventional cars to the electric cars (Nanaki and Koroneos, 2013). Countries like UK, US, most
of the people who are buying new cars prefer electric car over conventional car. It produces less
noise and it will be less or not harmful to the environment, this will reduce the global warming
also, though fuel companies are purifying the fuel to such extent that it will create very less
carbon emission, but this will take some time in getting full emission free and practically this is
not possible only, that's why people today are going for electric cars and electric drive vehicle.
PART 2
2.1 Suitable engine
There are mainly two types of engines. One is internal combustion engine and the other
one is external combustion engine.

External combustion (E.C.) engine-
In these types of engines, the fuel combustion will be outside the engine. The heat,
which can be produced by burning of fuel, is using some low boiling temperature or water into
steam (Burke and Bykov, 2017). This steam which will be having high pressure is used to
convert steam to rotate the turbine. All type of fuels like solid, liquid, gases can be used. These
type of engines are used in generating electricity, driving locomotives or ships.
Internal combustion engine-
The combustion of fuel is taking place inside the engine. The fuel will be burn inside the
cylinder, which will generate high temperature and high pressure. The force generated by the
combustion will exerted on the engine and this this can be used in rotating the wheels. High
volatile fuels and gases can be used in these types of engines like petrol, diesel etc. These type of
engines are heavily used in automobile or to generate electric power.
There are various types of IC engines, which can be used in hill climbing cares. But these
engines can be divided into various types like;
Number of stroke:
 Two Stroke engine
Il
lustration 1: Engine of hill-climbing car
(Latest development: the maniac hill climbing car.
2017)

 Four stroke engine
Design of engine
 Rotary engine
 Reciprocating engine
Based on Fuel used
 Petrol engine
 Diesel engine
 Electric engine
 Gas engine
According to the cylinder used
 In-line
 V-type
 W-type
 Opposed engine
There are some light weight engines which are used in motorcycles and there are some heavy
weight car engines, which are used in conventional cars (Lazari, Wang and Chen, 2014.).
In hill climbing, the racers mostly uses the model of cars which are low in weight. But to
reduce the weight of the car, the length and the wheel size can not be changed. Because there are
certain rules, they have to follow. They can change other things, like the engine parts and other
accessories. There are certain advantages and disadvantages of using light weight engines;
Advantages
1. Engine will be very smooth. It is easy to drive.
2. Power output is good. (Top speed is more).
3. Cost of maintenance is low
4. Short gears, so it is easy to drive
5. The noise produced is low. The engines are silent driven
6. More environment friendly because of the low emission.
Disadvantages
 Torque will be less, so power pulling capacity is less
 Idling performance will be low and weak
 Without the change in gear, overtaking is much more difficult

 The efficiency of fuel is less
 Frequently required services, which will increase the maintenance cost.
Heavy weight vehicles are also having certain advantages and disadvantage;
Advantages
 Torque is more as compare to light weight vehicle, so power pulling capacity is more.
 Gears length is more, means tall gears. So the driver can put more speed in a single gear
while overtaking.
 The efficiency of fuel is high. Even if the engine RPM is low, the efficiency will be high very less requirement of services.
Disadvantages
1. The cost of the entire vehicle will be more
2. Service requirement is very less, but when happen, it can be very costly
3. engine produce heavy noises
4. Not environment friendly, because engine produces heavy emission.
To produce more power, in top speed, and the acceleration, most of the hill climbing care are
using light weight engines, which are driven by petrol. It will be very easy to control them even
at the top speed. The drive will be smooth on the speed of more than 150 mph.
To design a hill climbing car, all the specification must be checked like power, torque,
top speed etc. The car designed have generally build on three classes. One is production cars,
these are the modified version of conventional cars (Lajunen, 2014). These cars can change
according to the the form like classic to modern, heavy to light weight etc. Second is sports
racing cars. These cars are build light weight purposely because of their aerodynamic structure.
Usually 2 person can sit in this car. Third one is single seater cars, this can vary from light
weight to heavy weight cars. All these types of cars are very useful in designing a perfect car
which is most suitable for hill climbing.

The car designed is racing car, which is type C. The chassis of the car was type D. The
engine used here is 16 cylinder from type C. But due to change in regulations, now it is modified
to 12 cylinder engine which is super charged. The engine performance characteristics include the
output power, it's rpm, top speed etc.
1. Output power- The output power of this engine is 530 hp.
2. Engine type- it is having a 16 cylinder V-type engines, including supercharger.
3. Revolution- around 5000 rpm.
4. Displacement- 6000 cc
5. Max speed- 160 mph.
2.2 Transmission system
Transmission system is usually a specific component in the system, which is used in
providing the application of power. Transmission can be done by different gear boxes, which
uses the gears and gear trains, so that it can provide different speeds and torque to the vehicle.
1. Gear box: There are basically 4 types of gear box.
 Sliding mesh gear box
Ill
ustration 2: Engine performance characteristic curve
(Combustion Engines Information, 2017).

 synchromesh gear box
 Planetarty gear box
 Constant mesh gear box
The gear box uses in this vehicle is constant mesh gear box. In this method all the gears are
constantly in mesh position with each other. The gears are in free rotation movement.
The actuation is a term, by which the gears can be easily connected to the other gear box
and it can actuate, or start working (Lee and et.al., 2016). The actuator using here is Electric
actuator, which can be driven by the switch. There will some solenoids which will create some
magnetic fields for the opening of the coil. This will actuate the plunger to create liner motion.
And by this, the gear box will be actuated.
2. Gear box ratios and number of ratios:
Gear box ratio is the ratio of input gear to the idle gear. The input gear here is
having 17 teeth, and the idle gear is having 25 teeth. So the gear ratio can be calculated as the
ratio of input gear to the idle gear. Therefore, it will be 25/17= 1.47. or it will be 1.47:1. Other
than this, there will be some more gear ratios, that can be four speed and single stage reverse,
which includes
 First, second, third and fourth gears selection
 First second and third gear selection
 Top-gear selection
 Reverse gear selection.
In this design, all the gears are having 15 teeth or more. Therefore, gear ratio on top gear is 1:1.
Ratio on third gear is 1.36:1. Ratio on second gear is 2.16:1. Ratio on first gear is 3.7:1, and the
reverse gear ratio is 3.9:1.
3. Differential ratio:
To find out the differential ratio, there is a chart given, in which it is mentioned
about the size of the tyre and the RPM, by which the differential ratio is maintained. In this chart,
the blue colour means the vehicle is having good economy, but power is less. So it is good for
flat roads (Xi and et.al., 2015). The green colour is showing the best performance and can use for
daily driving. The orange colour shows the sizes, which can be used for highest power, and to
carry more weight. But the fuel economy will be reduced.

4. Road speed:
The road speed will be totally dependent on the rpm of the engine. To calculate
the road speed, there is a particular formula, which is give as
mph = (rpm*circumference)/(gear*final*88)
here, mph= road speed
rpm= engine revolution
cir= tire circumference in feets
gear= gear ratio of car
final= final drive ratio
88= other factors
therefore mph = (5000*10.4)/(3.7*88)
mph = 159.7 mph
Il
lustration 3: Gear ratio Chart
(Differential Gear Ratio, 2017).

5. Tyre size:
The size of the tyre can be calculated through the engine speed. This can also be
done by the same chart, which was used in calculating the differential ratio.
The tyre circumference is having 10.4 feet, so that can be the size of the final tyre used for the
car.

REFERENCES
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Online
Latest development: the maniac hill climbing car. 2017. [Online]. Available Through
<http://raceenginedesign.biz/Manic-Beattie.htm>. [Accessed on 17th May, 2017].
Differential Gear Ratio , 2017. [Online]. Available Through <http://www.4-wheeling-in-
western-australia.com/differential-gear-ratio.html>. [Accessed on 17th May, 2017].
Combustion Engines Information, 2017. [Online]. Available Through
<http://www.globalspec.com/learnmore/motion_controls/engines_components/
industrial_engines>. [Accessed on 17th May, 2017].