DESIGN-BUILD-TEST-AUTOCROSS-A CAPSTONE DESIGN PROJECT

摘要

Students working toward a baccalaureate degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology at the University of Cincinnati are required to complete a "Design, Build, and Test" senior capstone design project. One of these capstone design projects was to design and build an Autocross racing vehicle. This vehicle was built to meet the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Autocross specifications, and was tested in the local competition event. From the concept to the final working vehicle which meets SCCA's specifications, there are many challenges. In the 2005-2006 academic year, a team of four Mechanical Engineering Technology students at the University of Cincinnati built an Autocross racing car as their senior capstone design project. As with all capstone projects, expertise and knowledge acquired from their coursework and co-op were utilized. This project gave them an opportunity to showcase their abilities as well as develop additional skills needed to be successful in a team oriented business world. This team also enjoyed the personal satisfaction of working on a technically complex project from concept-to-tested, and competing against other such projects. This paper will give the short description of the senior capstone design course sequence at University of Cincinnati, the list of pre-requisites for the capstone design course, and describes 2005-2006 Autocross Racing Car project and the student team experiences from start to finish.